San Francisco State Organizing Conference Reignites Urgency for Action Against Injustice

Last Saturday’s Organizing and Mobilizing Conference for Public Higher Education at San Francisco State reinvigorated activists who have had enough of how stakeholders have been mistreated in public higher education. Amidst the ongoing austerity measures that have cost hundreds of faculty and staff their jobs, and soaring student tuition and fees, CSU faculty, students, and staff are ready to take back their university.

Around 150 faculty and student activists gathered from throughout California to strategize around how we can secure a fully-funded and properly-funded CSU system.

Activists turned their attention to the upcoming April 17 National Day of Action, and even began laying out plans for May Day mobilization.

Fresh ideas emerged from faculty and student activists, which sparked important conversations on how campuses can continue to push for change.

“This was a very positive experience,” shared Charles Toombs, CFA President and San Diego State professor. “The conveners of the conference were able to engage all participants on a united front. We were all working collectively together to find solutions to existing problems. One student reminded us that while it’s important to bring our anger and rage to the work, we must also bring joy, art, and music into it as well.”

Margarita Berta-Avila, CFA Vice-President and Sacramento State professor, remarked that the conference really helped link the local struggles to a broader unionwide and national effort. “The conference allowed us to have dialogues with chapter presidents, different CFA councils, enabled difference avenues for input. We really utilized what came out of San Francisco as a framework that we will continue to build on.”

The conference later broke into planning sessions that tackled key issues. Among them were stopping cuts and layoffs, protecting our undocumented and mixed-status students, academic freedom and civil liberties, A.I., and the upcoming National Day of Action.

“I left feeling much more positive, more hopeful, and more energized around the work that we’re doing collectively,” noted Meghan O’ Donnell, CFA Associate Vice President of Lecturers, North. “We had great dialogue around setting expectations for what we can achieve in the amount of time we have.”

“Everyone needs to have April 17 on their agenda,” said Toombs. “It’s a time to stop the cuts, support our undocumented, immigrant, and mixed families, and do what we came here to do: liberate the CSU.”