CLASH Collective Blog

By m(A)tt

So, I’m stoked.The other day I went to CCC to sort some shit out. Apparently, when you’ve failed as many classes as me, they don’t let you take whatever class you like. So, I pled my case to the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met, the Dean of Student Services. My god… So, after that festival of torture, I stopped by the Student Activities office to see Jai Smith, a very friendly and helpful guy that always remembers me. I picked up a sample constitution for a student club, which I’ve used to begin drafting one for a Capital SDS chapter. Tell me what you think:

Capital Community College Students for a Democratic Society

Constitution

Article I Name

This organization shall be known as the Capital Community College Students for a Democratic Society (Capital SDS)

Article II Purpose

The purpose of Capital SDS shall be:

• To increase democracy in all phases of our common life through education and social action.

• To promote the active participation of students and young people in popular movements against the status quo.
• To build a society free from poverty, ignorance, war, exploitation, racism, sexism, ageism and ableism.
• To establish solidarity between students, faculty and college workers in the campus community, the final goal being student and worker self-management.
• To establish solidarity with the surrounding community, with the aim of establishing a college that serves community interests.
• To organize to defend the rights, and express the immediate interests and needs of students, faculty and college workers.

Article III Membership

All students at CCC can be members of Capital SDS. Any person not currently enrolled at CCC may apply to the organization for membership with varying levels of participation. Non-students may attend meetings, be a part of the discussion, and/or take part in the decisions-making process, depending on the wishes of the applicant and membership. Only students of CCC may hold office in Capital SDS.

Article IV Officers

1. Co-spokespeople (2)

2. Secretary

3. Treasurer

4. Facilitator

Article V Duties of the officers

1. Co-spokespeople: To communicate the positions and announcements of the membership of Capital SDS to the public and all external bodies.

2. Secretary: To make sure minutes of all decisions are taken at each meeting, and to bring past minutes to each meeting.

3. Treasurer: To account for all Capital SDS funds and to make a report at each meeting of the treasury.

4. Facilitator: To take down agenda items at the beginning of each meeting, ensure the smooth flow of each meeting, and make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to speak.

Article VI Rotation of offices

Each office of Capital SDS will be filled by a rotation of the membership for a designated timeframe. Each officer must teach her or his successor how best to fulfill the duties of the office. Failure to do so may jeopardize the officer’s right to hold office in the future. All officers are subject to immediate recall.

I also touched base with the professor I’m courting to be our faculty advisor. Glaisma Perez-Silva taught a fantastic Puerto Rican history course last semester. She’s very clearly a leftist and feminist, and also a practicioner of Santera. The first day of class she recognized me from La Paloma Sabanera Coffee House and Bookstore, the local Lefty/Latino haunt. So, she’s on my short list of favorite faculty, and she seems to know a lot of the right people, which will hopefully help with the development of Capital SDS. Anyway, she seems interested, and I’m going to drop by tomorrow and talk to her.

Last week I also started participating in the SDS Chapters committee, which has formed to assist chapters in formation and build stronger ties between chapters. On the agenda is creating a guide to campus activism, and setting up regional ‘Action Camps’ this summer to build solidarity, cooperation and foster important skills. The guide will begin as an online compilation of resources, and within a couple of years we will publish a comphrehensive book, by SDS, through AK Press. Very exciting.

Paul Buhle, our good friend and MDSer at Brown University is beginning to plan his upcoming tour, much in the same vain as the Traveling Wobbly Show, which will showcase the new graphic novel portraying the Sixties SDS organization at the chapter level, as opposed to most histories of SDS which talk mostly of the leadership and national affairs. The tour and book release will be this September, and you can count on at least a couple of stops in CT.

And of course it’s the birthday of MLK, SDS, and me. I was going to treat myself to an IWW picket today in NYC, but I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and I was going to have to leave at 5:30 this morning. But hey, a day off is a day off, no matter what you’re doing. Don’t know if my dear loved ones are going to take me out or something, but I’ve got three days off. So, not a big deal.

But speaking of the IWW, I just paid all my back dues so I’ll be able to promote the union and sign people up when I table at school. One of these days the IWW shall come again to CT, as it once did in the state’s various industrial centers like Hartford, Bridgeport, Middletown, Willimantic, New Haven and elsewhere.