After Protests, Education Activists Strategize
New America Media, News Feature, Nadia Prupis, Posted: Mar 17, 2010 
OAKLAND, Calif.--Ten days after statewide actions against tuition hikes and budget cuts to California’s schools and colleges, a group of activists gathered during a day-long session of planning and strategizing the next steps.
Some 30 student leaders, professors, and organizers gathered at the School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) in Oakland, to talk about action beyond the protests, comprehensive education reform, and who to build on the momentum of statewide protests for the future. SOUL was founded in 1996 during protests against UC Berkeley’s plans to cut affirmative action measures. Every Sunday, organizers meet there to discuss campaigns and strategies.
Aaron Buchbinder, a second-year grad student at San Francisco State University, is one of those organizers. He will graduate this spring with a Master's in social work, but his concentration, Social Action and Change, is in danger of being cut. Buchbinder, helped lead a protest in San Francisco as a member of the Students Faculty Staff United coalition on his campus. His agenda included discussion of alternatives to the budget cuts and ways to galvanize the student body.
“At SOUL, we're inspired by the mobilization towards educational justice,” said lead trainer Nefertiti Altan. “We wanted a space for people to reflect. How do we keep this momentum going? How do we continue that movement?”
Educational activism at SOUL includes a short history lesson and a look at current issues and problems. Kim Geron, professor of political science at Cal State East Bay, noted that the effort to create education in this nation was “a huge fight.
“Harvard opened as an elite university before elementary schools were established,” Geron said. “And the initial push for public higher education was meant for white middle class students.” In the late 1960s, Geron explained, activism focused on expanding admissions to public universities. Today, Geron said, accessibility is still an issue, but affordability comes first.
Liz Hall, executive director of the University of California Student Association (UCSA), said that California has broken the promise of a free