Second California Student Union Conference « CA Student Union

Second California Student Union Conference « CA Student Union:

Second California Student Union Conference

POSTED BY CASTUDENTUNION ⋅ OCTOBER 3, 2012

FILED UNDER  CONFERENCE

Unite to Fight for Public Education! 
Come to the Statewide Student Union & Movement-Building Conference!

REGISTER NOW!

What: Statewide Student Union Movement-Building Conference
When: Saturday, October 20, 2012, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: UC Berkeley, Dwinelle Hall 145
Who: Anyone who cares about public education!
Campus Map | Facebook Event Page | More Info

Questions & concerns, contact >> students4ademocraticuniversity@gmail.com

Email CA Student Union Purpose & Structure Proposals to >> castudentunion@gmail.com
Submission Guidelines | Sample Proposal

*** About the Conference ***

Occupy Education is hosting a statewide conference on Saturday, October 20, 2012 to lay the groundwork for a statewide student union to fight for public education at all levels (K-12, AdultEd, CC, CSU, and UC). We will also consider immediate strategies and actions to stem the barrage of cuts and longer-term strategies to restore funding for education. We have been gathering to strategize our defense of public education for the last three years, and are further inspired by the student movements in Chile, Quebec, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

At the last conference, held at Santa Monica College in May 2012, we agreed on beginning to organize around the spirit of guiding principles and mandates (below). During this next conference, we hope to lay the groundwork to build a base of student activists, organizers, and defenders of public education across all levels of public education and all regions of California. We invite students, teachers, workers, and parents from all levels of education, along with anyone else who wants to work toward the education system California deserves, to join us on October 20 and help us build the coalition that will take us there.

*** Why work together? ***

Today we live in a national climate of austerity. The survival of public education, the institution we count on to prepare us and our children for a productive adult life, is now seriously under threat. We have seen painful cuts and fee increases at all levels of education. Yearly tuition at both UCs and CSUs have TRIPLED since 2003, pricing countless promising young people out of a quality education, or forcing them deep into debt. Per pupil spending at California’s K-12 schools has fallen from 23rd in the nation to 35th in only four years and at a time when education budgets are being slashed across the country. It is up to us, students, workers, teachers, and parents to defend and restore our once unparalleled public education system and ensure that all Californians get the education they deserve.

We can’t all do this alone! There is resistance to these attacks from all corners and all levels of education, but we can’t work in isolation. If we each restrict our efforts to an individual school or school system, we might be able to cope better with the cuts we receive, but the cuts will continue to be passed down from Sacramento and Washington D.C. nonetheless. California is a wealthy state, but it is up to each of us to make sure that a sane fraction of our resources ends up the classroom.

*** Conference Goals ***

We expect to have inclusive discussions with students and groups from different colleges and different levels of organizing, to achieve the following three goals:
- Discuss and vote on a draft of principles and goals
- Decide on concrete next steps in the formation of a viable statewide student union
- Concretize the actions we will take this Fall against new cuts, fee hikes, and school closures that have been announced

We invite students and student groups from all campuses to come prepared with proposals for
1) actions this Fall
2) next steps needed to build a student union (structure, education, logistics, etc.)