Grinnell Activism Center Proposal

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Endorse the proposal here!

This proposal is the result of about a month of work by 2+ dozen students, staff and faculty. It is a work in progress by all means, but after two brainstorming meetings and several smaller working group meetings, these are some of the things we've come up with.

Please also see http://web.grinnell.edu/individuals/davislin/ac/. >> These are documents related to the planning of the Center, including meeting minutes, emails and a copy of the email list.

This site is a wiki—like Wikipedia—which means that anyone who wishes to edit things here is free to do so. All changes will be tracked, and past versions of the proposal can be seen by clicking on the "history" tab (above).

'''Before you revise this! :''' Please consider whether or not your revision could be controversial. If it is likely to be, please leave a note explaining the change (this can always be removed later) and/or discuss it first with other people involved by clicking on the "discussion" tab (above).

The Proposal
Proposal to Create an Activism Center on the Grinnell College Campus

To: VP for Student Services Tom Crady, President Russell K. Osgood, SGA President-Elect Chris Hall CC: Everyone! From: (please see below) Contact: Until we get an email account, email is informally being directed through Linn at [mailto:davislin@grinnell.edu davislin@grinnell.edu]. Other email contacts include Latona [mailto:giwalato@grinnell.edu giwalato@grinnell.edu], Ben [mailto:klooster@grinnell.edu klooster@grinnell.edu] and Adam [mailto:barretta@grinnell.edu barretta@grinnell.edu].

The sections labeled "Structure," "Location," "Funding" and "Outreach" are based upon the meetings of working groups organized on each of those topics.

Background/Purpose
The purpose of the Center would be to provide a physical space that would support and coordinate the activities of activist groups and individuals on the Grinnell College campus and in town.

We foresee the Center as a hub for activity, rather than as a typical group. This would include the coordination, tracking and advertising of events as well as support for organizing efforts. This might also include support for groups or individuals bringing special programs to campus, such as trainings, for which there is no group already established.

The Center would help to manage material resources as well as an activism library and central record-keeping system for activism groups. The Center would help to sustain projects and groups over many years.

As an integral part of coordinating activism across campus is giving activists a space to find and interact with one another, we seek to include in the Center a comfortable space for activists to spend time together. Temporary Note: This use of the space has yet to be widely discussed.

We envision an open and welcoming community, and we believe that an "activist" group or person is self-defined. Therefore, we encourage anyone who defines her/himself as an activist to be involved in the Center and make use of the resources available there.

In order to make the Center connected to the wider Grinnell community and the outside world, we plan to include outreach as a central feature of the Center. We would work to coordinate the activities of students, faculty, staff and the Grinnell community.

(Temporary Section) Name of the Center Adam [mailto:barretta@grinnell.edu barretta@grinnell.edu] and Ben [mailto:klooster@grinnell.edu klooster@grinnell.edu] hosted a meeting to discuss possible names on Wed., April 26. Those present first settled that, due to time constraints, we would have to name the organization managing the center now and decide on the name for the space itself later. The names for the organization were narrowed to the Activist Resource Center (ARC), The Grinnell Center for Activism (GCA), and The Voicebox Network (or simply The Voicebox). It was also settled that the space itself would either take one of those names or be named for a distinguished social actor. The names are all currently up for consideration by Grinnell at large.

Structure
We believe in creating a system of governance that is feasible, sustainable and as non-hierarchical as possible. We do not want to see the Center run by one or two people, but we recognize that the Center needs some sort of organizational structure in order take care of its basic needs and function smoothly.

Components/Offerings This is neither a comprehensive nor a fully agreed upon list of potential components of the Center. These are simply ideas of things we would like to see in a future Center.
 * Public bulletin board
 * Large, well-maintained event calendar
 * Activist library
 * Filing cabinet and online access to centralized activist group/project records
 * Email address and office space for centralized communication
 * Fax machine, printer and copier nearby, as well as a dedicated computer and phone
 * Well-maintained lists of Grinnell activists, media contacts and activist groups at other colleges
 * Couch, comfy chairs and/or sitting cushions §
 * Banner-making materials §
 * Check-out materials including such things as megaphones, clipboards, flag poles, etc. §
 * To-Do list of all the stuff we mean to do

§ Offerings that are lowest priorities, particularly in the first year of the Center (Please see discussion here.)

Make-Up of the Coordinating Committee Governance of the Center would be by a Coordinating Committee with representatives from as many groups as would like to participate. We recommend that each group only send one representative, but if a group wants to send zero or two representatives, that is fine as well. The Committee would also be open to any interested individuals, including staff, faculty and community members. We foresee the Committee being somewhat self-selecting, although keeping the number of committee members to around 10 or 12 is advisable. If the number of people on the Committee becomes overwhelming, this will be an issue for the Committee to address.

Positions on the Committee The Committee would include two part-time paid administrative assistants, who would maintain the daily, mundane operations of the Center. However, they would serve at the pleasure of the Committee as a whole. (Significant decisions would be left to the Committee, and the administrative assistants would participate in these decisions as Committee members, rather than on their own.) The duties of the administrative assistants would include the following:
 * Maintain email account and be a sort of "switchboard" through which email contact would be coordinated
 * Assist in caring for the Center's physical space (e.g. clean up, stock paper)
 * Coordinate volunteer monitors of the Center (see below)
 * Coordinate reservations for the use of Center space for meetings and other activities
 * Maintain and solicit contributions to the large events calendar in the Center, so that it is current and well-used
 * (perhaps) Manage budget (see below)
 * (perhaps) Work with Liason person (see below) to track events and help promote them among other activists and the campus

The Committee also would include several defined volunteer positions divided among its members. There has been disagreement about the specific nature of these, but several possible positions are listed below. We expect them to become more solidified as the Committee begins meeting.

All positions on the Committee would be rotated by semester. One idea is to make them yearlong positions but offset by a semester, so there would be overlap. This could help create more continuity from semester to semester.

Volunteer Duties of the Committee Members As aforementioned, this is a list of ideas, not solidified positions. § Suggested additions to the duties of the Mundane People (administrators). Although this may be something for the Committee to simply define for itself, if you'd like to discuss this, please click here. † This position points to the hot debate on whether or not the Center ought to act like a student group in some situations or not. Although it seems likely that this position will be left out of the proposal, the debate over whether or not the Center should sponsor events is certainly up for discussion.
 * Liason
 * Maintain contact with groups at other schools
 * Promote contact/sharing/coordination between students, faculty, staff and community
 * Librarian/Check-Out
 * Manage check-out system for books, videos, megaphones and whatever else is available for checking-out to students
 * Track overdue materials
 * Solicit donations and manage purchasing of new materials, based on input from the Committee and greater activist community
 * Historian
 * Gather past records of Grinnell activist groups and project in a central filing cabinet and/or online
 * Continue to collect records from current activist activities
 * Keep records organized and available for use
 * Budget §
 * Secure funding for Center operations and purchases, preferably from more than one source
 * Track all purchases and regularly report to the group
 * Draft future itemized budgets, based upon the Committee's decisions
 * Assist groups and individuals in finding funding for their activities
 * Coordination of Events/Newsletter/Calendar/Emails §
 * Trainings/Events Organizer (particularly controversial) †
 * Organize trainings and other general activist events that don't fit under any other group's mission
 * Such events would likely feature many alumni, faculty, staff, community members and students
 * Work with SGA and other committees/groups to help bring activist-oriented speakers and artists to campus
 * Assist groups and individuals in organizing such events

Volunteer Monitors Volunteer monitors, similar to those who monitor the SRC, would be solicit from groups and individuals who use the Center. Although the Center would remain open throughout the day, a volunteers would monitor the Center during peak hours (likely afternoon and evening).

In order to cut down on lost items, the library and other check-out materials would only be available while a monitor is on hand. Monitors would be responsible for properly recording all check-outs, so that they could be easily maintained by the Mundane People.

>> Structure group organized by Caitlin [mailto:carmodyc@grinnell.edu carmodyc@grinnell.edu]

Location
In the course of planning for the Center, we have considered a number of potential physical locations, including, Disadvantages of the Campus Center space included its lack of character, its lack of privacy. However, the other options would not allow anyone but students to access the Center and have other accessibility disadvantages. A Campus Center space, on the other hand, would provide more visibility, allow easy access and be near the highest concentration of campus activity.
 * An off-campus house
 * A currently vacant pit room/lounge
 * The student group space in the Campus Center

After two meetings with Tom Crady, we are encouraged that the administration is open to allowing us space on the east side of the third floor of the Campus Center. We believe this demonstrates the College's commitment to activism on campus. Currently, we have been offered the small group meeting space (unknown dimensions) near the north/middle of the building. According to Mr. Crady, such a space would be outfitted with a desk, computer, book shelves and filing cabinets. A library would be feasible, he said. There is a very large meeting space just south of this room, which would include a copier, fax and printer.

(The following items are rather controversial...at least that was my impression) While we are very thankful to Mr. Crady for offering us this space, we believe there are some reasons why a larger space would make more sense for our purpose. Therefore, we are requesting the Center include both the small and large meeting rooms because,
 * Although both rooms would be called part of the Activism Center, we would allow any group to use the resources there.
 * There is a large amount of meeting space in other parts of the Campus Center; it is not necessary that every group have access to this particular space.
 * There is currently no plan for how to manage reservations and use of this space, and the Center would have the ability to manage this space.
 * The components of the Center will take up more room than the small meeting space will allow.

Another item on the table has been to request an additional satellite space wherein materials could be stored and more "underground" activities could be undertaken. The idea last on the table was to recognize this as a need but push for one public space at the start rather than two.

(Please feel free to discuss these two controversial points here.)

>> Location group organized by Christina [mailto:reynold4@grinnell.edu reynold4@grinnell.edu]

Funding
We are determined to find sufficient funding in order to accomplish two goals,
 * to get the Center off to a strong start with all the necessary materials, and
 * to preserve the continuity of the Center and expand the resources available to activist groups, the student body and interested faculty/staff.

Initially, we expect to need money to cover the costs of various supplies, such as paper and ink for banners, posters, letters, calendars, tape, envelopes and stamps. We hope to fund these items, as well as others indeterminable in these planning stages, with money from the SGA "slush fund," as well as other sources, such as the Student Activities Fund and grants.

Future expenses will include, but not be limited to, After establishing the Center as a viable resource, we hope to receive more stable funding from Student Affairs and/or SGA. Additional financial support may come from fundraising efforts designed to fill the additional need of spreading the word for our cause (t-shirt sales, benefit concerts, dry Harris parties, etc.).
 * Two paid student positions
 * Restocking the items listed above as needed
 * (controversial) Speakers and alumni brought to campus for symposiums and lectures
 * Any other miscellaneous costs

(A fully itemized budget likely will be added within the week.)

>> Funding group organized by Emily [mailto:reiersga@grinnell.edu reiersga@grinnell.edu]

Outreach
The aim of the Center's outreach would be to supplement material resources with the ability to contact a wide array of activists and media sources. These would include students at other schools, alumni, faculty and community members. With these open lines of communication, the sharing of information, advice and coordination of events can be made easier and more effective. This would make it possible for Grinnell's activism to expand beyond the boundaries of the campus alone.

The implementation of an outreach system includes compiling a list of contacts that could be accessed by a multitude of Grinnell organizers. The list could be utilized when sending out emails and newsletters regarding events and programs, both within Iowa and without. The list may include,
 * students at other schools who are organizing around similar issues or have experience in activism
 * faculty who are knowledgeable and interested in specific subjects
 * alumni
 * Student-faculty coordinating committees such as the Rosenfield Program Committee, Peace Studies Program Committee and the Center for Prarie Studies
 * Other Grinnell community members
 * Grinnell College staff
 * high school students and faculty
 * local government leaders
 * and more!

Beyond this ally contact list, there is the possibility for an array of different methods of outreach including,
 * creating ties with local media
 * writing for various Grinnell publications

Through outreach, we hope to help activists think and organize both on a larger scale, as well as on a campus-based scale and provide them with the means to do so.

>> Outreach group organized by Dayna [mailto:hamannda@grinnell.edu hamannda@grinnell.edu]

Endorsements
In an effort to show broad support for this idea, we're trying to collect as many names of groups and individuals as possible. If you like the ideas described in this proposal, we'd love to have your support, as well as information so we may contact you in the future.

It's true that this proposal is editable, so the details may be revised, but the general ideas of the Center won't change.

Groups: Please include the following: #) Group name ~ Contact info 1) Poverty Action Now - pan@grinnell.edu

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Individuals: Please include as much of the following as you're willing: #) Name ~ Relationship to Grinnell Col. ~ Contact info/Location Groups involved in ~ Interest in activism and this center Example: a) Ben Howvya '75 ~ alum ~ howvyaben@freemail.org; 900.474.6635; SF, CA Alumni Council ~ I sell birdseed out of my car...1900 miles from Grinnell, so I won't be able to offer you any of my talents. That said, I wish you the best, and I'm putting 15 pounds of birdseed in the mail tomorrow.

1) Ben Weyl '07 ~ weylbenj@grinnell.edu Free The Planet, Campus Democrats

2) Adam Barrett '08 ~ student ~ barretta@grinnell.edu FTP, Amnesty

3) Cat Pierro '08 ~ pierroca@grinnell.edu

4) Latona Giwa '09 ~ giwalato@grinnell.edu LASG, SAS, SRC, STAND

5) Linn Davis '08 ~ student ~ davislin@grinnell.edu Peace Studies, EcoCampus, formerly SCIPE, SGA

6) George Drake '56 ~ Professor and President Emeritus

7) Clare Patterson '08 ~ Patterso [at] grinnell [dot] edu STAND, SCIPE & SGA (Election Board)

8) Caroline Rodriguez ~ '08 ~ student ~ rodrigu2@grinnell.edu Students for Choice and Sexual Education, formerly FTP

9) Emily Reiersgaard '08 ~ reiersga@grinnell.edu

10) Mark Root-Wiley '09 ~ rootwile@grinnell.edu

11) Theresa Bruckner '06 ~ brucknet@grinnell.edu Feminist Action Coalition (FAC)

12) Jamie Zwiebel '08 ~ zwiebelj@grinnell.edu The Salad, Amnesty, GCCF

13) Maurie Kathan '08 ~ kathanma@grinnell.edu Free the Planet

14) Christina Reynolds '08 ~ reynold4@grinnell.edu SCIPE

15) Chris Neubert '08 ~ neubertc@grinnell.edu Amnesty, Student Staff

16) Megan Straughan '07 ~ straugh1@grinnell.edu Social Justice Action Group (SJAG), Poverty Action Now

17) Fiona M. Martin '08 ~ martinfi [at] grinnell.edu Free the Planet, and formerly Grinnellians for Economic and Social Diversity

18) Erica Garrecht-Williams '08 ~ garrecht@grinnell.edu Free the Planet, Student Staff, Prison Writers Workshop, Alternative Break

19) Jon Henry '07 ~ henryjon@grinnell.edu Free the Planet

20) Laura LaBedz '06 ~ Student ~ labedzla@gmail.com Former member of Free the Planet and the Campus Democrats and former co-leader of Feminist Action Coalition. Once wrote an article for the Salad.

21) Caitlin Carmody-student-carmodyc@grinnell.edu

22)Rebecca McLaughlin - student - mclaugh2@grinnell.edu Alternative Break, Social Justice Action Group, Poverty Action Now

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