***This is a reportback from the Diablo Valley College SDS chapter in CA about a recent outreach trip to another college nearby. ***
REPORT SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
Three DVC-SDS members, RH, Ambika and Lawler, met with Roger Wilkins from Richmond Peace and Freedom Party to leaflet at Contra Costa College in San Pablo on September 16. Approximately 1,000 flyers were passed out.
A special flyer was made that had 3 main points:
1) advertising for the free film showing of “Press for Truth,” the 9/11 documentary exposing the official story as a cover up. The film will be shown 6 days later at the “Richmond Progressive Alliance” headquarters and is sponsored by PFP, RPA and SDS.
2) promoting the big “Justice for Oscar Grant” demonstration in Oakland on October 23rd as well as the “outreach” committee to build it.
3) a general promotion of the October 7th “National Day of Action to Defend Public Education.”
Our leaflet tied into this theme by having the back page of the flyer show pictures of CCC students making picket signs for a CCC campus rally, cosponsored by SDS last semester on 3-18-10.
FREE SPEECH INSISTED UPON
We (SDS) had been to CCC several times the previous semester to distribute literature. The first time we had a lengthy stand off with the campus police who tried to stop us from passing out flyers. We stood our ground and eventually forced the cops to admit we were within our protected 1st Amendment rights. We pointed out to the CCC student government how 1st Amendment rights are routinely abused there. We also were in the middle of an eventually victorious campaign with the SSCCC (Statewide Community College Student Government) to demand 1st Amendment rights statewide. The point being that we have ahd an ongoing battle with administration and cops around the right to leaflet issue. They generally try to intimidate people into not using their rights. This time was no exception.
We had not been there more than five minutes when the new administrative advisor to the student government came out to the quad and told us we needed to bring all our literature in to get approved and “stamped” before we could pass it out.
We disputed this contention as a violation of the 1st Amendment. We had a number of SDS and PFP leaflets and pamphlets spread out over our SDS banner laid out over a concrete bench as an impromptu literature table.
We said we had no objection to her looking at or stamping our literature but we did not need “approval” and we basically ignored her and went on distributing as she took one each of about a dozen pieces of literature back to her office for inspection. About 20 minutes later the student body president Joseph Camacho returned with the stamped literature and had a conversation with RH about the campus “policy” of prior approval. RH had met Camacho before at several CCC AS meetings, and Camacho recalled last semesters incident between SDS and the campus police. He said it was his job to enforce campus “policy” but after a conversation with RH, he admitted it was unreasonable to ask that every leaflet passed out be stamped, and admitted that “campus policy” might be a violation of the 1st Amendment and promised to look into and correct it. he offered no further resistance to our efforts.
FERTILE GROUND
CCC campus is part of the 3 campus district in Contra Costa County, which includes DVC and LMC (Los Medanos College) in Pittsburg. CCC has about 10,000 enrolled students, the smallest of the 3 campuses, and is located in Richmond, the most economically distressed city (95,000 pop.) in the Bay Area. CCC students are predominantly students of color, approximately 50% Black, 30% Latino. Students responded well to the energietic and friendly leafletting approach. RH uses the “carnival barker” method, calling out catchy “memes” such as “Justice for Oscar Grant,” “Stop the Fee Hikes,” “Stop the Budget Cuts,” “SDS in the House Today,” “Bob Marley says: Emancipate yourself from Mental Slavery,” while offering out thrust leaflets, while making eye contact with confidence. At CCC about 90% of the students took RH’s flyer. The SDS women, with a friendly but possibly less dramatic method did even better. Ambika gathered most of the 12 contacts who signed up for SDS. She found that most people were friendly and many wanted to talk about the issues. Lawler,friendly and confident was a leafletting machine, moving mass quantities.
A young white woman, Charity E., who remembered RH from previous SDS excursions approached us to tell us she was the president of a new campus club called “Today’s Students, Tomorrows Leaders” (TSTL) and to invite us to their upcoming campus meeting and discussion of “snitching”? It might be a good idea to check them out. We could send in people early for Wednesday’s movie to go to their forum.
Later in the day, another “sister” invited us to her “social problems” class, bought several pamphlets, including “Socialism for Beginners,” gave us a small donation and took a stack of leaflets to pass out.
Jim Gardner who was an original SDS member, back in the day, came out and greeted us. Jim is the elder statesman and only white guy on the student council. He is a student/worker in the automotive education division. He was being honored that day for his role in taking the automotive division “green.” Jim responded to our leafleting last semester and showed up to our Richmond off campus public meeting on “Healthcare: Reform or Deform.” He also came out to DVC for an SDS meeting last semester. Jim invited us to an AS Meet you Student Representatives,” gathering, which RH went to later on in the day and Jim thanked SDS for staying in contact with him. Jim could play a roll in establishing a CCC chapter of SDS.
Another “sister,” Sharqwn, had a long talk with us, expressing her disillusionment with Obama and indicated her father was a former Black Panther. She was eager to read our flyer from SDS Ambassador and former Panther Larry Pinkney. She also signed the contact list.
A young Chinese student, Sam, was extremely interested, took every piece of literature we had to offer and even showed back up for the 6:00 PFP Central Committee meeting in the cafeteria that evening.
FACULTY
We also flyered the Liberal Arts Faculty offices. One office door to our surprise had an SDS leaflet from last year as a decoration and it wasn’t Jeffrey Michael’s door. Jeffrey Michels is the “United Faculty” President (strong DVC SDS ally) who teaches at CCC has expressed his willingness to be an SDS faculty advisor for CCC SDS. At the student “Meet your Reps” gathering, which was attended by more faculty and administrators than students (only 5 or 6). The Faculty Senate President, a ponytailed, hip-looking older white guy (whose name escapes me) approached RH. He remembered RH and SDS from the March 18, 2010 CCC rally and the “March in March” in Sacramento. He was very friendly and happy to see RH. He wanted to enlist SDS support in a challenge to district imposed cuts and unfair fees. RH told him that DVC SDS Vice President Keith Montes was on the “District Governance Board” and he was eager to connect with him. The openness of the Faculty Senate President to approach SDS for help, shows that SDS must have a good reputation as activists that can get things done!
STUDENT GOVERNMENT MEETING
During the first interaction with CCCAS President Camacho, RH asked if the student government met today-yes 3:00 pm. RH asked to address them on the October 7th National Day of Action and October 30th S.F. State Student Conference. Camacho stated that he regretted that today’s agenda was full because the CCC President and Vice President were having a special presentation to the Board about the budget and upcoming cuts, but he offered RH time to speak at the next meeting. RH replied that he would be happy to use the “Public Comment” time to address the board. The Brown Act mandates “public comment” time at all meetings.
RH used his 2 minutes to identify himself as a former DVC Student Body President, Contra Costa County PFP Co-Chair and SDS organizer, then went into the need to build on the 15,000 strong actions of March 4th and the “March in March.” “We either continue to build the movement and go forward or we fall back,” he said. He spoke of the importance of October 7th National Day of Action and the October 30 and 31 student conference in SF State. He encouraged CCC student leaders to endorse and get involved. When finished he received a loud ovation from he Board who had all received several pieces of our literature from fellow SDS member Ambika before RH’s comments. It was a short, sweet and effective intervention.
Later the Campus President and Vice President gave a lengthy and detailed presentation on the budget woes facing CCC. Cuts in funding mean cuts in services, layoffs and bigger class sizes. A general decline in the quality of all educational opportunities. Lacking any proactive solutions to get more money from the state or federal government these administrators offered “entrepreneurial” solutions like asking for more educational bonds (which borrows money from the bank’s and have the community pay back the banks with heavy interest payments on top). This just pushes the pain onto the next generations but the banks get paid.
Another proposed solution was to follow in the footsteps of DVC and start catering to wealthy foreign students that pay $108 per unit. These international students are seen as money pots. CCC has “recruiters” working their way through Asia looking for them. But CCC’s problem is, unlike DVC’s Camelback Apartments in Pleasant Hill. CCC has no “safe” housing in the depressed neighborhood of color of San Pablo. So administrators are proposing a multi-million dollar project to provide housing for international students-so while domestic services for black, brown, red, yellow and white students are being slashed and cut, money is being diverted for the anticipated needs of wealthy foreign students. The “community” needs of community colleges are losing ground to “privatization” and the needs of foreign students who wont stay in the community after they graduate.
The presenting administrators seemed unable to figure out why student enrollment at CCC dipped last semester. But student board member,Jim Gardener, pointedly suggested that cuts to student services and programs probably had something to do with it.
This sobering, bleak presentation certainly underscored the SDS message of the need for a powerful proactive student movement to fight budget cuts at their source. And after the meeting AS President Camacho approached SDS members to say that student government would try to combine October 7th Day of Action with their “Rock the Vote” program already scheduled for October 7th.
ROCK THE VOTE
Several students who remembered how RH had held the politicians “feet to the fire” at a similar event last semester, asked him to come to the ”Rock the Vote” event this semester on October 7th and do it again. During the administrator presentation on budget cuts, a shocking fact was revealed. The local Chevron refinery (Richmond is an oil refinery town) got a judge to rule that Chevron had paid too much in taxes and now CCC must pay Chevron $80,000. How crazy, backward and wrong is that, students must suffer to pay a megabillion corporation?
SDS and PFP have been working with the Richmond Progressive Alliance to force Chevron to pay their fair share in taxes. Richmond’s Mayor Gayle McCloughlin is in the “Green Party” and is under attack from the two big business parties (Democrats and Republicans) who would like to return back to the days of complete corporate control of the mayors office and city council. This “Rock the Vote” event at CCC could be a good venue for RPA to reach students with their message.
CONCLUSION
DVC SDS members who rode “Tecumseh’s Horse” to CCC all agreed that, with a little more work and a few more visits, an SDS chapter at CCC can be built. With local allies in the community, (PFP and RPA) we are in a good position to make it happen.
