Editorial: Three Types of Campus Activism Work

 

(Source: "Justin Whelan" by Kate Ausburn via Flickr)

Within the university context, there are three communities: students, faculty and staff. However, once one has a basic understanding of how these communities work together to govern the university (a.k.a., the "shared governance" model), then one can still find it difficult to identify how one can participate in shaping the university to reflect his values. 

Therefore, this article will introduce three types of activism work that I have noticed in my years observing campus activity. I hope these types will illuminate a path for the reader of greater participation within his campus community and towards influencing the institution for his values.

So without further adieu, let us introduce the three basic forms of campus activism. 

In my observation of campus advocacy over the years, I have noticed three types of campus activism: compliance work, legislative work and public education work. 

An effective campus advocate will be familiar with all three forms so that he can both serve his cause and influence his campus environment for his values. 

So, let us explore the three types of campus activism work. We will start first with compliance work. 

Compliance Work

Compliance work is the act of identifying an applicable law or regulation and ensuring that an entity complies with the law.

For example, in my work investigating UT-Tyler’s speech codes while a student in 2016, and with the help of the free speech advocacy group The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), I discovered some of the University’s speech codes might be overly broad and might actually include definitions that apply to protected speech in their definitions of harassing speech.

For example, in 2016, UT-Tyler’s definition of verbal harassment definition included a list of examples of harassing speech that would not necessarily constitute verbal harassment according to U.S. Supreme Court definitions, FIRE found. Instead, it stated that “insults, ridicule [and] personal attacks” constituted speech that could subject a student to university sanction. I felt that a malicious person could use these speech codes to get the University to wrongfully censure an opponent, so I asked the Chief Student Affairs Officer to correct the definitions in the policy. 

Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, as the speech codes did not blatantly violate Supreme Court case law. However, my experience illustrates the four stages of compliance work I have identified: 

1) research, 

2) measure, 

3) identify, and 

4) advocate.

For instance, to participate in compliance work, one must first research the applicable law. Then, he must measure the entity’s compliance with this law. Third, he must identify gaps in the entity’s compliance with the law. Finally, he must compel decision-makers to comply with the law with reason and persuasion. 

These are the four stages of compliance work as I have identified them.

What issue are you passionate about? What laws exist to uphold this issue or the values that support it?  
Perhaps you are the next person to champion your issue at your university through compliance work. 

Compliance work is an important type of campus activism.

Next, let us examine legislative work.

Legislative Work

Legislative work is the practice of using positional authority or participation within collective decision-making body to enact, reform or repeal laws that affect a particular issue. One must be a member of a legislative body, such as student government or an campus advisory board, to do legislative work. These individuals use their positions to influence their entity’s decision-making authority for their values.

For example, in 2016, a group of student government members persuaded student government to adopt a tobacco-free policy as an advocacy position with the University. Once these won student government’s support, they then lobbied the University to adopt the same policy by using student government’s advocacy power to pressure the administration to adopt the tobacco-free policy. 

These student government members’ work inside student government as an institution demonstrate what I call legislative work. They used their positions within student government to first get the student assembly to do what they wanted it to do (adopt the tobacco-free policy). Then they used student government to levy influence against the larger institution (the University) as members of student government. Both instances are examples of legislative work. 

People who engage in legislative work usually seek decision-making power within an entity, such as an advisory board or an oversight committee, something with decision-making authority. Then they use these positions to shape the story that entity tells in the broader policy conversation. This comes through leveraging this positional power to move the authoritative body towards adoption of one's values. 

One hallmark of legislative power is its legitimacy. Individuals who leverage legislative power in this context have a type of legitimacy to their actions due to their official representative position in entity, whether it is on the board, committee, or oversight body. Given the entity's official authority within a governance apparatus, its members' advocacy has a type of legitimacy due to their official position within the entity.  

If you are wondering if this work might be for you, then know that people in legislative work generally have both soft and technical skills that help them succeed. On the soft skills side, these individuals instinctively know how influence others' opinions. Practically, this means they know how to give speeches (or would be willing to, if they could) and ask other people to support them (if they needed). Most importantly, they know how to campaign for office (or would be willing to learn). 

Technically, these individuals know parliamentary procedure, such as Roberts Rules of Order (or could if they tried to learn), as well as both how to write and file potential legislation according to procedure. These individuals do not have to have all of both skills. Most importantly, they just at least have to be aware of others around them as consensus-building is key to successful legislation. 

If you feel this kind of work interests you, or if you would like to try it, then consider doing some legislative work within your university. Consider applying for student government, volunteering on a student advisory committee, such as The Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC) or Campus Activities Board, or instead something smaller, such as on a student government committee. 

If you are unsure where to start, then ask the student body president for recommendations.

This is what I call legislative work and it is an important type of campus activism.  

Public Education

Finally, public education work is the effort to change public opinion through education and public awareness campaigns. 

The student group that distributes literature from a table on the campus sidewalk is an example of public education work. The group does this to persuade others about the benefits of vaccinations and ultimately to support them as public policy. Another example is the anti-vaccination group that distributes literature about the dangers of vaccination (or whatever). The point is, public education work, whatever the issue, is an attempt to persuade the public to adopt a particular cause through efforts at public awareness and education. Activists distribute literature, have conversations, deliver group presentations, and utilize many other forms of communication to promote awareness and education about their cause.

While it is a common practice for national advocates to use the college campus as a setting for advocacy about national issues, in the campus setting, I have found public education work most effective for local, campus-specific issues rather than national issues. In this case, when advocates focus on national issues, such as the national debt, government waste, war policies and others, these are often mostly academic discussions as they have little immediate relevance to students' lives. 

However, when a student talks about campus parking, student fee rates and designated tuition, these are issues that college students deal with nearly every day. Advocacy on these issues is more likely to result in a movement than national issues are in a local setting. Campus issues remain relevant year and year in the campus setting. They have "staying power" while national advocacy's impact often leaves with each graduating class that experienced it and with passing national fads. 

I have found that campus advocates have a better chance at forming a lasting movement when they confine their advocacy to campus issues. This type of activism is most effective in a college setting when the advocacy and education are about issues that are immediately relevant to the campus environment. So it is important to use public education work for causes that will convert into a tangible movement, which will be more likely to reform the immediate environment. A campus advocate's  public education work yields the best results when he employs it for local, campus issues, rather than passing national fads.  

This is public education work and is an important part of campus activism.

So, if you are willing to talk to new people, and often about the same topic repeatedly (whether student fees, abandoned stairwells, pedestrian safety or any of the like), or if you like getting out there and talking with passersby on the sidewalk, then perhaps you would like to do  public education work for your cause. 

Conclusion 

These are the three ways a student activist can influence campus: compliance work, legislative work and public education work. An effective campus advocate will be familiar with all three forms of activism so he can influence his campus for his values.  

Feature Image: "Justin Whelan" by Kate Ausburn via Flickr