Young Democrats’ Superdelegate Endorses Obama

May 12, 2008 in Politics, Student Power, Students | by | 1 comment

The national organizations of the Young Democrats of America and College Democrats of America will each send two superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Until now, all four of those superdelegates have remained uncommitted, but today YDA’s Crystal Strait announced for Obama.

<b>Correction, May 19:</b> YDA has three superdelegates. Two of the three have endorsed — Strait chose Obama, as noted above, and Francisco Domenech endorsed Clinton in January. YDA president David Hardt has announced that he will make no endorsement before the end of the primaries.

Wichita Student Newspaper Update

May 12, 2008 in Administration, Campus Press, Civil Liberties, Student Government | by | Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago we reported that a “task force” appointed by a vice president of Wichita State University would be reviewing the operational and editorial practices of the WSU student newspaper, the Sunflower. It was announced that the paper’s student government funding for the upcoming fiscal year would not be disbursed until that review was complete.

That task force has now been appointed, and several other developments have taken place.

The task force will be made up of two students, two administrators, two faculty members, and the university’s general counsel.

Outgoing editor Todd Vogts attended the first task force meeting last week and said afterward that the faculty members seemed to be taking a stand in support of the newspaper’s first amendment rights.

In a potentially significant development, the university’s president has pledged that Sunflower funding will be disbursed as originally scheduled, and will not be contingent on the task force’s findings as originally announced. 

The task force will meet again in the fall.

Ohio Students Sit-In for Ancient Greek

May 11, 2008 in Campus Protests, Curriculum, Student Power | by | Leave a comment

About two dozen students at Ohio’s Ashland University have staged an overnight sit-in to protest a decision to bar students from take Ancient Greek to fulfill their foreign language requirement.

Ashland does not offer Ancient Greek, but students have the option of taking courses in the language at nearby Ashland Theological Seminary. In mid-April, the college’s faculty senate voted 19-15 that such students will have to take a modern language as well. The question is still under review by Ashland administrators.

Senior Bobby DeSeyn, a protest leader, said in a statement that the faculty senate vote reflected a “blatant de-evolution of academics” and a “disregard for student opinion.”

The sit-in was held at Ashland’s foreign language faculty offices. 

No Nukes

May 10, 2008 in Students | by | Leave a comment

A detailed overview of student anti-nuclear organizing in the United States today, from WireTap magazine.

UNH-M Student Govt Shut Down, Locked Out

May 9, 2008 in Administration, Civil Liberties, Student Government, Student Power | by | Leave a comment

Administrators at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester have suspended the school’s Student Government Association without notice, locking student government officers out of their offices and cancelling elections planned for this week.

The administration claims that the SGA was allowing students to run for office in violation of eligibility requirements, and that its chartering documents may not have been properly filed sixteen years ago. UNH-M dean Kristin Woolever was also quoted as saying that she “wasn’t comfortable” with proposed revisions to the SGA constitution.

SGA leaders say that the student government has recently moved from an emphasis on “event planning” to advocacy for students. They also contend that the administration is seeking to assert control over SGA’s activity fee, which was raised by $65 per student per semester — from $10 to $75 — earlier this year.

We’ll be following this story as it develops.

About This Blog

n7772graysmall
StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.

To contact Angus, click here. For more about him, check out AngusJohnston.com.