General assembly sparks conversation

In 2012, students across the Canadian province of Quebec went on strike. Hundreds of thousands of students marched against government legislation that would have led to an increase in tuition rates. The student protests quickly gained momentum as thousands—largely liberal groups, ranging from workers unions to leftist political parties—joined a common cause.

Ultimately, the government held tuition steady.

On Friday, a group of students, faculty and union workers met in the Smith Memorial Student Union for the second Portland State Student General Assembly, organized by the Student Action Coalition.

The coalition is inspired by the actions of the Quebec student protesters. Their website declares that they are “dedicated to the project of building student power on campus,” and that they “believe that education is a social right and that students, professors, and campus workers should have a say in the direction and operations of the educational institutions which they are a part of.”

Cameron Frank, a member of StAC who attended the Friday gathering, said the group has realized its strength is in unity.

“This year was interesting, because we got a clear message about the need to work together and form partnerships,” Frank said.

Given the diversity of attendees at the assembly, the conversation was equally varied, touching on the many issues and interests that the group brought to the assembly. With attendees seated around a large circle of tables, topics of discussion ranged from tuition increases to the effectiveness of the Associated Students of Portland State University to union negotiations and the loss of many programs because of heavy budget cuts.

While many issues were brought up throughout the meeting, there was a repeated concern about the budget cuts that have affected various programs.

In particular, the defunding of Chiron Studies was heavily discussed. Those in attendance were supportive of the program, promoting not only the value of the teaching opportunity for students but also the program’s financial viability and profitability. The consensus seemed to be that the administration’s response was inadequate and insincere. Given Chiron’s long history of trying to go through the proper channels for funding, attendees seemed to agree that a greater mobilization of student groups to take more assertive action is necessary to get the administration’s attention.

“One take away was that everyone is concerned about the attack on education by the economization of higher education,” Frank said.

Another issue that resonated with the group was the current labor negotiations between the administration and university professors. Given the presence of Service Employees International Union members, faculty and students, the discussion about labor negotiations (referred to as a “pending showdown”) led to talk of these various groups forming an alliance in order to form a united front and reach the goals of each.

The various representatives of each group recognized the logistical problems inherent in creating this sort of alliance. Not less so because securing student involvement is a disheartening problem, which the group recognized by pointing to the low turnout for the recent ASPSU elections as well as a “general malaise” among PSU students.

Two things ultimately came out of the second general assembly. First, there was agreement among those in attendance that cuts to valued programs like Food For Thought Cafe and Chiron Studies were a part of a wider series of losses to PSU students.

This concept may have been best described by one attendee, Ahjamu Umi, who called their defunding “an effort to eliminate the voice of students.”

The second point of agreement was that greater action is needed from those in attendance to mobilize those affected by these issues. This translated to members of various groups—such as union workers, students and faculty—recognizing that they need to form better networks in order to facilitate communication and make their actions more effective. Ultimately, unity and cohesiveness are key to making progress in addressing the many issues facing the students, faculty and workers of PSU, they agreed.

“The next step is to set up a meeting with the SEIU, AAUP, ASPSU, and concerned students to discuss specific strategies for meeting all our goals and making this an open, fair, and democratic university,” Frank said.