U.S. Social Forum - Workshops of Interest (UPDATED)

The first-ever United States Social Forum is rapidly approaching, going on from June 27 - July 1, in Atlanta.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some of the workshops most related to student power and student organizing in general (if there are some you see that you think should be added, throw a link in the comments section!). UPDATE: Dates and times have now been added to the list below. View the full (and really freaking crowded) USSF schedule here.

Thursday, June 28

• Access to Higher Education: Breaking Down the Barriers
  (United States Student Association, 3:30PM):
  This workshop will bridge the gap between student and community organizers in an engaging discussion on how to strategize and mobilize around issues of higher education to win lasting change for all of our communities...
• Campus Organizing Roundtable
  (Democratizing Education Network, 3:30PM):
  Higher education is in crisis, but those with the most to lose and the most to gain don't share knowledge, experience and resource enough. This roundtable will therefore provide a unique, much needed opportunity to strengthen our ties and build a movement to make education something that really is of, by and for the people...
• Intergenerational Organizing and the New SDS
  (SDS, 3:30PM):
  Intergenerational organizing and dialog is key to movement building in the U.S. Often young people feel silenced and alienated, while elders to do not have the space to share knowledge and wisdom. We must learn from, and organize with, one another in order to have a clear sense of history and our own relationship to it.

Friday, June 29

• "From the Streets to the Academy, and Back:" Education and Social Change
  (NCOC, 10:30AM):
  In this workshop you will hear voices from activists who are students and teachers. We understand that valuable work is done in the academy and in our communities and movements, and we are committed to bridging the two...
• Teach Our Own - Activism Through Unschooling
  (The Kitchen Table, 10:30AM):
  is a participatory workshop combining discussion and popular education exercises to facilitate community-building and strategy-sharing among all participants. This workshop seeks to create community and facilitate strategizing and support among people practicing, thinking about, or inspired by alternative models of educating and raising children without - or in spite of – schools...
• March 20 Student Walk-outs: Where Do We Go From Here?
  (SDS, 10:30AM):
  As SDS and the student movement continue to grow, what can we learn from the March 20th actions? How can we continue to build and sustain a radical movement of youth and students to end the Iraq War? Where do we go from here?...
• The Community-Campus Connection - Universities as Part of our Communities
  (Student Labor Action Project, 10:30AM):
  Students should have a say in how their tuition money is spent and how the institution behaves as an employer and member of a community...
• A Free University in a Free Society
  (New School SDS, 3:30PM):
  We've thrown the slogan "A Free University in a Free Society" around a lot and, sure, it sounds hella cool, but what does it mean? What can it mean? What would a free University in a free society actually look like?...
• The Higher Education Crisis: From Resistance to Democratization!
  (Democratizing Education Network, 3:30PM):
  This session [...] will ask and address the question of how the crisis in higher education can not only be resisted, but used as an opportunity to change our universities and colleges into truly accessible, public, welcoming, and democratic institutions. The session will put the U.S. higher education crisis in a global context of corporatization and resegregation, and will draw on the experience of successful campus movements from across the Americas...

Saturday, June 30

• Direct Action Organizing on Campus
  (U.S. Students Association, 10:30AM):
  This workshop is a series of sessions that cover the basic components of an effective campus campaign. In this workshop the principles of direct action organizing, the relations of power, how to choose an issue and how to form a campaign strategy will be discussed...
• Democratizing Education Network Action Plenary
  (Democratizing Education Network, 1:00PM):
  We invite campus organizers working on any of a wide array of topics (war, racism, sweatshops, patriarchy, the environment, campus workers' rights, etc.) to join together during this plenary to propose ways in which we can collectively challenge and overcome dangerous trends in higher education.
• Militant Student Unionism in the US
  (Coalition for Student Power / Democratizing Education Network, 1:00PM):
  Student associations in the United States have not played the same role as they have in other countries, but there is a potential for them to be better. This will be a session on the state of student associations across the U.S.A. and some basic steps we can take to make them more militant and more democratic...
• Building a Larger Base to Mobilize for a Stronger Movement
  (USSA, 3:30PM):
  In this workshop, we will go over the tried and true practices of volunteer recruitment. Participants will learn the effective ways of recruitment as well as how to develop a student from a participant to a progressive, strategic, organizers. For example, you will learn the #1 most often broken rule of recruitment; never recruit to a meeting!