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National Convention

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2007 National Convention

Host Location: Wayne State University (Detroit, MI)

Date: July 27-30, 2007

Website: newsds.org/convention // National Convention

Convention Organization: List-Serv // Working Groups // Proposals Passed by National Convention Organizing Committee 2007

Logistical Information: Area Maps & Directions // Housing & Food Options //

National Convention Bulletin: #1 // #2 // #3

Proposals for the Convention: Vision // Structure // Action // Process

National Convention Reflections

The 2007 SDS National Convention was the second gathering of Students for a Democratic Society's chapters, members, and affiliates. It took place July 27-30, 2007 at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
As laid down by the 2006 SDS National Convention (the first held by the new SDS), the focus of the 2007 National Convention was on the question of the organization's structure and functioning which had not been conclusively answered.

Contents

[edit]Background
The road to the 2007 SDS National Convention flows from the first SDS National Convention held at the University of Chicago in August 2006. At the first National Convention, those present found themselves deadlocked on the question of a national structure for the organization. The conclusion of those present were to:

  • Convene a National Convention in 2007, to serve as a constitutional convention.
  • Within the timespan of that year, Regional Conventions in the leadup to the 2007 National Convention. [1]

Several regions have since held their Regional Conventions including the Midwest, Northeast, Northwest and Southeast.
Planning for the 2007 Convention began with Detroit/Wayne State University SDS sending word expressing willingness and capability to host, proposing July 27 - 31 as a date, and asking potential volunteers for a Convention Organizing Committee to begin discussions via conference call April 23.
A counter-proposal was made by Tacoma SDS to host the Convention at Tacoma, WA, at University Puget Sound, August 9-12, 2007.
By agreement of over 3/4ths of conference call participants, the Convention Organizing Committee decided to hold the Convention at Wayne State in Detroit at the end of July.

[edit]Organizing the Convention
The advance work of planning the Convention was taken up by the Convention Organizing Committee composed of volunteers from various SDS chapters around the country. The Convention Organizing Committee held weekly calls Mondays at 9pm EDT / 6 PDT since April 23. These calls attempted to delegate work logically and make necessary decisions.

[edit]Convention Organizing Committee
Every Convention Organizing Committee conference call had a moderator and a note-taker. Moderators were charged with compiling an agenda for the call, while note-takers were charged with compiling and distributing notes.
Convention calls were open to SDS members who are affiliated with chapters (local groups or campus-based). Those not affiliated with chapters by this definition were allowed through a 3/4ths vote to include them on the call. They are otherwise asked to leave the call.
Communications between Conference Calls were arranged via a list-serv: groups.google.com/group/sds-national-convention-2007.
Decisions were made over the conference call. As a matter of precedent, proposals were generally vetted by a working group, typed and submitted to the list-serv for discussion. The decision-making process agreed upon by participants was to strive for consensus (through discussion and amendment) and to fall back to 3/4ths if necessary. Votes were usually conducted by roll-call.
Since May 7, 2007, the Convention Organizing Committee delegated tasks downward to Working Groups.

[edit]Working Groups of the Convention Organizing Committee
The Convention Organizing Committee was divided into Working Groups dealing with specific tasks. These Working Groups included:

  • Logistics - Responsible for managing housing, convention space, food and other resources and needs to make sure the convention runs smoothly. This group was mainly composed of members of Detroit SDS.
  • Media - Responsible for outreach and communication to media contacts.
  • Fundraising - Responsible for obtaining funds for the various convention expenses.
  • Outreach - Responsible for contacting and informing SDS members about relevent convention matters.
  • Scheduling - Responsible for facilitating the organizing and timing of workshops and plenaries, and scheduling the plenary sessions.
  • Website - Responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the Convention website, newsds.org/convention

A list of persons to contact for each Working Group is available at from the Convention Website: http://studentsforademocraticsociety.org/convention/?page_id=3

[edit]Convention Form and Content
The general mandate for the the Convention Organizing Committee flows from the decision of the 2006 National Convention to have the 2007 National Convention work as an SDS constitutional convention. This guides the form and content of the 2007 National Convention for the Organizing Committee
The Convention Organizing Committee and its working groups mainly considered the planning of these general areas of content:

  • Plenaries - Sessions for proposals of interest to SDS nationally to be considered and/or adopted.
  • Workshops - Sessions for training, education, and other presentations around specific topics or areas of interest.
  • Caucuses - Sessions for specific constituencies facing a common oppression to work together in private, and which had a complementary auxiliary for those not included in the session.

[edit]Plenaries
The proposals received by the Outreach group were discussed during the plenaries.

[edit]Workshops
Keeping in mind that the bulk of the 2007 National Convention was explicitly made a constitutional convention (implicitly concentrating upon the internal functioning and structure of SDS nationally), the Convention Organizing Committee asked that proposed workshops fit into the following areas:

  • How Change Is Made: On organizing in general.
  • Anti-Oppression Work: On working toward a common understanding of the problems and issues SDS faces both internally and externally.
  • Power Sharing: On building an organization that is democratic and accountable.

By focusing on these areas, the hope of the Convention Organizing Committee was to be able to round out the agenda of the 2007 Convention with workshops that were insightful and address the needs felt by chapters and local groups while also staying relevant to the 2007 Convention's explicit mandate.

[edit]Caucuses
There were 6 caucuses of oppressed groups within SDS: High School, People of Color, Queer, Trans/Genderqueer, Women, and Working Class.
There were 5 auxiliary working groups for their privileged counterparts: Age Privilege, White Privilege, Hetero Privilege, Male Privilege, and Class Privilege

[edit]Convention Proposals
Here you can find the submitted proposals that were discussed and decided upon at the 2007 SDS National Convention in Detroit, July 27-30.
The outreach working group grouped the proposals received into three groupings, Action, Structure, and Vision.

Action proposals are ones suggesting that national SDS should sign onto a national campaign or mobilization.

Structure proposals are ones addressing issues of national decision making processes, national structures, and relations to other organizations.

Vision proposals are ones that address the SDS's values, points of unity, and vision.

[edit]Suggested format for proposals
Name and Chapter, followed by the date.

Title: Title of your proposal. Please keep it short but also distinctive, for easy reference at the convention.

Category: How would you categorize your proposal? Structure, resolution, action, etc?

Proposal: Be as specific as possible, and number your points so that they can be easily referenced.

Explanation: This is where you explain why you are putting forth your proposal.

Implementation: Here is how our proposal will be implemented, if passed at the national convention. Feel free to write “not applicable”, but the point in asking about implementation is to avoid idealist proposals, and have people think about how to implement what they are thinking about.

The section for signatories has been removed from the proposal format. It was decided that in interest of getting proposals in the bulletin more quickly thus allowing for more debate, of fostering a feeling of cooperative debate, and of creating a feeling of collective ownership of proposals that come to the convention signatories should not be part of proposals.

[edit]Convention Bulletins
The Outreach working group created National Convention Bulletins, containing more information about the convention, which were sent to all SDS chapter listservs. The Bulletins are available here.

[edit]External Links
SDS National Convention Website

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Category: National Convention

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