Wellstone Action!

posted by Isabelle Goodman

OCTOBER 27, 2008

When we heard that the final presidential debate would take place at Hofstra University, we were excited.  Campus Camp Wellstone has been to Hofstra twice to train progressive students on grassroots organizing.  We caught up with Isabelle Goodman, a CCW alum, to hear how students organized in response to the debate.

Like most students at Hofstra University, I was extremely excited when I learned that the final Presidential Debate between Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama and Republican nominee Senator John McCain would be held on our campus. I am also lucky enough to be the standing president of the Hofstra Progressive Student Union, a grassroots action organization that strives for social change through education, peaceful activism, and charity. In the past year and a half this organization has tripled in size and won the Student Leadership and Activities 2007-2008 awards for Political/Social Action club of the year and Community Service Event of the Year. A large part of this recognition and growth can be attributed to Campus Camp Wellstone for bringing skills and training to our organization.

Because the debate was to be held on our campus, I knew we needed to take advantage of the mass media attention that would be coming.  Us veteran PSUers decided we had to let the world know that youth issues matter and the voice of a progressive, educated, forward thinking youth must be heard. We had the opportunity to magnify our grassroots activism through a national lens.

Michael LaFemina, a veteran PSU graduate student, Laura Comer, president of Students for a Greener Hofstra and a fellow Campus Camp Wellstone graduate and I met for a six-hour dinner and a brainstorming session. We strategically planned how to accomplish this with the debate only a month away. It was through this careful planning and help from many sources, such as the Wellstone Action book [Politics the Wellstone Way] that we decided to spend the next two weekends doing research and meeting in the library developing our issues and finding our talking points.

We set aside the weekend before the debates for a student-to-student training on how to use the media attention as best we could to talk about the importance of the issues as told from the perspective of the youth.

Using Politics the Wellstone Way, we developed our plan. Our first step was to list our goals. Our long-term goals consisted of growing the membership base of PSU, identifying helpful allies, and building strong leaders in order to sustain a successful organization. Our short-term goals were developing our individual positions on the issues, receiving at least ten media hits, and organizing a youth issues convention culminating in a series of street-theatre based demonstrations that conveyed our message clearly.

The issues we chose to focus on were ending the war in Iraq, civil liberties at home and abroad, the worlds' view of America, Healthcare, and Education, all through the view of an environmentally sustainable and just future. We focused our research and developed our message. We used the steps listed in the Wellstone Action book that I had put into practice at our training, such as identifying and getting to know your audience and understanding the issues that are relevant, all to develop a factually accurate message that communicates our values.

One of our demonstrations focused on the potential dangers of Nuclear energy. A student in a Homer Simpson mask holding a sign that read "Nuclear energy is safe, clean, and cost-effective" stood on a cardboard radio-active material barrel. Hanging from the trees and staked into the gardens surrounding the demonstration area were cardboard cut-outs of deformed animals such as deer with five legs or fish with three eyes as well as cut-outs of world leaders riding on nuclear missiles. Students stood staggered holding large cardboard cut out "blobs" in neon green with facts about nuclear energy.

We assessed our audience and used comedy and a relevant cultural character as a relatable symbol to create better understanding of our message. In the background of all of this we had a large banner that read, "Nuclear Energy: What a Waste!" so that passerby's could see our message clearly. We also accompanied this action with a leaflet explaining our stance on the issue of Nuclear energy. We also used the chant, "No Nukes is good news!" so that our voice would remain in the minds of those walking by.

Using training from Campus Camp Wellstone, we were able to organize our fellow students and complete ten other demonstrations similar to the nuclear energy one that explored other issues and educated our peers by dominating local, relevant media. We surpassed our goal of ten media hits and developed strong leaders amongst our membership. We greatly expanded awareness of our organization and raised club membership. This year I am encouraging all of the members of PSU to attend our CCW training seminar so that they can develop the leadership skills and organize sustainable campaigns.