Author: rhasan

Research Project #2 DivestUMW

rhasan

Something that I have been doing for my community this year is engaging with the fossil fuel divestment campaign on our campus. We are one of almost 300 campaigns around the nation all working towards a similar goal. Divestment in itself is a very simple act: take investments out of the fossil fuel industry. This can be done on any level, whether it be personal investments, city investments, a church’s investments, or even a country (Norway in recent news). The idea of divestment is essentially a devolution of power. It seeks to fix the current status, which is structured in a way that corporations control our universities (in this case fossil fuel corporations) through their economic power. Divestment campaigns work to shift that power from the hands of the fossil fuel industry and into the hands of the hands of students. There are several methods and way which we use to achieve that goal.

One major function of DivestUMW is to do direct actions, which is using alternative methods outside of the established channels. In our campaign, we have reached many blocks when trying to achieve our goal, so we need to use other methods. Direct action can be used in many different ways, but it tends to be something of a very visual display, or something that disrupts the ordinary routine in order to  Our university’s governance structure and process is one that tends to be hidden from the immediate eye of the public. By highlighting certain aspects of the process with action, the public will be more likely to be in tune with the process.

But these actions by themselves are not enough. Doing an action in the middle of the day will only catch at most 40 to 50 people on its own. The action does not matter unless it hits media. This can either be on social media or traditional media, or a variation. Our campaign has found it necessary to use social media to get our messages at times when traditional media is unresponsive. Local traditional media sources have tendencies to shy away from administrative decisions and social justice issues here on campus for the sake of being more digestible, so they usually only cover us when we do something big and they would risk losing their reputation if they ignore it.

There are benefits to cons to both. With social media you have more control over the messaging and can have a narrative that directly serves your purpose. With traditional media, you lose some control over the narrative and but gain more legitimacy in the public eye.

Actions and media work together to draw attention to a target: that is a decision maker or a decision making body that is either an obstacle for our campaign or can give us what we want. For us last year, a serious block was the Rector of the board, Rector Cuellar. Cuellar continuously tried to reject our voice and presence at the meetings, whether it was direct or through more passive means by neglecting to address us despite wide shown support. This target changes depending on different stages of the campaign. With all of these combined methods, the campaign hopes to bring power into the hands of students and open up channels for more causes to go through, some being debt free education, private prison divestment, and better sexual assault policy.

Community Engagement

rhasan

Something that I have been doing for my community this year is engaging with the fossil fuel divestment campaign on our campus. We are one of almost 300 campaigns around the nation all working towards a similar goal. Divestment in itself is a very simple act: take investments out of the fossil fuel industry. This can be done on any level, whether it be personal investments, city investments, a church’s investments, or even a country (Norway in recent news). The idea of divestment is essentially a devolution of power. It seeks to fix the current status, which is structured in a way that corporations control our universities (in this case fossil fuel corporations) through their economic power. Divestment campaigns work to shift that power from the hands of the fossil fuel industry and into the hands of the hands of students. There are several methods and way which we use to achieve that goal.

One major function of DivestUMW is to do direct actions, which is using alternative methods outside of the established channels. In our campaign, we have reached many blocks when trying to achieve our goal, so we need to use other methods. Direct action can be used in many different ways, but it tends to be something of a very visual display, or something that disrupts the ordinary routine in order to  Our university’s governance structure and process is one that tends to be hidden from the immediate eye of the public. By highlighting certain aspects of the process with action, the public will be more likely to be in tune with the process.

But these actions by themselves are not enough. Doing an action in the middle of the day will only catch at most 40 to 50 people on its own. The action does not matter unless it hits media. This can either be on social media or traditional media, or a variation. Our campaign has found it necessary to use social media to get our messages at times when traditional media is unresponsive. Local traditional media sources have tendencies to shy away from administrative decisions and social justice issues here on campus for the sake of being more digestible, so they usually only cover us when we do something big and they would risk losing their reputation if they ignore it.

There are benefits to cons to both. With social media you have more control over the messaging and can have a narrative that directly serves your purpose. With traditional media, you lose some control over the narrative and but gain more legitimacy in the public eye.

Actions and media work together to draw attention to a target: that is a decision maker or a decision making body that is either an obstacle for our campaign or can give us what we want. For us last year, a serious block was the Rector of the board, Rector Cuellar. Cuellar continuously tried to reject our voice and presence at the meetings, whether it was direct or through more passive means by neglecting to address us despite wide shown support. This target changes depending on different stages of the campaign. With all of these combined methods, the campaign hopes to bring power into the hands of students and open up channels for more causes to go through, some being debt free education, private prison divestment, and better sexual assault policy.

Editorial: Black on Campus

rhasan

Earlier this month on November 12th, 30 black student activists at Virginia Commonwealth University sat in at their president’s office in order to protest the school’s inadequate representation of the black students. The demands were simple; increase the number of black faculty and diversity efforts.

These actions are directly inspired by the series of protests that occurred at the University of Missouri. Starting out as a hunger strike, the presence of outspoken black students brought out a lot of the hidden racism in the campus as protesters were attacked by racial slurs and threatened with physical violence. White students in pick up trucks would ride on campus with more direct threats and yell at black students. The KKK even rallied in opposition. Racism turned visceral and with its out bringing nobody on that campus or in this nation could ignore it.

The national media lense was shifted from the disenfranchised streets of poor black communities dealing with police brutality onto one of the least suspecting spaces of our society; the college campus. Held to the highest standard, we often view our universities as spaces of progress, where the younger generations have been freed of their prejudices from their academic liberal arts educations. Some students, as it turns out, have a different outlook on what it means to be black on campus.

Once the lense was shifted onto the college campus, many shared their experiences of the passing aggressions that they face on a day to day basis on twitter through the hashtag, #blackoncampus, Summed up, a lot of these complaints did not look like the outright threats of lynching or physical violence that we witnessed, but feelings of isolation and small everyday interactions. Many complained of being tokenized by their communities on brochures and pamphlets, while being stopped and interrogated on campus by their own university police. Many also complained of the lack of black professors and being accused of using the race card or benefiting disproportionately off of affirmative action.

When we look at Virginia, a state that borders the northern region of the country, our situation looks different than it does in Missouri. Deeper in the south there the networks between white supremacists groups are stronger and they are able to make more of a visceral impact because of their deep roots in the communities. While physical violence towards black people happens in the north as well, there strong dynamics of campus life that uphold white supremacy through a softer means, such as the ones suggested in the tweets.

While we see more and more black students on our Virginia campuses now, the space is still white dominated. The VCU student activists identified these problems in their list of demands, when calling for a 5% increase of black faculty in the course of 2 years, an increase in tenured black professors, and cultural competency and diversity trainings for students. They want diversity not only in their student body, but in the very core curriculum that makes up their education that is most always dominated by white men in traditional academia.

These requests indicate that black students struggle to feel represented on their campuses, and are using this window of political opportunity and media sympathy for the black student population to fix this imbalance. They are identifying the various microaggressions coming from different sources (faculty, other students, and admissions) and bringing them together in order to paint the broader picture of what racism looks like in America in 2015. Its not as explicit and its not as gruesome as it was in the 1960’s, but nevertheless, these dynamics are keeping black students from excelling in their academic environment and instead creating one of tension that slowly eats at one’s self worth.

 

Sources:

 

http://mic.com/articles/128377/15-black-on-campus-tweets-describe-why-college-racism-is-a-nationwide-issue#.xtgTquuWp

 

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_4a05d70e-99fe-539f-9097-8415205caafd.html

 

http://www.commonwealthtimes.org/2015/11/16/administration-responds-to-black-vcu-speaks/

 

Breakdown Theory and Resource Mobilization Theory Applied

rhasan

Rabib Hasan

Reaction Paper #2

Community Power Section 01

Dr. Martin

This reaction paper will focus on the motivation and source of political protests by looking at two prevalent sociological theories: breakdown and resource mobilization.  In order to analyze these two theories, I am going to specifically analyze the protests that came out of the UMW protests. By looking at the source unrest in the student body and the actions of the school’s administration, we can see how these instances of momentum played out in the political atmosphere of the campus.

Breakdown theory explains protests and riots in a way that contrasts disorganization at the top with organization at the bottom, the top being the governing body and the bottom being those who live underneath the governing body and are directly affected by their laws and orders, or lack of. When the current structure fails to reciprocate the needs of its constituents, then the bottom uses alternative means of political action to get what they want. From the point of view that this theory presents, social movements are only effective if they are organically created through this process.  

Resource mobilization theory describes protests as more intentional, emphasizing the actions of movement members acquiring resources as well as mobilizing people towards goals the set political goals. This theory doesn’t take into account timing and circumstances that allow openings for direct action to occur, but just focuses on the structural side of the movement and how much capacity it has.

For this reason, I don’t think that one theory is enough to describe the situation on campus; a mix of both is needed. There were strong elements of a “breakdown” situation on campus that year. Multiple other issues were surfacing on campus. Students who were bringing up concerns about rape culture in the community to the administration were met with responses they deemed inadequate. There was outrage over a “mexican” themed party off campus which consisted of racist costumes and slurs, and again, students felt that the administration was not addressing the issue. All of these issues came together to create collective anger amongst students, and students practiced various forms of political engagement, such as marches against rape culture or writing op-eds against existing racist social institutions.

The sit-in was organized in a fashion that represents resource mobilization theory. Students used their campus friendships and connections to recruit other students. They also used their time to do social media blasts and get articles across in traditional media. The time that is accessible to students was a huge resource and factor in getting the message out, and the social capital was necessary to get that initial energy and momentum into the action.

As days started to accumulate for the sit-in, the rest of the community began to question the Rector’s lack of response. Sharing frustration, or just becoming more curious, the number of participants soared to almost 150 community members. DivestUMW created a situation which incited a breakdown atmosphere. They showed the unresponsiveness of the situation by symbolically occupying the space on the premise that if the school represented the students and faculty than it would negotiate a deal for divestment and pass the sub-committee.  With and social capital time as a resource, the movement in that time could have been seen through a resource mobilization theory. But they were using their resources in order to put a lense on the aspects of the school’s government system that were in “breakdown” which further agitated the situation.

This agitation lead to the assembly of 150 students outside of the Board of Visitors following came with little organizing effort. A facebook event page was made and there was little effort for recruitment. This stage of the movement was almost completely organic, which is inline with the breakdown theory definition. But this came from being intentional with strategy and resources in order to create that situation.

To conclude, resource mobilization and breakdown go hand in hand because they capture different aspects of a movement. Campaigns and movements consist of structures as well as random and unpredictable momentum. Breakdown theory can be used to assess the timing of political unrest, while resource mobilization can be used to assess the structures and intentional efforts of forwarding the movement.

 

Useem, Bert. “Breakdown Theories of Collective Action.” (1998).

 

Estes, Lindley. “After arrests, Divest UMW group vows to demonstrate.” ( April 17, 2015)
Untitleddocument (8)

The Need For Student Power

rhasan

Rabib Hasan

Reaction paper #1

Editorial

The Need For Student Power

On Friday, September 11th, hate speech was written on the door of two students of two freshman students in Mason hall. Information was passed around the dorm, and the situation was handled on the side. Little talk broke out about the incident, and it did not enter the public conscious. Vague emails were sent out by the diversity and inclusion office, but no statement was made on the issue through any main parts of the school

By choosing silence on this issue, the university has set a precedent. Their lack of words is action in itself, and this action is of one that allows racism to continue through course its way through campus life, and leaves those who identify as muslim, or are assumed as muslim, defenseless and without the backing of their own institution. This decision to compartmentalize action into one department and not make it a priority of the those at top speak to the values that we currently have at this school.

But we as the student body is almost desensitized to these kind of issues, and it comes with no surprise. Growing and experiencing a southern college campus, we are conditioned to accept conditions as they are. With the strong notion of tradition, the student voice has a hard time getting its footing and reaching its ground. But those who in marginalized minority who experience the brunts of these traditions and the side-effects of the old ways need change to occur in order to claim that our campus is a place for all.

A power balance exists here on campus. While students are use to putting blame on those in power, and rightfully so, we must look at why almost every social issue brought up on this campus takes a wrong turn, or on the flipside, how wins towards social justice are achieved.

We need to build student power. History has not provided us with the proper structures and government that marginalized groups need. Policies protecting students against hate crimes, which is why we are currently struggling to find ways to deal with these racists and sexist incidents. We need structures in place run by students who will work to shine a light on these issues through media and communituy engagement which are often swept under the rug, and bring genuine dialogue on campus that is directed not into only class discussion and lectures, but hard policy and student power in our governing structure. We need students doing actions that bring attention to broken policies and political institutions and bring a level of critical analysis to our own community.

We must also see the importance of our work and how it goes beyond our campuses. University is often looked at as the beacon of progress where our society produces ideas. We are at a significant point of intervention; ideas are made are here and they are put out into the world to inform many aspects of our country’s society. This connection is vital to our understanding of student organizing; our actions and time here on this campus matter.

Black Lives Matter: The Local and National Effort

rhasan

ABSTRACT:On August 9th, 2014, a young black man named Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri. The murder of Brown resulted in days of riots and protests by community members protesting the actions of the Ferguson Police Department as well as the U.S’s police force altogether. The unrest from the city was able to grab the political atmosphere of the nation and lead to stronger community and grassroots power, causing change on a national scale. This paper seeks to analyze the relationship between the community and the national effort as a whole, and examine the balance between them, which caused strong political impacts.

 

Research Project 1