Work in Progress
This is a work in progress. We're constantly building new relationships and finding new ways to get stuff done. But the very human process of making mistakes and learning from them happens over time - and sometimes time is our most valuable resource.
Fortunately, Macalester students have been organizing since the beginning.
Organizing is difficult. You're going to mess up. We only deeply understand the experience that's our own. But that's certainly not an excuse to not empathize, learn, and be better. Here are some lessons from graduating organizers:
1. Social media can be a monster. Facebook is a dangerous place. It is no small task to communicate effectively with an entire campus.
2. Don't expect your student leader peers to respond to your emails. Instead, take them to Dunn Bros. or at least sit down with them in the 2nd floor of the Campus Center. Talk to them face to face. That's how you build allies and coalitions.
3. If you have not talked to every person that will be affected by your proposal, your plan will fail or end badly. Involve all stakeholders from the beginning - and not just by email (see #2).
4. In the end, MCSG doesn't actually have that much power, but they can: (i) connect you to the people that do, (ii) help you not duplicate efforts that have already begun, and (iii) be a solid ally.
5. Have an intergenerational core team. Develop leadership at the sophomore and junior levels. Historically, the administration has waited out student movements because (as we know) leaders graduate. Sustainable, continued pressure is equally as important as escalation and direct action.
On this page are two amazing primarily student-made zines. Disorientation (2013) was put together as part of the spring course Resisting Minnesota. It also coincided with multiple notable student movements happening at that same time, including KWOC, KP Hong, and the beginnings of Fossil Free Mac. Work In Progress (2018) was assembled during the spring and was distributed to 2018 commencement attendees. Just like this site, both detail history and tactics.
