1E — Overcoming Challenges of TSA

Introduction

Chapter 1 — Social Action: An Overview

A & B —Social Action’s Role & US College Social Action

C & D — Benefits & Bring Into Class

E — Overcoming Challenges

Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class

A & B — Course vs Co-Curricular & Prerequisites 

C — Creating a Social Action Syllabus

D & E — Teaching Style & Norms

F — The Students

G — Building Allies

H & I — Role of Place & Each Semester v Every Year

J — Maintaining Momentum

Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns

A — On Your Mark

B — Students Choose Their Issue

C — Group Dynamics, part 1

D — Change Theory

E — Building Power

F — Campus Tour

G — Research

H — Group Dynamics, part 2

I — Strategy & Tactics

J — Campaign Kickoff

Chapter 4 — Planning, Implementation, & Evaluation

A — Campaign Plan & Timeline B & C — Implementation & Execution D — Campaign Evaluation E — Finals: Binder & Presentation

Chapter 5 — Where Do We Go From Here?

A & B — Next Semester & Mainstreaming TSA C & D — Internships & Pipeline to Jobs E — Status of Current Campaigns

CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action

• Chapter 1E: Overcoming the Challenges of Teaching Social Action (p. 21-23)

Overcoming Challenges of TSA

One of the biggest challenges of teaching social action is that you might feel that campus administrators will retaliate against you. Both CHANGE books discuss how social action is well-within your rights as a professor to conduct your classroom. In addition, SML explains how this model has no political indoctrination, and that we train faculty to encourage students choose any campaigns they are passionate about. Of course, there are boundaries, as Scott suggests that the campaigns can come from whatever theoretical perspective the students believe in (i.e.g, conservative, liberal, libertarian, and/or social democratic), and he recommends that the campaigns must remain non-violent in word and deed.

Here are some specific ideas to reduce the possibility of retaliation:

• Send to the Chair/Dean the demands and target for the student campaigns for the semester. Below is a letter sent by Drs. Adrienne Schwarte and Mark O’Gorman to the campus administration at Maryville College in Tennessee.
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Sample letter to Administration
• Explain to the campus administration that Business programs send their students to work on real-life solutions, and that in a social action course, we are sending our students to work on real-life solutions in the community.
• Articulate to both the students and administrators that the students choose campaigns, and they can change campaigns at any time.
• Some campuses have guidelines about what books are chosen in the classroom. Below is a document written by Marsita Ferguson at Baldwin State University in Ohio about how CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action is compliant with Ohio’s legislation SB1.
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“Change! A Student Guide to Social Action” is compliant with OH legislation SB1

Watch this video of Scott discussing how to overcome the challenges of teaching social action:

If you are not tenured, you might consider having your students do all of the campaigns off campus with a community organization, where they create a "student-wing" of the campaign. In this way, there are no campus campaigns, so the chance of an administrator becoming agitated is reduced. Another good idea is to develop allies, both on campus with various Administrators and off campus with local politicians who have a connection to the University. They can defend your work if necessary.

Questions

1. How comfortable/uncomfortable are with you teaching social action?
2. What is your response to how the book explains dealing with "the political dimension" of social action?
3. How do you think your campus Administration will respond to social action?

Continue to Ch. 2: Developing a Social Action Class