Campaign Implementation: "Series of Actions" Begins

Introduction

Chapter 1 — Overview

A — Social Action's Role in U.S. Experiment in Democracy B — US College Social Action C — Benefits of Social Action for Students Campuses, and Society D — The Vision: Bringing Social Action into the Classroom E — Overcoming Challenges of Teaching Social Action

Chapter 2 — Developing a Social Action Class

A — Academic Course vs Co-Curricular / B — Prerequisites  C — Creating a Social Action Syllabus D — Teaching Style / E — Classroom Norms F — The Students G — Building Campus Allies and Community Partners H —The Role of Place / I —Each Semester vs Every Year (or Other Year) J — Maintaining Momentum

Chapter 3 — Launching Student Campaigns

A — On Your Mark: Preparing Students for the Road Ahead B — Students Choose Their Issue - GO! C — Group Dynamics, part 1-Setting the Tone (Get Set) D — Change Theory E — Building Power F — Social Action Campus Tour G — Research: Historical Overview, Power Mapping, & Target Analysis H — Group Dynamics, part 2 I — Strategy & Tactics J — Campaign Kickoff

Chapter 4 — Campaign Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation

A — Timeline & Campaign Plan B — Campaign Implementation: "Series of Actions" Begins C — Campaign Execution & Case Studies D — Campaign Evaluation E — Day of the Final: Campaign Notebook & Group Presentation

Chapter 5 — Where to Go From Here

A — Next Semester B — Mainstreaming Social Action C — Social Action Internship Program D — Pipeline to Jobs & Graduate School E — Status of Current Campaigns F — Impact of Social Action on Former Social Action Students

CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action

• Chapter 4B: Campaign Implementation: "Series of Actions" Begins (p. 121-127)

Sociology 164 - Social Action Assignments

Discussion

Campaign Implementation marks the beginning of moving to campaign actions.  Yes, students will still be doing campaign activities, but they will be in the context of actions When discussing campaign implementation in the teaching guide, I discuss two low-level heat actions:

Low-Level Heat

Cookie for a Call Flier (p. 122)

Low Level Heat

Post-it Notes for Student Homeless Alliance (SHA) campaign (p. 122)

These post-it notes were shown during SHAs tabling events, and were posted, so all could see.

They were also written down and presented to the campus President during their target meeting so she could see the social suffering of the student body.

Three Campaign Possibilities

As discussed in CHANGE!, students can win their campaign, lose their campaign, or if they haven’t won or lost it, they can continue the campaign in the following semester by working on it themselves (not required or expected) or by encouraging a social action class in the following semester to continue the campaign.

If the students win, I recommend that the students celebrate for the reasons discussed in the text.  Below is the group, Students Against Sexual Harassment, celebrating their victory at an evening event, which was highlighted in a NBC news story.

Campaign Case Study

After they learned about how to do a press release, the Students for Filipino Farmworkers created this press release for their campaign launch, and emailed it to the Assignment Desks of the Bay Area newspapers and TV News programs.  A press conference and rally is a bit higher heat the two actions described above, and can be described as moderate heat.

Watch the Campaign Launch of the Students for Filipino Farmworkers, which was covered by CBS News below.

Below is Kayla from Students for Filipino Farmworkers being interviewed by the press, in front of the Cesar Chavez statue on the campus of San José State:

Course Development Questions

1. What do you think about the “cookie for a call” and “post-it notes” events as ways to keep a campaign moving?
2. What reflections do you have about the second and third event after the campaign kickoff?
3. What are your thoughts about the three ways a social action class can end?