Minutes from yesterday's meeting

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1-24-11 SDS Meeting Agenda-Minutes

Attendance: Brennan, Jordan, Lizz, Nick, Rachel, Malcom, Jamshid, and
Marty

1. Introductions

2. SOVO fair report back – It went well and we got 11 signatures and e-
mails from people who were interested in SDS.

Announcement: Students for International Social Justice will be
meeting Sunday at 8pm.

3. Anti-war:
- ReThink: Afghanistan will tentatively be Feb. 23. First have the
speakers, the film showing, and then open discussion. We’ll distribute
literature and Phil Walayto and David Swanson will be selling their
two books. If you have a zine, paper, or magazine you’d like to hand
out to people, you can. We’d like to have some sort of action after
the film showing. We’ll get donuts and coffee hopefully as donations.
As soon as we have the date, we’ll make the flyers and start promoting
the event.
- anti-war presence discussion: This event should start up a real and
unified anti-war presence.
- upcoming events- marches in D.C. and NYC, SOA week of action in D.C.
On March 19 there will be a march in Washington, D.C. which is during
our spring break. There will also be one in NY on April 9th. April
4th-11th School of America’s Watch Week of Action.

4. Student power:
- Budget cuts: Tuition has gone up and classes are very full. On the
Richmond Times Dispatch you can look up all VCU empolyees’ salaries
and Dr. Rao still makes $500,000 not including the money he makes off
of sitting on different Boards. Then there are adjunct professors and
other employees who are paid very low wages/salaries. Many of us
thought that if these are public universities, getting funding from
the government, than the government should be able to put a cap on how
much university presidents make.
- Rams Day on the Hill – Wednesday in the morning and afternoon
- USAS Convention in Ohio, February 11-13th. There is a $30 cost
unless it’s your first time and it can be waived.
- Teach-in in February for the Budget Cut topic before the March 4th
and 20th National SDS Day of Action. We’re looking toward educating
and empowering VCU students. Perhaps we might look into forming a
student union to give students a real voice in running the school and
taking a step toward democratizing it. We can come up with a list of
demands and call for interested students to begin creating a student
group with a goal to form a student union.
- March 2011 defend education dates (4th and 20th)

5. African Burial Ground & Monroe Park Campaign
- Park campaign update: campaign continues with petitioning. ACLU has
been contacted.
- Burial Ground update: campaign continues with petitioning. Flyering
is being organized by the Defenders every Thursday. The Defenders are
calling for organizations to hold vigils at the Gabriel Marker.
Potential SDS involvement?
- SDS Vigil for ABG sometime in February?

Topics we did not get to discuss in the meeting include:

- Recalibrate tabling schedule for new semester

6. Help with RIWW bag lunch program?

7. Immigration legislation:
- Virginia United Against Oppression: template resolution, call/write
legislators, spread the news in time for next City Council meeting
- Richmond/VCU organizing with Virginia Organizing Project

Adjourned at approximately 8:20 p.m.