Last weekend, October 9th and 10th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition held their 7th National Conference at Columbia University in New York City. Students and faculty came from all over, Boston to St. Louis, Oregon to North Carolina, California to Pittsburgh, and even Canada. These activists and organizers gathered to attend workshops, discuss strategy, and have a bit of fun. However, I think we all walked out with a little bit more than we had originally anticipated.

For me the conference started very late Friday night, when two people who were at that point strangers to me from the University of Pittsburgh buzzed up to my Bronx apartment. I was expecting them, of course. The hostel where everyone was supposed to sleep had run out of room for all of the REC attendees so I offered my couches as extra sleeping space. After some getting to know one another I let them get to bed.

Fast-forward to 7 A.M. Saturday morning, when I woke up after less than four hours of sleep. I realized I had forgotten to print out my script for the workshop I was leading, not to mention the schedule for the day. Needless to say I was worried about what laid ahead. Trying not to wake my guests up, I poured a cup of coffee and ran out the door at 7:30 hoping to make it to the hostel on 104th Street around 8:15. The MTA didn’t like my plan however, and decided 8:25 was a more appropriate time for me to arrive. I met Martin, REC’s national organizer and a few other staff members, not the mention the room full of student activists, for coffee and bagels before heading over to the conference center at Columbia.

After making a quick round to make sure everyone was out of bed and ready to get going, we started out for our destination. The only problem was that I had no idea where any of my fellow Fordham activists were, not to mention the two Pittsburgh people I had made them responsible. I was getting a little nervous. After arriving at the conference center and sending out a few strongly-worded text messages, I began to relax as I drank my third cup of coffee, and Dan and Martin introduced the conference.

My first workshop was “Student Power: Organizing and Envisioning Democracy in Higher Education” presented by Patrick St. John and Tristan Husby. I was really blown away by the historical and social context they brought to the student movement. The two began by introducing the concepts of the “university” and “student power” and then moved onto discussing the history of the structure of higher education, pointing out that in the 14th century, when universities first started popping up, there existed a student run university. We talked about what a student run university could look like and how we could get there, not to mention discussing why its important to use prefigurative politics.

After lunch, and another cup of coffee and two cans of coke (I was on a bit of a caffeine high by this point), it was my turn to run a workshop with my fellow REC community investment campaign organizer from Tufts, Caroline Incledon. This was what I had been looking forward to (and simultaneously dreading) for weeks now. It was our job to introduce these students to Community Investment and convincing them that they could move their university’s money out of the big banks that caused the financial crash. The presentation went great though, with the help of Dan, REC executive director (although he won’t like me saying so). We talked about different kinds of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and how we could use the economic recession to prove to our university administrations that investing in our local community not only will help residents of the depressed areas our universities are located in, but will be a way of telling the big banks we don’t approve of their practices.

After that the Keynote Panel, Sarah Ludwig from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project and Leslie Lowe, a consultant for several SRI industry organizations, presented on the practices of banks like Chase, how practices like sub-prime mortgage lending are the natural successor to the practice of redlining, systematically denying loans to low-income communities and especially communities of color. They also showed how universities and other institutional investors can fight back. All in all it was very inspirational.

Next I attended the “Moving your Money” workshop led by Vonda Brunsting from the Service Employees International Union, who gave us ideas about how to get individuals and especially universities to break up the big banks by moving their accounts away from Chase, Bank of America, etc and into small community banks and credit unions, just like many pension funds, labor unions, and other institutional investors have been doing for years.

The day ended with a walk back to the Hostel for some pizza and open discussion. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the any of the “open spaces” as they are called, because I met with some people to discuss REC’s Steering Committee, possibly one of my favorite aspects of the organization. It is a group made up of entirely students that is meant to advise REC’s Board of Trustees, to make sure that we always remain driven by the needs of the actual students. Talk about democracy in action!

While many others went out to bars and to sightsee in the city, I headed home for some much needed rest. The morning came too quickly once again, and I found myself back at Columbia soon enough sitting in Cheyenna Weber’s, REC’s former national organizer, workshop “Creating Sustainable Activist Cultures,” where we discussed how to created long-term movements and avoid burnout for others and especially ourselves. The entire conversation made me think very seriously about the campaign I’m running at Fordham and how to make sure that it is always enjoyable so that I don’t get burnt out too quickly.

The last workshop was presented by Yotam Marom, a NYC activist formerly from the New School and member of the Organization for a Free Society (not to mention a good friend of mine). He led a workshop called “The Movement Inside and Out,” about how to structure our movements so we promote diversity and inclusiveness, not to mention challenge multiple sections of social life (the economy, sexism, racism, etc) while organizing for social change.

Finally the conference ended with us going around “RECognizing” (get it?) all the people we wanted to thank for making the weekend memorable. After eating another leftover bagel from breakfast, giving a few directions to out-of-towners, and chatting with some people, I finally went home, happy with a successful weekend and my first REC conference of what I’m sure will be many.

I’d like to thank Martin, Dan, and all my fellow REC Student Organizers, and especially all the students from around the country for coming and making REC’s National Conference something truly great, and for doing all the great work we all do on our campuses. Here’s to us getting a better world. We’ll make it happen soon enough.

Summer Organizing Institute 2010 attendees

For the past two summers REC has organized a summer training for its upcoming student organizers and other interested students. Students gather to learn from each other’s experiences, walk through the past successes that REC has seen at schools nationwide, and then learn and discuss ways to get there on their own campuses. We just wrapped up our third Summer Organizing Institute, which was a big success!

This year we covered a number of subjects that we’ve also worked on in past years, including an overview of endowments and finance and how to research your endowment. We also included a lot of material about organizing, recruitment, and engagement of campus groups and media, all of which were pieces that were popular in past years. Previous organizing director Cheyenna Weber stopped by on Thursday for a discussion of effective tactics, and Drew alum and organizer Alan Kantz ’10 gave a great presentation finding your strategy through S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Can anyone tell me what SMART stands for? I hope so!)

Dan goes over some Community Investment 101

This year we also infused quite a bit of new energy and material into the week. Dan gave a thorough overview of community investment as an effective strategy to empower communities and make a statement against the practices of the big banks. Julian Hattem from the Huffington Post joined us for a discussion of the success of the Move Your Money campaign, and Vonda Brunsting from SEIU discussed their efforts to move institutional money away from big banks and towards local institutions.

Overall we had a great week. Thanks to Starlet, Dave, and Jack for joining us – it was great to meet you and hear your contributions! As for the participants in this year’s student organizer program, you’ll be learning a little bit more about them soon. Thank you also to the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at the CUNY Grad Center, and the SEIU New York Regional Office for hosting us. Without you none of this would have been possible!

Interested in attending a future REC training? We plan on holding them every summer and winter. Email organize@endowmentethics.org and watch our ‘upcoming events’ section to learn more!

We left for Detroit Monday morning, deciding to drive to save on money and greenhouse gas emissions. In the six days of the trip – Monday through Saturday – there were not many moments that I wasn’t engrossed in conversation or listening to an amazing presentation. 15,000 activists and organizers from around the country overwhelmed downtown Detroit to the point that, driving around the city, you always knew someone—and it wasn’t hard to find a good discussion.

REC planned two workshops in Detroit. In one, we did an overview of our work and of the possibilities for universities in changing their endowment investments. Out of that great group, we met some new allies including the Mary Knoll Office for Global Concerns and the Food Project along with representatives from schools around the country.

The other workshop REC worked with the United States Student Association and North American Students of Cooperation (links), the largest student-run student group in the country and the leader in cooperative housing and cooperatives at colleges and universities, to talk about the democratization of colleges and universities and the higher education system as a whole.

While REC focuses on changing the way endowments are invested, we believe that is important to engage with other groups working on issues like financial aid, community engagement, and housing in order to build a stronger, more diverse, and more comprehensive movement for making universities more accountable to their numerous stakeholders. In the workshop we discussed free higher education, more community engagement and student control, and how to make these things happen—with groups coming to work together.

Other workshops were also inspirational. Grace Lee Boggs, who at 95 years old is truly a mother of many of the movements today, spoke about her experiences as a community organizer for more than seven decades in Detroit and where she thinks the movement should go.

Just having so many people doing important work together in one place was incredible. It gives so much hope, knowing that if there are 15,000 people willing to come all the way to Detroit for five days, there must be many times that number working in their communities every day for a more just and sustainable US.

Finally I especially want to thank our hosts, the Fialka-Feldman family, truly a family of organizers, particularly Micah, a disability justice pioneer (http://www.throughthesamedoor.com/), to the organizers of the US Social Forum, and to the entire City of Detroit for welcoming all of us.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity of attending a training on popular economics and popular education put on by United for a Fair Economy , an independent advocacy and educational nonprofit and REC ally that works towards equity and fairness within the American economic system. We all had the great privilege of participating in the training – or, as they more adequately referred to it, the "Training of Trainers Institute" – at the famous Highlander Research and Education Center in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee. Highlander, for those who don’t know, has played a major role as a meeting space, educational institute, and workshop center during the struggles of the labor movement, the Civil Rights movement, and the movements of the people of Appalachia throughout the 20th century. It was incredibly fortunate that we all had the ability to meet and learn from each other in such a place.

The intersection of popular economics and popular education was the focal point of the four-day long institute, and the intertwining concepts informed a unique participatory and educational process. Both the content and the process we used were central to what was being taught. The subject that we discussed was popular economics: the exploration and history of "Bankers, Brokers, Bubbles, and Bailouts" from the perspective of the middle- and working-class American people who are most affected by the mismanagement, greed, and growing inequalities of our current economic system. Process was also key to what we were learning about – the methods of popular education, a participatory system of sharing and building on each others’ knowledge to digest and understand material in an engaging and empowering way.

Popular education is an umbrella term for a number of inclusive and participatory methods that we believe can help responsible investment groups on campus function effectively. For example, try asking your campus group "Where does the money in our endowment come from?" and see whether the group can find the answers instead of simply listing or handing out pre-packaged content. Or perhaps try letting the group build a meeting’s agenda from the ground up, instead of the more hierarchical and traditional way of having one person draft an agenda and then just asking, "Any questions?" Doing so can help group cohesion, tease out contrasting opinions and perspectives, and help everyone involved on your campus take a more active ownership in your process.

REC stands by the great work that United for a Fair Economy does to highlight and address the injustices of our economic system. Beyond that, however, we also believe deeply in the process of popular education as a way of respecting and learning from each others’ experience, and bringing out the educator within all of us.

I look forward to sharing the methods of popular economics and popular education to build a more effective responsible investment movement nationwide.