In a collaborative, non-partisan effort, the student leaders of various activist organizations on campus have formed a new Wesleyan Activist Coalition (WAC) in an effort to further streamline campus political activity. The partnership, still in its early stages, is an attempt to form a strong rapport between the University’s numerous activist groups and to serve as a campus resource for campaign information and support.

“The activist coalition is just trying to bring together all the different activist groups around campus,” said Karl Grindal ’09, Student Activities Leadership Intern and former President of the Wesleyan Democrats (WesDems), “I think that this is a new concept. There’s never been this sort of decentralized congress of participation.”

Organizers describe WAC as a non-partisan, leaderless partnership open to all activists. The coalition currently includes Democracy Matters, Campus Progress, the Environmental Organizers Network (EON), the Roosevelt Institute, and the Wesleyan Democrats (WesDems).

“This is an opportunity for all the activist groups to really sit down and talk about what they are doing with people who care,” Grindal said. “I’d like to see all the activist groups get involved, Food Not Bombs, SDS [Students For a Democratic Society], the Wesleyan Republicans—all the activist groups are invited to send representatives.”

According to Saul Carlin ’09, President of the University chapter of Democracy Matters, the idea for WAC developed after a student activist forum held this past November following the end of election-related campaigns.

“[The forum] was asking the question—as politically engaged student activists, having worked towards a single goal, that is electing a President, what now?” said Carlin.

Carlin explained a concern among the politically active community that, after effectively organizing around the November elections, student advocates from both sides would lose momentum.

“It’s very different when, in the case of Democrats at least, the party runs both houses,” Carlin said. “A different sort of activism is needed. With Bush, there was always something in which activists at Wes could get involved.”

The coalition does not intend to plan any specific events, but rather to serve as source of information regarding each group’s campaigns and to improve communication among the members of various organizations.

Carlin described various methods for accomplishing this mission, such as forming a collaborative calendar of each group’s events, holding monthly meetings to discuss different campaigns, and creating a campus blog in which each activist group can share information about their work and issues with the greater community.

“It would be like a Wesleying for activists,” Carlin said, referring to the student run blog. “It would be a place to learn about individual groups, their priorities, policies, strengths, and tactics. Using the website, the community as a whole would be able to use another as a resource.”

Leaders hope that WAC will also facilitate further opportunities for collaboration, such as members of EON, the University’s environmental organization, recommending possible environmental policies to members of the Roosevelt Institute, a non-partisan student policy think tank.

“Some groups emphasize rallies and protests, others emphasize art or policy and some groups want to tear down the system,” Carlin said. “All these are strengths and we should be able to build a coalition with wide varieties of talent and backgrounds.” 

In addition, organizers intend for WAC to make it easier for students who are interested in issues beyond their specific group’s mission to learn about a wider range of opportunities by enhancing communication between groups and the chance for collaboration.

“Often times there are clusters of groups that have the same members,” Carlin said. “We want to bridge these clusters—we want to go beyond that.”

Alexander Furnas ’11, founder of the University chapter of Campus Progress, expressed a similar sentiment.

“We were frustrated that lots of student activist organizations with similar goals didn’t communicate,” said Furnas. “A lot of people are politically active on campus but there was no good cohesive networking to get the word out. I think that a lot of people are really excited about that…because people are passionate about their causes… but sometimes they lose focus.”

Furnas explained how the mission of WAC directly connects to the work of Campus Progress, which works to promote progressive causes on college campuses through discourse and activities. As an organizer of the coalition, he looks forward to this new forum for further sharing and focusing of resources and manpower among the various causes of campus organizations.

While the current contributors to the coalition are eager to explore these new collaborative opportunities, some student activists are unsure if, in practice, the coalition can accomplish its goals.

“My two concerns, and I can only speak for myself, are that an activist coalition could potentially be interested in dominating the dialogue on campus,” said Nick Petrie ’12, an SDS member. “I think it could go that way, but it doesn’t have to. My other concern is whether it is really a need that needs to be filled. In some cases, I don’t know what good cross group communication would do. For example, what does T/G [transgender] have to say to ADAPT [Action, Dialogue, and Awareness about Palestine Today]?”

Eugene Wong ’09, President of the Wesleyan Republicans, doesn’t see it that way.

“We are currently not a part of the coalition,” said Wong. “I think it’s a great thing for the campus. Our group is always looking to have more information brought into the light.”

Wong sees the mission of WAC as a worthy goal for the campus.

“As a minority political group on campus we are kind of on the fringe,” Wong said. “We are about promoting intellectual discourse and discussion.”

Since Wesleyan is known for its student interest in social and political causes, organizers hope that WAC, though still not fully conceptualized, could have a dramatic effect on the level of student efforts.  Carlin hopes that WAC will be fully operational by the spring, which he says has in the past been a time of intensive on-campus activism.

Grindal reinforced the potential of such a coalition to impact the scale of campus activities.

“I’d like to see activist groups sort of recognizing each other and finding ways to coordinate efforts,” Grindal said. “There are all sorts of ways to collaborate.”