Stanford Solidarity With Real Talk Dartmouth

As students committed to resisting sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, and other systems of oppression at Stanford University, we are in solidarity with our peers who carried out a protest at Dartmouth College’s admit weekend.  We are outraged at the violent harassment they have been met with, including threats to their personal safety, as well as other aggressive and oppressive remarks.  They have brought important conversations to the Dartmouth student body regarding sexual violence, harassment, and racism.  The reactions the protestors are receiving demonstrate the need for their action and continued resistance.

No One Shows Up to Rally for Laid-Off Hospital Workers

by Conor Doherty, ’13

This piece originally appeared in The Stanford Flipside, a satirical publication.

Recently laid-off hospital workers reached out to the student body for support at a rally in White Plaza last week. The organizers of the rally had hoped to capitalize on the excitement on campus surrounding labor issues, spurred by the takeover of Suites dining clubs and the unceremonious dismissal of their longtime staff. However, organizers were disappointed when no one showed up to the rally for the now unemployed hospital workers.

“We thought this was a great opportunity to harness the interest and energy of such an engaged and resourceful student body,” said Elizabeth Sutter, speaking on behalf of the laid-off staff. “It’s great to see the students getting involved. I just wish they realized the wide array of labor disputes going on around campus.” 

Students Hail Significant Milestone in Push for Divestment

by Students for Palestinian Equal Rights

In a powerful show of solidarity, over 75 Stanford students turned out Tuesday evening to express support for the campaign calling for Stanford University’s Board of Trustees to divest from a set of companies that violate international law and abuse human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (see photos and videos here).

The students hailed over the two dozen student groups, including the NAACP, Stanford Students for Queer Liberation, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), Stanford Says No to War, Asian American Student Association, the Stanford Labor Action Coalition, and the Black Student Union.

Activists make a world of difference

by Annie Graham, ’14

In response to a recent Stanford Daily column titled “My Problem with activism,” I think the author has failed to consider many points. I am defending activism on a center-left blog where many activists gather and read. But rather than coming at this issue like I have a pack of snapping, supportive activists to back me up (a la West Side Story), I’ll start by saying I used to be the skeptical party.

When I first came to Stanford, I didn’t really understand these “activist-y” types. They seemed always to be worried about so many things, flooding my inbox with information, and holding up signs with disagreeable phrases.  How could one person genuinely care about so many different causes, or maintain the energy to cause so many fusses? I thought college students had already fought “the man” in the Civil Rights Era and during the Vietnam War, and ever so naively, I thought such work was done. Or at least, I thought, it would be more productive to pump the activist brakes and attend politely to any lingering issues.

Stanford Students Protest Gaza Offensive, Demand Student Action & University Divestment

 by a coalition of students concerned about the siege on Gaza

Stanford students, faculty and alumni will gather at White Plaza  Friday, November 16 at noon to sit in solidarity with the residents of Gaza currently under siege by Israeli military forces. They will protest the Israeli assault and economic chokehold on Gaza, and will rally students to demand that the University divest from companies implicated in the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

A coalition of concerned students have been meeting since  Wednesday, when Israel first commenced the “Pillar of Defense” – a naval, air and artillery offensive on the besieged territory of Gaza. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated civilian regions in the world.

The coalition has planned a sit-in that will symbolize the Israeli blockade and siege of Gaza. Allied faculty have confirmed their attendance in support.

Given the death of many Palestinian civilians and our complicity in this violence as Stanford students, we have a responsibility to do something about it.

Since  November 8 – when Israel first began violent aggression against Gaza, killing six civilians, including three children – at least 23 more Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli attacks, including another six children. Israeli strikes have injured over 300 Palestinians in this time.  The IDF has attacked over 500 targets in Gaza since the formal Israeli offensive began.

The blockade of Gaza – created by crippling sanctions from Israel and Egypt – limits Palestinian access to the outside world, including access to food and medicine. Such conditions constitute what can only be described as an open air prison.  

Why I Protested at the San Francisco Pride Parade

by Elizabeth S. Q. Goodman, third-year graduate student in Mathematics

Early in the protest, the parade organizers made a wall to separate protesters from Kaiser.

On a typically beautiful Sunday in San Francisco, at the annual Pride parade of June 24, I joined SF Pride at Work for the second of two protests. We had one focus: to demand that Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare insurer that has been certified LGBT-friendly by the Human Rights Campaign, remove certain exclusions from its healthcare plan.

It is very hard to say what effect a protest has, but this should be only part of a conversation healthcare companies need to have about their care of transgender patients. SF Pride at Work chose to target Kaiser because we have reason to hope that they may change their plans. The Human Rights Campaign endorsed Kaiser Permanente for LGBT patients, in 2010, but an endorsement from the HRC is not one trans people can trust. Kaiser does make efforts to support LGBT patients, and there are people within Kaiser who would like to remove the exclusions against transgender people (which fall particularly on transsexual people). Indeed, there were people on the float and among the Kaiser marchers who were glad of this protest, and who were having conversations about it as they walked. Kaiser needs to cover the sex reassignment surgery and “related” care that many transsexual people undergo; if it does not, then it is not truly an LGBT-friendly healthcare provider.

The Raging Grannies Show Off Their Sassy Humor at Stanford and Around Town

by the Raging Grannies

Gail Sredanovic (R) holds up a Raging Grannies sign in front of the Apple Store on University Ave. The Grannies protested Apple’s abuse of workers in China on five occasions from January through March this year.

If you haven’t heard of the Raging Grannies you haven’t spent much time at demonstrations in White Plaza. Members of the Grannies, some of whom are Stanford graduates, joined current students during a recent Occupy demonstration, during SlutWalk, and have protested on campus for environmental causes and against the use of torture, amongst other causes. Gail Sredanovic tells us why they do it in a Q &  A session.

Q: When did you graduate from Stanford?

A:  I got my Master’s in French at Stanford  in 1965.  Some of our other Grannies spent their undergraduate years at Stanford, and another was a graduate student in psychology.

Q: Tell us how the Grannies came to be! Is everyone a grandmother? How many are there in the group local to Stanford?

A: The name and the style were the brainchild of a group of women in Victoria, British Columbia. They first appeared in 1987 and are still going strong.

Rally Against the CIA’s Crimes

by Stanford Says No to War

On Wednesday the 11th at 11:15 a.m. outside of the Stanford Career Development Center, there will be a protest against the info session given by the CIA.

At the heart of this action is an interrogation of the university’s role in the global community.

The CIA has violated international law, perpetrated gross crimes against humanity and committed human rights violations, including killing US citizens. So at this forever happy sunny place where knowledge is produced and disseminated, should the CIA be allowed to recruit the talents it needs?

Well, for some of us the answer is a loud clear “no.” We believe the university does not answer to its board of trustees or corporations, but the needs of global democracy, so it must condemn actors that show contempt for human lives and international law.

So please come and join us, or at least come and share with us your views This is how we make the university ours – to make it work for democracy.