MTSU Sidelines

Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Michael Stone

Media Credit: Michael Stone

SDS has no membership fees. SDS has no authoritative positions like president, vice president or sergeant-at-arms. Doesn't sound like a typical organization, does it?

Students for a Democratic Society does have something in common with all organizations, though. And that commonality is purpose.

"[We have a] very genuine passion for social and economic justice," SDS member Katy Palmer explains. "[That passion] is combined with our search for an organization capable of mobilizing politically alienated youth and providing a...space for egalitarian mutual aid and solidarity."

Basically, the organization wants youth to become more active in their community and be "watchdogs" for social justice.

The original organization started in 1960 and gained momentum throughout the following decade. SDS was founded by students who were concerned with social activism and democracy.

It would become the largest student group against the Vietnam War.

One of the most notable actions of the original SDS was the "Ten Days of Resistance." These 10 days during the spring of 1968 consisted of marches, rallies, sit-ins and a one-day strike where 1 million students across the country protested by not going to class.

Several organizations have come into existence with similar purposes, but none have had the impact that the original SDS had.

In 2006, SDS was reformed by a small amount of high school and college students who wanted a strong student movement, like the one of the original SDS. Some may have heard the saying, "Stop the war, yes we can, SDS is back again."

Since then, the national organization has grown to 245 chapters strong, including the one at MTSU.

"Some actions were being done under the SDS name last year," SDS member Eric Fields notes. "However, the chapter as it exists now started at the beginning of this semester."

The chapter was recognized by MTSU as an official campus organization on March 18.

Little time was wasted in using that recognition to carry out a protest on campus. Two days after being recognized as an official organization, SDS members held their anti-war signs high in front of Keathley University Center.

"We planned the demo [in a] 48 hour rush of supersonic-style democracy and radical arts and crafts," Palmer says. "We began planning for it within three hours of being approved as a student organization."

The protest, aptly named "Funk the War: More Dancing, Less Death," took place on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. It was the first anti-war protest on campus since 2003.

"Maybe [it was the first protest since 2003] because people feel their voice doesn't matter," Fields suggests. "SDS hopes to build a political movement among students that will make actions like this more common."

The theme of the protest was "Student power dance party against empire." Hundreds of other SDS chapters across the nation danced to express their opposition to the war on the same day.

The chapter had their weekly meeting the night before the protest.

The discussion consisted mostly of what the organization was permitted and wasn't permitted to do, as well as the schedule of the protest.

It was evident that all the members of SDS present in that living room off of Diana Street were ready to dance their opposition towards the Iraq War.

"Tomorrow, we need to be as loud and vocal as possible," one member suggested.

The next day, members of SDS were indeed very vocal.

The protest was very eventful as well, and some unexpected incidents happened.

Phi Beta Sigma fraternity also had a permit to be in front of the KUC that day.

They played their music louder.

But all it did was make the protestors dance harder and wave their signs higher.

Many military personal walked by in camouflaged uniforms.

"We want you to stay home where it's nice and safe," an SDS member told one military man as he walked by.

Later in the day, a group of people brought signs of their own, only theirs were to protest the protest.

"We're doing it because it's funny," one anti-protestor explained.

Their signs said things like "Drug Free for Satan," "Satanists for Truck Drivers" and "Apathy, The Anti-protest."

"If they're so apathetic, then why did they make those signs?" SDS member Colin Hill noted.

"I don't have a problem with the protest of the war, but if I wasn't in the military, I would kick [the anti-protestors rear-ends] right now," one military man having lunch outside the KUC admitted.

SDS members shouted chants like "Drop bomb ass beats, not beat ass bombs" and "1-2-3-4 we don't want your [freaking] war, 5-6-7-8 organize and smash the state."

At noon, all the war protestors performed a "die-in" where they all laid silent and face-up on the ground. This was to symbolize the horrible reality of the death that comes with war.

The protest ended at about four in the afternoon.

"It went well considering we had to deal with loud music across from us," SDS member Jase Short points out. "Also, we had only just been approved [as an organization] and there were a small number of people able to participate [because of] class and work schedules, so it went great."

The war protest is not the only activity SDS has been involved in lately.

"MT SDS has organized an anti-nuclear weapons contingent in Oak Ridge, Tenn., traveled to Washington D.C. for the National Young Women's Leadership Conference [and] National Conference on Organized Resistance, rallied and marched in Nashville against the Iraq war, and had the 'Dance for a Democratic Society' fundraiser, courtesy of Lex Bearden," Palmer says.

Anyone wanting to become involved in the organization shouldn't feel nervous about coming to a meeting, members explained. Everyone is an equal, even if it is your first meeting or your hundredth.

"Contact us and join up," Short says. "You can sign up on newsds.org as a member of SDS. But as for getting involved, simply come to a meeting on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. on the fourth floor of the library. From there, we can work together."

SDS member Tim Pickering recently became active in the organization.

"I felt really comfortable, even at the first meeting I attended," Pickering notes.

The activism never stops for SDS, so the organization is always looking toward the future.

"We have a lot in the works including action on free speech issues, environmental issues, women's rights and more," Fields says.

The organization has about 30 consistent members currently participating in these activities, but the members would like to see the chapter grow in number.

"I hope [the chapter] grows and continues to increase its influence and make positive change in the world and especially in the local community," Fields says.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

Get your own - Open publication