UNITE! Moving to Organize Before Year's End

About 120 student activists who participated in the initial meeting of UNITE! two weeks ago are planning to reconvene as a full group in order to officially start a new coalition of activist students.

Since the initial conference, participants have gathered several times in smaller groups and designed a potential mission statement and structure that they will propose at the full meeting of the group on May 8.

In addition, organizers of the initial conference have sent several messages over e-mail to all the participants in the conference, announcing the smaller meetings and describing proposed ideas.

The coalition is currently taking additional steps to become recognized as an official student organization with the College, according to Carolyn M. Fast '98, who attended UNITE! and one of the smaller conferences.

Monica A. Lamb '98, who also attended UNITE! and small meetings, said she is writing a description of the coalition to be included in next year's Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard.

In addition, students who organized last Thursday's demonstration at Moral Reasoning 13: "Realism and Moralism," to protest Keenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53, publicized and built support for their protest at UNITE!, according to Emily K. Hobson '97, a participant in the rally.

Hobson also said the rally in the Yard on April 19 in support of ethnic studies was "huge largely because of UNITE!," and student attendance at the April 22 demonstration outside the Faculty Club in support of dining hall workers was a result of UNITE!.

Participants in the smaller meetings said last night that the proposed structure and mission will be discussed and voted on by the entire group before anything will be decided upon.

"The main goals were to have communication between activists, to have people from different groups share resources, but also to include individuals who aren't associated with any activist groups," Fast said.

Some of the ideas for the coalition's structure which have been suggested at the smaller meetings are for the whole group to meet only a couple of times a year and for smaller groups of nine or 10 people, which might be based in houses, to plan a handful of large events.

The small groups would provide an outlet for people with various activist concerns to share their plans, organize projects, compose a newsletter and make a calendar of all events related to social change issues that different groups are working on.

"[The coalition would be a] resource and clearing house for groups that already exist," Fast said. "They would be part of UNITE! and be able to get their word out through the newsletter."

Participants in the small meetings have not yet worked out whether there will be hierarchy to the coalition, according to Fast. One proposed idea is to have a rotating leadership position throughout the year, she said.

"Ideally, it would be as non-hierarchical a leadership as possible. There definitely won't be a president who tells people what to do," she said.

One possible suggestion is to have facilitators who would arrange meetings and be trained in moderating discussions and in group dynamics.

"A main goal [of the coalition] is to be inclusive and representative of everyone," Fast said. "UNITE! [will be] focused from the beginning on being sensitive to issues of representation."

Although participants said the proposed mission statement is currently at an early stage, they also said they want it to include a general vision for the group and a structural outline.

"[The mission statement can show how] this group can overcome some of the problems that have faced other attempts to do the same kind of thing previously," said Adam D. Hefty '96, who attended UNITE!.

Participants agreed they are optimistic about the decisions that have been made in the smaller meetings after UNITE!.

"I think the process that's been going on has been really good because it's been really inclusive," said Katherine H. Gibson '99, who attended UNITE! and one of the small meetings.

"There's no one person or one group that's making any final decisions. That's really nice to see because it's so different from most of the things that go on on campus," she said

"[The mission statement can show how] this group can overcome some of the problems that have faced other attempts to do the same kind of thing previously," said Adam D. Hefty '96, who attended UNITE!.

Participants agreed they are optimistic about the decisions that have been made in the smaller meetings after UNITE!.

"I think the process that's been going on has been really good because it's been really inclusive," said Katherine H. Gibson '99, who attended UNITE! and one of the small meetings.

"There's no one person or one group that's making any final decisions. That's really nice to see because it's so different from most of the things that go on on campus," she said