Tallahassee, FL – On February 2, around 80 Florida State University (FSU) students, representing FSU Against Aramark, FSU Students for a Democratic Society, FSUDems, and JStreet, marched across campus from Strozier Library to Dirac Library protesting Starbucks working conditions and standing in solidarity with Aramark workers on campus.
Tallahassee, FL – On November 6, over 30 students held a sit-in at a Sigma Lambda Beta’s multicultural fraternity informational meeting. The students and allies of the survivors gathered at the Sigma Lamda Beta meeting to protest its alleged conduct and defense of members accused of committing sexual assault.
Tallahassee, FL – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a protest against the militarization of the Florida State University Police Department (FSU-PD) at the steps of the Westcott administration building on Jan 27. Students called for the university to return the military weapons it acquired through the controversial 1033 Procurement Program. This program allows for local and state police departments to acquire surplus military weaponry and vehicles from the Department of Defense for a discounted cost. Students held signs reading “Money for education not militarization,” and “Campus is not a warzone.”
Tallahassee, FL – Around 100 Dream Defenders and community members gathered in Lake Ella Park, Aug. 18, to speak out against the police murder of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The rally also focused on the injustice of police brutality and systematic racism perpetuated by the U.S. The crowd was tired of the criminalization of Black and Brown people.
Gainesville, FL – Two dozen students gathered in Gainesville, July 19, at a Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) day school. Students from the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of South Florida, and for the first time in SDS’s history, from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville attended. Months of planning the day school on SDS National Working Committee phone calls paid off nicely.
Tallahassee, FL – On May 21, at a meeting of the Florida State University Presidential Search Advisory Committee, Tallahassee Dream Defenders spoke out against the nomination of Senator John Thrasher as the new Florida State University (FSU) president. Students from Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), FSU Progress Coalition and Graduate Assistants United joined them.
Tallahassee, FL – On the morning of April 23, over 20 students from Florida State University (FSU) and the historically Black college Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), gathered outside the state capitol building. Despite final exams, they joined together to speak out against the split of the joint FAMU-FSU Engineering School.
Tallahassee, FL- On Feb. 28, 35 courageous students gathered at the Florida State University (FSU) Integration Statues. At the very statue that symbolized the supposed diversity that Florida State claims, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and a broad array of organizations – including Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Dream Defenders and the Center for Participant Education – demanded tuition equity. This policy that would ensure undocumented students could afford the human right of obtaining an education and be granted in-state tuition like the rest of the Florida population.
Tallahassee, FL – On Feb. 20, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Florida State University (FSU) held a press conference demanding “Tuition equity for undocumented students” on the school’s campus. Joining SDS was the leadership the Hispanic and Latino Student Union, Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Center for Participant Education, and the Dream Defenders. Florida State Senator Dwight Bullard spoke about SB 300, a bill he drafted to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students in the state of Florida.
Tallahassee, FL – The Palestinian national flag waved high above Integration Statue in the afternoon breeze, Nov. 19. Below it, about 50 people gathered at Florida State University (FSU) for a protest demanding an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza. Students from FSU and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) joined community activists in a march through the busiest parts of campus to stand with the Palestinian people.
Tallahassee, FL – On Oct. 5, about 50 students and community members rallied at Florida State University (FSU) to protest on the 11th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan.
Tallahassee, FL – On Oct. 2, dozens of students from the Florida State University (FSU) Progress Coalition rallied on campus to protest FSU President Eric Barron's tuition hike policies. Students marched from the student union to the FSU administration's Westcott building, where they stormed into the president's office. Students demanded that Barron meet with students to address record student debt and his pursuance of the pre-eminence legislation, a bill that, if passed, could lead to possible record high tuition prices at Florida State University.
Tallahassee, FL – Students at Florida colleges are making the issue of voter suppression a top priority this fall. On Sept. 4, a student civil rights group, Dream Defenders, protested Florida’s racist voter suppression laws. Students from Florida State University (FSU) and FAMU (Florida A&M University) organized a campus rally with dozens of student activists chanting, “Hey hey, ho, ho, the new Jim Crow has got to go!”
Tallahassee, FL – More than 200 students from Florida State University (FSU) marched on the streets here, March 26, to demand justice for Trayvon Martin. The marched started off at the FSU Integration Statue with organizer of the march, Michael Sampson, reflecting on “why we are marching for justice.”
Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, March 1, the student movement in the United States took a collective step forward in the fight for higher education. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), along with Occupy Education groups across the country and other progressive student organizations, held a nationwide day of action against crippling budget cuts, tuition hikes, and student debt.