Santa Barbara, CA – Over 95 students from every corner of the U.S. gathered on the University of California-Santa Barbara campus over the Oct. 21 weekend to attend workshops and hear speeches from fellow SDSers and affiliates, and to forge plans for the next year. The convention was organized and hosted by the SDS affiliate Student Activist Network.

What began as a student strike to protest the war in Iraq quickly escalated on Feb. 15, as over a thousand students at the University of California-Santa Barbara took to the streets and completely shut down California Highway 217 for over two hours. After a standoff with law enforcement and the arrest of two protesters, the crowd marched back to campus and demonstrated in front of the chancellor’s office to confront university officials about the school’s involvement with the war effort.