ORGANIZING WITHIN ACADEMIA

The university campus has long been seen as a place where progressive politics flourish. After all, as a space dedicated to expanding one’s mind, it is not surprising to think that students would lead the charge on pushing beyond the current line of thought. The term known as the overton window is a model for understanding how ideas in society change over time and influence politics. What is innate within spaces of organizing and spaces of protest is a push towards the next progressive window and line of thought. As curious and energized individuals, student organizers have historically left a mark by questioning the status quo with new schools of thought. As a grassroots organization filled with both students, educators, researchers, and various spatial practitioners, Design As Protest came to organize a series of how-to-guides in creating its Anti-Racist Design Justice Index (ARDJI). The campaign to create the ARDJI will be investigated within DAP’s workshop at Waterloo, but the results of creating this tool can be reaped in some of the strategies suggested in the following section. This how-to guide is from the Anti-Racist Design Justice Index with responses from the Design Educations Action Survey for students, alum, and faculty allies organizing at their institutions. The how-to-guide has been adapted in order to ensure that all notes are applicable to the Canadian context.

BEST STRATEGIES WHEN ORGANIZING IN YOUR INSTITUTIONS:
Set boundaries and remember that you can say “No!” - students have been dealing with exhaustion and are spread thin due to understaffed and unresponsive administration that asks more of its students, having in them take on the responsibility of carrying actions forward. It’s not the student's job to do this and it’s not sustainable (especially without receiving compensation). You do not have to respond to every ask. Boundaries can be set by explicitly providing demands that address the power dynamics that exist between students and those in power.

Build solidarity between institutions - we require large scale change and accountability - building solidarity allows for momentum to be sustained, guidance, leadership, and data to be shared, and the creation of a support system where folks can collectively learn and grow.

Asking for external help outside of insitutions - reach out to larger organizations in design justice work to facilitate and co-organize workshops to brainstorm anti-racist design pedagogies in academic institutions.

Keep things anonymous when you can - sharing experiences or correspondences anonymously online has allowed room for students to be taken seriously by those in positions of authority and gain more support from the larger community without focusing on the associated individuals (and also protecting them from more harm).

Build resources to navigate organizing and build institutional memory - with the lack of guidance and support from a student's institution, and keeping in mind that admin won’t have the answers or know how to change (as they likely were taught through the system we’re trying to redesign), creating "how-to" guides (like this one) with guidance an actionable items specific to your institutions is a resource for many beginning and continuing to navigate their schools and is a good way to support work continuing as students graduate.

Organize and strategize plans of action collectively - form a collective (internally and externally) to create strategic plans and goals to work towards. Breaking down actions into categories might be effective - it can help folks doing the work to see what can be done without the administration's support and make things slightly less overwhelming. It’s also helpful to provide multiple ways for people to jump in to support and divide up tasks in a way that allows people to hop in based on their capacities.

Uplift ongoing opportunities for unlearning and education - so many events, trainings, webinars, and discussions are held by a number of wonderful organizations and individuals - re-direct people to these spaces and opportunities - you don’t have to be the sole provider of spaces for unlearning.

Remember not to bear all the responsibility for change by yourself - We can't feel the pressure of the responsibility to completely change our schools and departments alone. Especially as a Black, Brown, Indigenous, or Asian person, it is not your responsibility to carry all this weight alone. Taking up space is an act of resistance in itself - your first responsibility is to yourself, to take care of yourself and get through school.

Leverage support from your allies and networks - Larger networks of students and passionate alumni already have had an impact, both in sharing ideas and in maintaining energy. However, there is also a need to establish shared priorities and industry best practices that otherwise hesitant establishment folks can get behind. Building allyships with local and national non-design BIPOC groups is important. External networks (from firms, organizations, alumni, companies, other institutions) and their connection can really influence the direction of the institutions due to "reputation and image", and serve as a general means of support.

Remember that we have agency in the spaces we occupy - don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

CHALLENGES YOU MIGHT FACE WHEN ORGANIZING:

Difficulty Garnering Involvement - organizing digitally has made getting consistent involvement challenging. Lack of interest from white students and others that might not think that they should care about any of this/know about these efforts also is a challenge, especially as it might leave BIPOC folks  to do most of this work 

Lack of transparency being used as an evasive tactic - Limiting the information available hinders students' abilities to advocate for change and is a tactic used to prevent students and members of the wider community from holding institutions accountable.  Many students are struggling to hold their institutions accountable because there is no feedback loop allowing for information to be disseminated widely as changes are made (or not made) - sometimes decisions are only revealed after they are made, without leaving any room for feedback or input.

Lack of Institutional Support - often using reasoning such as: lack of money, college-wide support, or buy-in for long term actions + insisting that work is happening. Remember: where institutions place their money is a statement of their values.

Reaching Capacity - when advocating for yourself while juggling academic work, you’ll find that you reach capacity quickly. Faculty and administrators ask for student involvement while not recognizing their responsibility to their studies. 

Emotional Exhaustion - students are being pressured to perform a huge amount of emotional labor for their institutions. This is rarely compensated, incredibly exhausting, and such forms of emotional exploitation often lead to widespread burnout before significant structural changes are implemented. 

Denial and Complacency from the masses - A large amount of re-education has to happen and those in power provide a challenge by not letting go of their ego and elitist behaviours and claiming the bare minimum amount of work as enough.

Appropriation + erasure of students organizing efforts - especially in PWI’s, institutions might take BIPOC organizing efforts that they were not involved in as achievement of their own merits 

Continuation of “studio culture” and Problematic Behaviors in the Profession - one of the biggest obstacles for design education is grappling with the longstanding professional ties with capitalism, and by extension, racism. Without dismantling these professional ties, design education will continue to prop them up by default. Most importantly, the nature of "studio culture" creates problematic and harmful spaces for students. Students shouldn't be trained to learn architecture the same way it's always been as that continues the cycles of exclusivity and elitism, which essentially keep people out.

Increased Tokenization in efforts to reconcile - the creation of committees where BIPOC students are asked to serve is one way that institutions have put BIPOC students in a position of exploitative labor

Trauma - PTSD … no joke

FOR ADMINISTRATION, FACULTY, AND STAFF:

Instead of getting frustrated about why students don’t want to step up and talk about their experiences, instead, ask why they don’t want to talk about their experiences

There won’t be a time in the near future where this work will be done - there’s always more to do.

There’s always room to grow, learn and unlearn. 

Students need to be monetarily compensated (academic credits are not acceptable payment). Student efforts are undervalued, anti-racist efforts and work in academic spaces should not solely be the responsibility of BIPOC communities. Students should be paid for anti racist, design justice work  in academia, especially if they’re BIPOC.