Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Student Movement

By Patricia Fish

Students demand a hiring freeze on campus police.

Milwaukee, WI – On December 12, members of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) delivered a petition demanding a hiring freeze be placed on the UWM police department. The petition, part of the SDS “Chop from the Cops” campaign, had hundreds of signatures.

Read more...

By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.

Read more...

By Eithne Silva

USF students protest declining Black enrollment.

On Thursday, December 1, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a march to the president of the University of South Florida’s mansion to protest the university’s low Black student enrollment. The students also called for the University of South Florida (USF) police department to cancel its participation in the 1033 Program, which allows police to buy decommissioned military weapons from the Department of Defense, and students say the police department should return the equipment it received from the program.

Read more...

By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Read more...

By Garrett Bonfanti

Students at UTA stand against transphobe Jeff Younger.

Arlington, TX – On November 10, at the University of Texas at Arlington, over 100 students gathered in front of College Hall shouting “Transphobes go home!” and “This is what community looks like,” showing their outrage at the platforming of the transphobic bigot Jeff Younger.  Younger had been invited to speak by Turning Point USA (TPUSA) following his primary defeat in the Texas House of Representatives race. Jeff Younger’s entire campaign was built on attempting to further criminalize trans healthcare for youth in the United States.

Read more...

By Garrett Bonfanti

Students confront President Cowley and demand the university stop honoring segre

Arlington, TX – On October 31, the Progressive Student Union held a silent protest at the University of Texas at Arlington's presidential open forum and Q and A with newly inducted President Jennifer Cowley. The students arrived with signs in hand and with a large banner boldly stating “E.H. Hereford was a segregationist! UTA should not honor this!” The Progressive Student Union demands UTA rename the University Center, presently named the E.H. Hereford University Center; take down Herefords bust in the same building, and rename the neighboring Woolf Hall.

Read more...

By Keegan Estrella

Denver DSD protest militarization of campus police.

Denver, CO – On November 10, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) continued their campaign against the Auraria Campus Police Department’s (ACPD) ongoing participation in the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, otherwise referred to as the LESO Program. The program provides police departments with military grade weapons and supplies.

Read more...

By Mira Altobell-Resendez

Minneapolis, MN – 45 University of Minnesota students and community members gathered November 11 outside the Prospect Park location of First Care Pregnancy Center to demand that crisis pregnancy centers be removed from campus and defunded by the state. A classroom projector was used to display slogans such as “Abortion is healthcare” and “Fake abortion clinic” on the front of the building as protesters chanted.

Read more...

By Tara Moraghar

Texas students say no to honoring segregationist university administrators.

Arlington, TX – In the many decades since the University of Texas at Arlington ended segregation, students have fought long and hard to end the university’s practice of glorifying white supremacy.

Read more...

By Liz Rathburn

Chicago protest against U.S. intervention in Haiti

Chicago, IL – On Monday, October 24 more than a dozen activists from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Anakbayan, a patriotic Filipino youth organization, and Young Democratic Socialists of America joined together for a demonstration. Students marched on the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) ROTC building to denounce the Biden administration’s intervention in Haiti and demand an end to the 12-year long UN occupation of the island. The protest was planned in connection with the United National Anti-War Coalition’s week of action.

Read more...

By Brandon Gehrke Quintanilla

Denver SDS demands demilitarization of police.

Denver, CO – On Wednesday, October 26, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) attended the Auraria Board of Directors meeting on Auraria campus to demand that the Auraria Campus Police Department (ACPD) withdraw from the Federal 1033 program. The 1033 program, also called the LESO Excess Property Program, allows ACPD to acquire military weapons and other equipment from the Department of Defense. There are currently over 8000 police departments, including many campus police departments, participating in this program.

Read more...

By staff

Students protest speaking events featuring Charlie Kirk, the founder of the reac

Tallahassee, FL – On October 20, students at Florida State University, led by FSU Students for a Democratic Society (FSU SDS) gathered to counter-protest an on campus appearance by conservative mouthpiece Charlie Kirk. Kirk is the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a national organization that peddles racist, homophobic, alt-right talking points on college campuses.

Read more...

By Chrisley Carpio

Participants in the Kent, Ohio SDS convention.

Kent, OH – On October 15 and 16, members of the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) from across the United States gathered for their annual national convention at Kent State, Ohio.

Read more...

By Edmund Anglero

Tallahassee, FL – On Tuesday, October 11, Florida State University Graduate Assistants United (GAU) held a march and rally in support of graduate workers’ rights. Some of the demands included an increase of the minimum stipend, raises in accordance with inflation, and no more pay-to-work fees. Around 30 people attended the march from Dirac Library to Landis Green.

Read more...

By Tara Moraghar

Foreground: Jack R. Woolf. Background: UT Arlington's Confederate Flag, 1968.

Arlington, TX – The University of Texas at Arlington prides itself on the diversity and inclusivity of its campus, and rightfully so; the campus sports an impressive student body hailing from a multitude of cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds. However, UTA cannot, and should not, parade its “inclusivity” until it openly acknowledges the issue of its racist history. From school-sanctioned minstrel shows and mock slave auctions to the Confederate ideology, UTA continues to wrongfully honor one of the worst purveyors the university’s darkest legacies, Jack R. Woolf.

Read more...

By Mark Napieralski

Arlington, TX – University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) is one of the most diverse campuses in the state of Texas, and the United States as a whole – yet it has a history of segregation and racism that the current administration attempts to whitewash and ignore. A man responsible for some of the most egregious aspects of UTA’s history is none other than former university President E. H. Hereford, who has a bust located in the University Center (UC) named after him.

Read more...

By staff

Storrs, CT – Members of the University of Connecticut’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter are rallying to defend the campus’ cultural centers after the new UCONN president’s attack on the Diversity and Inclusion program. On September 28, members of the UCONN board of trustees voted to appoint Radenka Maric as the new president of the University of Connecticut. This decision, without consent from the student body, comes on the heels of Maric’s recent campaign to restructure funding for the diversity and equity program that cuts the budgets of many cultural centers.

Read more...

By staff

Labor leader Sara Nelson featured speaker

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) will be a f

On the weekend of October 15 – 16, hundreds of student activists will convene at Kent State University in Ohio for the annual Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) National Convention. The National Convention is held every fall semester and is an important event for building SDS and the broader student movement. This year’s convention will be joined virtually by Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). Nelson is also a key figure in the resurgence of militant, class-struggle based trade unionism.

Read more...

By staff

SDS leads protest in defense of reproductive rights

Tallahassee, FL – On September 7, Florida State University Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a march in defense of women’s and reproductive rights, following the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. More than 40 students attended the march from the Legacy Fountain to the Integration Statue, accompanied by chants like “We won’t go back! We will fight back!”

Read more...

By staff

Texas students fight for reproductive rights.

Austin, TX – The Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a rally at the University of Texas at Austin on September 15 in defense of women's and reproductive rights, as a part of the National SDS Day of Action. About 35 students rallied at 6 p.m. at the corner of Speedway and 21st Street on UT campus. Speakers from six other organizations gave speeches condemning the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Texas Heartbeat Act.

Read more...