Gainesville, FL – The University of Florida (UF) chapters of Dream Defenders and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted a speak-out on the one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Feb. 26. Martin, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot dead on Feb. 26, 2012, in a racist attack by a neighborhood vigilante named George Zimmerman. Martin’s family created an online petition to arrest Zimmerman and it quickly grew into thousands protesting across the country. Six weeks passed before police arrested Zimmerman.
Milwaukee, WI – Over 50 students and community members rallied Feb. 6 at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) to demand an end to the sale of Palermo’s pizza on campus. The rally was organized by the Coalition to Boycott Palermo’s, which includes Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Students for a Democratic Society, the Alliance of History Graduate Students, the Hmong Student Union and the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association.
New Orleans, LA – Students and community members confronted a pro-Israel rally titled “Declare Your Freedom” at the University of New Orleans (UNO) on Jan. 28. The event featured right-wing Zionist and notoriously anti-Arab speaker Daniel Pipes. About 30 young people were bused to the campus to support the Zionist rally.
Gainesville, FL – At 12:00 p.m. on a cool and rainy day, the voices of 20 students rang through the halls of Emerson Alumni Hall at the University of Florida, “Education is a right! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” The students rallied at the meeting location for the Board of Governors. The students quickly discovered the Board of Governors had cut the meeting short and fled when they heard students were coming. The Board was set to discuss education cut backs affecting students in the state of Florida, but ran away before any student voices could be heard.
Tampa, FL – 30 students gathered outside of the University of South Florida's Marshall Student Center, Dec. 1, to mourn the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. On Nov. 23, Jordan Davis was racially targeted by a 45 year-old bigot named Michael Dunn in a Jacksonville gas station. Dunn shot eight or nine times at the vehicle Davis was in, with the excuse that Davis and his friends had been playing their music too loud. Dunn claims he saw a shotgun and feared for his life. This fear Dunn claims, drove him to not only shoot at these four high school students' vehicle and murder Jordan Davis, but to also flee the scene of the crime. When authorities searched the vehicle Jordan Davis was shot in, there were no signs of a weapon.
Tallahassee, FL – On Dec. 1, just after sunset, Black student organizations from Florida State University (FSU) and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) held a candlelight vigil for Jordan Davis. Davis, a 17-year-old Black teen was violently gunned down in Jacksonville while in the backseat of a friend's car by a middle-aged white male bigot, supposedly over the volume of the car's music.
Milwaukee, WI – The UWM Boycott Coalition for Workers Rights, made up of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), AFSCME, Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association (MGAA), Alliance of History Graduate Students (AHGS) and others joined together this summer to halt the sales of Palermo’s Pizza products on the University of Milwaukee (UWM) campus.
Tampa, FL – On Nov. 17, nearly 100 people stood against Israel's ongoing bloodbath in Gaza. Students for Justice in Palestine organized the demonstration. Black-clad protesters waved Palestinian flags, held signs and stretched banners as thousands of cars drove through the intersection separating Tampa from Temple Terrace – a city with a large Palestinian community. The large contingents on all four corners of Fowler Avenue and 56th Street rotated when the lights changed, making sure that motorists got a long look at banners adorned with statistics on the brutality of occupation and its financial dependence on the U.S. government.
Gainesville, FL – A massive Palestinian flag with the words “Free Palestine” was raised in Turlington Plaza Nov. 15 as 40 students gathered to condemn the massacre in Gaza. Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized the protest in response to the latest wave of brutal Israeli attacks, which claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinians.
Gainesville, FL – 70 student activists from all over the country arrived in sunny Gainesville, Florida to attend the annual Students for a Democratic Society National Convention Oct. 27-28. The activists arrived from as far as Utah and Minnesota.
Gainesville, FL – On Saturday, Oct. 27, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will be hosting their national convention at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Since their resurrection in 2006, SDS has become the largest multi-issue, student-led organization in the U.S.
Gainesville, FL – On Oct. 8, about three dozen Gainesville activists held a rally to protest the 11th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Florida (UF), Occupy Gainesville and Gainesville Veterans for Peace gave a round of speeches in Turlington Plaza, demanding the withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan and the end of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and other parts of the Middle East.
Tampa, FL – At the University of South Florida, Oct. 8, about 30 students gathered outside of Cooper Hall to protest on the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Six speakers from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) spoke to the crowd about the impact this war has had on the students across the United States, and on the targets of U.S. wars abroad. After the protesters listened to the speeches made by the students and various community members, they marched to the C.W. Bill Young Building, which houses the ROTC program on campus. The building is named after Congressman Bill Young, whose anti-worker and anti-student policies sent many young people from poor communities to fight wars for members of the 1% – such as him.
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.
Gainesville, FL – On Sept. 25, over a dozen Gainesville and Tallahassee activists packed the room during a University of Florida (UF) Student Senate meeting. The Dream Defenders were there to support a non-binding referendum calling for a name change of the Reitz Student Union. Students will have a chance to reject the current building’s name, which commemorates known racist and homophobe John Wayne Reitz, in favor of one that commemorates Virgil Hawkins. Hawkins was a Black civil rights leader who gained renown for his successful desegregation campaigns at Florida university campuses.
Clarksville, TN – On Sept. 26, students, including members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), joined parents, anti-war veterans and alumni of Austin Peay State University to resist Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruitment on campus. Students petitioned the Office of Career Services, which invited the CIA to campus. The protesters were removed by force by the Clarksville Police Department as they questioned the CIA about their activities.
Tampa, FL – Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) from the Eastern and Western wings of the Southern Tour met up in Tampa, Florida after completing their tour of campuses in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.
New Orleans, LA – Organizers from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) canvassed campuses in New Orleans, August 21, including the University of New Orleans, Loyola University and Tulane University. They were there to promote the August 27 march on the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Student organizers from Utah, Wisconsin and New Orleans are also building SDS chapters by leafleting and gathering hundreds of contacts.
