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Pull
Together |
STRATEGIES
· Go higher. Travel up the campus administrative ladder. If someone is being unresponsive or unhelpful, go higher up, all the way to the board of trustees.
· Go local. Local businesses might provide food, ribbons or other in-kind donations. Local restaurants might provide free food for vigils or meetings. Local houses of worship might offer neutral, off-campus meeting space. People want to help in times of crisis; help them help your cause.
· Go national. Contact the national offices of fraternities, sororities or other campus groups; sometimes your most powerful allies will be those above the heads of the people who have committed the hate crime or bias incident.
ROADBLOCKS AND OPPOSITION
· Apathy can leave a small cadre of students working long days and late hours to handle a crisis. When midnight has passed and there still are 500 ribbons to tie or 1,000 fliers to copy, it's frustrating to wonder why no one else seems to care.
· Administrators and police may be — or seem to be — ignoring or mishandling the situation; in fact, police investigators and administrators may want to squelch the very discussion you're encouraging.
· Activists on your own side may engage in seemingly petty disagreements, especially if a situation has dragged on without a quick or satisfying solution. Such disagreements may divide your core group of supporters.
· Other students, especially those with politically or ideologically opposing views, may work against you. When students at UCLA pushed for better hate-crime tracking and reporting on campus, after several bias incidents, a student newspaper columnist blasted the advocates, saying coverage of such incidents was "excessive." Be prepared to balance such commentary with your own free — and vocal — speech.
· White supremacist groups and other bigots may show up on or near campus. Be prepared to stage alternative gatherings if such visits occur.
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