Solidarity Alliance minutes (redacted) with info about the schedule for Nov. 18th-20th

Our meeting on November 6 was devoted to planning for the first two days of the Nov. 18-20 strike, and to planning outreach efforts to build support for the strike.

We arrived at quite a firm plan for the 18th—enough of a plan for work on the poster to begin (which it will).

We picture a noon rally in Sproul Plaza. The obstacles to using upper Sproul Plaza have been overcome, thanks to the generosity of the dancers who had planned to use it at noon on that day. One of the students from ASUC is making sure the space is now reserved in S.A.’s name. Other ASUC students are confidently looking into sound equipment more powerful than what we had on Sept. 24. Michael Cohen is in charge of lining up speakers for the rally. 5 buses are expected from Davis, and contingents from Santa Cruz are likely to come also.

At about 1:30, the noon rally will move to Bancroft and Telegraph where the buses taking union activists and others to the Regents’ meeting in L.A. will be waiting to depart. A loud, festive send-off, with music, will take place.

These first two episodes are organized by S.A., and we are responsible for them.

After the send-off, there will be a march, which will be mainly organized by students in the Strike Committee. S.A. would like the march to end up at California Hall, which would then become the center of various activities for the rest of the strike. But it will be up to the Strike Committee. S.A. won’t be in charge of the march, or responsible for it—though all this can certainly be discussed further at a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 11, of everybody involved in organizing for Nov. 18-20. This meeting will start at 10:00, either in Kroeber or Eschleman—everyone will receive an alert about which.

While our picture of Nov. 18th features quite a concentration of events each involving big crowds, Nov. 19th is likely to be more diffuse, with a variety of activities undertaken by different groups. By the end of our meeting we made a list of ideas for such activities:

--A march to UCOP

--Screenings on the campus of events at UCLA and at the Regents’ meeting.

--Marches on individual officials responsible for specific injustices such as layoffs hitting particular groups (this is Kathryn Lybarger’s suggestion, based on such actions undertaken with considerable satisfaction by AFSCME workers recently.)

--Roving picket lines participating, perhaps, in some of the above “gang-up-on-the-bosses actions, or encircling particular buildings…

--Tent city around California Hall

--Entering classrooms where classes are going on and changing the classes into General Assemblies…

We agreed to adopt the name Open University for the day of Nov. 19.

As for Nov. 20, we are confident that it needs no advance organizing.

Blanca and Michael propose a list of ways faculty can be involved in Nov. 18-20 activities:

1. sign the solidarity pledge, promising not to penalize students for participating in the strike http://ucstrike.com

2. endorse strike demands

3. allow activists to make announcements in their classes

4. participate in the walk-out and rally at noon and bring students.

5. do something genuinely alternative during a Thursday class. (A few teachers with big classes could plan ahead to do this, and students in other classes, with their teachers, could attend these designated classes on Thursday instead of their own.)

6. donate money to pay for student buses to L.A.

7. co-ordinate furlough days

8. join pickets, go on strike