Democratizing Education Network - A (Relatively) New Growing Network

I've been terribly amiss in failing to report on the development of the Democratizing Education Network (DEN) which has organized several conferences and is launching a Week of Action - April 16-20, and a month of Tent State Universities and Teach-Ins.

Their main focus is on democratizing education by fighting tuition hikes and for broader access to education. They're doing so within the context of a pro-democracy / anti-corporate analysis.

This effort is being sponsored by the Liberty Tree Foundation, and is in some respects a rebirth of the 180 - Movement for Democracy and Education which died a couple years ago. MDE-180 grew out of an analysis of corporate power and the takeover of higher education, advocating real grassroots democracy as the alternative. Democracy was seen as a common goal that could unify people working on all types of different issues. Ben Manski was a key figure in starting MDE-180 and is now very active in the Democratizing Education Network (through Liberty Tree).

I'm only an observer (mostly I read the email), but so far it appears that their campaign is going well. Unlike Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the other new major radical student left network, DEN is likely to benefit from having a strong focus on a common campaign. By contrast, SDS does not have any formal membership nor organizational values (as the organization has not yet had a solid founding conference), has an adhoc leadership, and is torn in many directions by a diverse membership. However, while the DEN has a nice campaign, unfortunately the fight to reduce tuition and increase financial aid is extremely important (big dollars) and thus very difficult to win. Also, while I am a big fan of campus democracy, it is very hard to alter campus power structures - and that is part of the reason 180-MDE failed to last.

It'll be interesting to see how the Week of Action goes and whether it sparks wider interest in campus progressives.