Data Collected:
Greene, Theodore. “Fighting the Hand That Feeds Them: Institutionalization and the Contemporary Student Movement.” Masters Thesis, Northwestern University, 2008.
Summary: Effects of institutionalization on student movements are explored through a case study of the USAS movements on college campuses.
Key Takeaways:
- Institutionalization is characterized by (1) routinization of collective action, (2) the inclusion/marginalization of activists based on their participation in political channels, and (3) co-optation of movements by the domination institution/administration.
- “Multiversities” (Scott and Al-Assal 1969): divisions between students, faculty, and administrators restricted student access to institutional decisions.
- The proliferation of different student groups weakens shared grievances and collective resistance: “The panoply of organizations available to students increases the difficult for students to wage massive protests against the administration. (6)”
–> Literature review for paper could include specific examples of past Bowdoin protests that were divided by the various student organizations. Could highlight need for collective narratives for future activism.
- Storytelling is essential to collective identity: ““Storytelling,” she notes, “sustains groups as they fight for reform, helping them build new collective identities, link current actions to heroic pasts and glorious futures, and restyle setbacks as waystations [sic] to victory” (Polletta 2006:4). “
–> Next week, I will analyze Polletta’s research (It was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics) with Adaiah Lopez’s current project on storytelling. These two pieces could provide ideas for crafting storytelling that works for both individual conversations and institutional narrative.
Alternative Dispute Resolution:
- I have begun researching Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and will continue to look into this method. I first heard about this mediation from Nora Cullen, who is the head of the Judicial Board. We had been discussing potential changes to the Code of Conduct to specifically include acts of cultural appropriation. According to her, the administration is already in the process of forming an ADR group to address future cultural appropriation incidents. In her opinion, this method was preferable to punitive policies. There is some literature about the practice at other colleges, and I want to learn more about the benefits / drawbacks. I am still unsure who exactly can be involved in these sessions and how effective they are for creating sustainable behavior change.
- Speaking of behavior change, I hope to learn more about the Sailing Team and their own methods of collective memory and education. I have spoken to a senior on the team in the past, but it would be interesting to discuss the team culture with a first-year member as well.
–> I am still confused about the difference between dispute resolution and restorative practices. I want to dive deeper into the nuances in the next week:
- This article highlights that facilitation, narrative, and context must include the experiences of people of color in Restorative Practices programs: https://www.naspa.org/constituent-groups/posts/3-things-to-consider-about-restorative-practices-in-higher-education
–> Again, something to return to next week when discussing storytelling / collective narrative and memory
General Updates:
- I spoke with Safiya Osei about her article in the Orient and her own perspective on these events. She expressed frustration about the new VP of Diversity Michael Reed, who came to a BSG meeting. He is apparently out-of-touch with current student experiences and relies on “out of date” ideas, according to Safiya.
- The recent events for Trans Visibility (including a panel and Genderbread making) reminded me of how effective institutional support can be in making behavioral change. It still blows my mind how students go lengths to respect pronoun preference and name changes and educate themselves on gender, while few students try to educate themselves on race. The 24 College resource model could inspire new programming ideas for future semesters.
For next time:
- Storytelling in protest
- ADR vs. RP
- Initial interview questions
Parker,
As I discussed in class yesterday (and due to some glitch with the third Log), I will be posting my comments here.
Both logs dovetail nicely with some of the qualitative work that Dana has done between Kevin and Clare. Your analysis highlights storytelling as a powerful analytic tool to having difficult conversations. It is actually a technique I use in my interviews; there were times where the attitudinal data I would get from interviews would contradict the actions that people engaged. We can be pretty bad at analyzing our own experiences, and I think storytelling can elicit some rich data that allows the researcher to highlight inconsistencies between attitudes and action.
In your discussion, I cannot help wondering how powerful it might be if students were able to sit and tell their stories in a non-judgmental environment. Because I think we conflate prejudice with discrimination, we can often ignore how our actions (even if there is no intent behind them) can hurt others. I think you are really onto something here in terms of how these issues can be raised in a productive manner. Having read Dana’s recent log with snippets from Kevin and Clare, I cannot help think about how close their experiences are, despite their standing on opposite sides of the issue. It also adds credence to your argument that both regretted that they never had the chance to sit together and share their experiences and points of view before Dana interviewed them.
Something you also wish to think about is perhaps a protocol for engaging in this kind of storytelling. As you are interested in exploring practical recommendations, can there be a best practices in terms of format/structure, the kinds of questions that could be asked to generate conversation, etc.? Conceptualizing the solution is one thing; being able to operationalize it into something actionable is completely different.
You are both working very well together with this project. I am curious to see how this further develops. And I hope that, as you are reading and making these notes, you are copying them to your Annotated Bibliography section.