A Collective’s #StudentBlackOut Seeks to Ramp Up the Pressure on Colleges

Protests that have put intense pressure on colleges to improve the experiences of minority students have spread to dozens of campuses since demonstrations at the University of Missouri at Columbia recently touched off a nationwide movement. As student activists have looked to other campuses for inspiration, a group known as the Black Liberation Collective has emerged as a central coordinating hub for far-flung individuals.

On Thursday the collective is sponsoring a second national day of action, after holding one on November 18 that involved students at more than three dozen campuses. Activists used the hashtag #StudentBlackOut on Twitter to publicize their efforts and presented lists of demands that have become central to the protests at many colleges. It’s not clear how many activists or how many colleges will be involved in Thursday’s activities, which will take place as final examinations and other academic stresses mount for many students.

Still, one of the group’s national organizers, David C. Turner III, believes the day of action will reiterate to college leaders, students, and others that black activism isn’t going away anytime soon. Mr. Turner, a second-year Ph.D. student in education at the University of California at Berkeley, spoke with The Chronicle about the group’s hopes for Thursday’s event and how it plans to continue supporting activists nationwide throughout the holidays and into the new year. What follows is a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity and length.

Q. The Black Liberation Collective organized a similar day of action a couple of weeks ago. How will this effort be different?

A. It’s to not only keep the momentum but also to stand in solidarity with folks who are also organizing, but aren’t organizing on college campuses. Black folks were leading the charge to get the chief of police fired out in Chicago, as well as the occupation happening in Minneapolis right now — they are occupying the city’s police department and receiving really heinous retaliations and white-terrorist shooting threats. I think that in this moment, we want to show that the assault on black lives is multifaceted and it comes in a variety of ways, including in education. The campus movement is part of the larger narrative. Folks in education, particularly in higher education, they are just joining the fight for black lives.

Q. What will the event look like?

A. It’s going to look somewhat different depending on the campuses and their context. Some of our campuses are still negotiating on their demands, and we also have other campuses that are just now releasing demands, while some of our campuses have had demands met already. So this day of action is going to be very campus-specific. Some folks might be continuing to occupy a building. Some folks may have a march. Other folks may have photo campaigns. Some folks may be taking over presidents’ offices. Our role is to support these campuses in whatever they do.

Q. Two weeks ago, more than three dozen colleges participated in your organization’s day of action. How many campuses might be involved this time around? Can you name any specific campuses that are planning demonstrations?

A. At the moment, we’ve had about 75 campuses send us demands. We’re connected to a network of almost 300 students across the country. I would say anywhere between 50 to 100 campuses. I know John Carroll University, in Cleveland, has an action planned, and I know of a couple of other universities. I can’t necessarily mention who they are for security reasons. But there are definitely folks who are planning on engaging. How many and who? It’s very difficult to predict at this point.

Q. Students at many colleges are about to take final exams. Do you think that could affect the event’s scope?

A. I think it’s going to have an impact, but I don’t think it’s going to stop anything, because we recognize that this fight is a lot bigger than our grades.

Q. What would make this day of action successful, in your opinion?

A. I hope people will understand that this movement for black lives is not going to stop. Keeping the momentum alive will definitely make this a very successful action — keeping people’s spirits high as we go into winter break. Also, the more new people we can bring into our network, and the more people that we can help to build leadership capacity with, the better. We’re a firm believer in helping build leaders. We don’t want to be leaders ourselves.

Q. During a conference call with hundreds of student activists on Monday night, you all talked about the need to keep pressure on college administrators. How will you do that over the holidays?

A. We’ll definitely keep up with some direct actions. But more intentionally, we’ll be making sure we’re working with students locally. Students at some universities will probably still be in negotiations. Our job is going to be to support them through that process during the winter break — helping them with arguments, helping with data collection, helping to prep folks.

Q. The collective also talked about crafting checklists to help activists get protests going. Can you tell me more about that?

A. On our website, we have a direct-action checklist, and we have a demands tool kit. An occupation checklist and the self-care checklist are being created now. We’re looking to build our infrastructure and do things more regionally in the upcoming months, but for now we’re just looking to provide materials to support this new wave of student activism.

Q. Going into the new year, how do you think students’ strategies might change? Do you think activists will continue using sit-ins and demonstrations, as they have in recent weeks, or do you think black student activism could evolve?

A. Black student activism has always been incredibly multifaceted, and I think social media nowadays gives us a new tool to not only help us see what’s happening in real time, but also to organize. I think that as we grow as an organization, you’ll probably begin seeing more intentional ways of building leadership capacity. But I think we follow a very classical method of organizing, though it doesn’t mean we’re just doing that. I don’t believe any one method is going to save us. And I think it’ll also be key that we build our own brand as we join the fight for black lives, along with organizations like Dream Defenders, BYP100, Millennial Activists United, and so on.