Archived Edition: November 15, 2006 | Back to Current	Jul 31, 2010

Summit brings regional activists to Williamstown
Amanda Korman - Executive Editor

One hundred eleven students from the College and five neighboring schools convened at Williams this weekend at the first-ever Berkshire Institute for Student Activism (BISA). The conference induced inter-school collaboration on the development of 12 theme-based regional action campaigns.

Thirty-three students from Williams participated, along with 35 from Simon’s Rock, 18 from MCLA, 16 from Berkshire Community College (BCC), eight from Southern Vermont College and one from Bennington College.

“I had no idea our regional college partners would be so excited. I’m so proud of the numbers we have now,” said Sadie Miller, Campus Compact and Vista volunteer assigned to Williams and developer of the project. “To have these incredibly diverse schools make a commitment has been such a blessing, and such an affirmation.”

Student participants divided into 12 committees, each of which addressed a different community issue. The issues ranged from eliminating hunger in the Berkshires to building an environmentally sustainable campus to responding to the Iraq war. The aim of the institute was for each group to come up with a plan of action for students across the campuses to carry out in the coming year.

“It’s pretty amazing to have a plan laid out for the next six to 12 months,” said MCLA student Rory McCarron. He sat on the youth empowerment action committee, which made plans to launch a day-long conference for high school students next September to address issues affecting their age group. “There was no real divide between schools. All that mattered was that we all came to make that change, that difference. We’re not just working in our own corners of the world anymore.”

Although each subgroup addressed a different issue, general trends emerged. Gathering and cataloguing information, working with high school students and involving community members all were important parts of many committees’ strategies. The most pervasive thread throughout the conference, however, was establishing and maintaining networks between the six Berkshire schools, the idea that separates BISA from other activist efforts.

Harmony between the diverse schools was not inherent in every group, however. “I felt there was a distinction between the schools,” said Jocelyn McElroy of Simon’s Rock, who participated in the Organizing for a Sustainable Campus group, “Our differences didn’t create a positive energy.”

Bizzy Davis, also from Simon’s Rock and in the same action group, felt that each school’s agenda regarding environmental policy was too dissimilar for it to be effective to lump everyone together. “It would have been more useful to split us up by college and then convene as one, instead of spending the entire conference in one big focus group,” she said.

Many students felt the time constraint of the one day conference. “Even while the collaboration was successful, it was limited because we tried to accomplish too much,” said Marvin Gonzalez of Simon’s Rock.

Simon’s Rock student Keely O’Connell, a member of the Creating Access to Higher Education in the Berkshires group, was far more confident in the future of her committee’s plan to “put a face to the college admissions process for high school students.” She said, “If we continue to collaborate, I’d like to think things will happen. We’ll help each other make it happen.”

Kendell Newman ’08, a member of the Lehman Council for Community Engagement who helped organize the conference, said that although it was difficult to spend seven hours inside working, it was impossible to plan the event over a few days.

“I don’t know [if] we would have done it otherwise, since it was hard enough to get students to give up the time that they did. Next time there will be more activities and variety, so we won’t get as burnt out,” Newman said. “We came out of [the conference] with creative and exciting solutions. It was an incredible day.”

The BISA conference was capped off by a keynote address at Thompson Memorial Chapel by composer and song leader Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, who brought the student activism of the day into a historical perspective by referencing the civil rights and feminist movements in which she participated in past decades. “You’re simply more alive when you’re standing on ground you believe in,” she said. She also conveyed a great appreciation for the work of BISA. “I’ve been very moved by the territory you’re staking out,” she said.

BISA was the first time such diverse college communities within Berkshire County had been brought together. The formation of a “Berkshire-centric” coalition is vital, according to Miller. “We often speak of Amherst, which is an hour and a half away. But these schools – BCC, Bennington – are 20 minutes away. These are our neighbors. This is our community.”

Plans for the conference began last June, as the Lehman Community Service Council in conjunction with other campus leaders began to consider ways that they could support community work by making student activism more informed. From initial plans came an outpouring of interest in the program.