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The Movement Summit provides student leaders a broad introduction to the history of past social movements and unlocks a wealth of knowledge and experience that exists on their campus and in their local communities. Each Summit brings together students and their peers from other campuses who are involved in different issues or social movements, seasoned veterans of past social movements, and community members who took part in these movements. These regional gatherings employ popular education and collaborative learning techniques to foster a sense of community within each event. A few of the core goals of the movement summit include to:

• Promote coalition building between students, faculty, administrators, nonprofit professionals, and community members involved in socially conscious activities
• Expand the perspective of service oriented students to include tools employed by activists to address root causes of social issues
• Expose students who are involved in activism to the pressing need of communities and mutual benefit of community service
• Promote the interconnectedness of social movements
• Promote intergenerational learning
• Bridge the gap between local activists and campus activists in the same community
• Demonstrate the power of students to contribute substantially to the development and implementation of quality programming

Idealist Alliances choose to host regional Movement Summits across the country. These one to three day events bring together students, faculty, staff, and community members in a unique intergenerational learning experience that can range anywhere in size from 50-400 people. Idealist Alliance campus organizers serve as catalysts for the Summit by selecting a planning committee, choosing keynote speakers, engaging nonprofit partners, and recruiting for the event.

The program typically consists of workshops delivered by conference participants, all group sessions highlighting the work of students, academics, and past and present movement participants, as well as sessions focusing on artistic expression and group visioning and reflection. Thus far, the Movement Summit Program has featured a diverse range of topic areas including the:

• Civil Rights Movement
• Environmental Movement
• GLBT Movement
• Immigrants Rights Movement
• International Movements for Democracy, Human Rights, and Health
• Tribal Sovereignty/Native Rights Movement
• Women's Rights Movement
• Peace Movement
• Labor Movement
  

In its first two years, the Movement Summit series engaged hundreds of students and community members in dialogues and cooperative learning activities focused on exploring the history of past social movements. Held at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and Miami Dade Community College in Miami, Florida dynamic groups of activists from the campus and local community gathered together with regional and national change makers.

In May 2002, COOL hosted the first Movement Summit at Dartmouth College. The event drew nearly 200 students and community members to campus for three days of workshops, lectures, and special events. The Summit keynote was delivered by author, activist, and vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke. Dozens of workshops presented by conference participants shed light on the important movements that shaped, or are shaping, the political and social landscape.

Workshop titles included:

• Community Building Skills for a New Student Political Movement
• South African Divestment: Why and How?
• The WTO and the Environment
• Tribal Sovereignty and Environmentalism: Defining and Protecting Sacred Lands
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
• The Student Movement for Democracy in Iran
• Evaluating the Harvard Living Wage Sit-in: What Lessons Can We Learn from this Successful Tactic?
• Hawaiian Sovereignty
• Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights in America
• The Arts of Social Change

Following the ground swell of interest in first ever Movement Summit, this small gathering aimed at exploring the lessons from other social movements was transformed into a coordinated series of large and small gatherings.

In February of 2003 COOL partnered with the Raise Your Voice Campaign for the second Student Summit on Social Movements held on the campus of Miami Dade Community College. This collaboration produced outstanding results: 40 exciting workshops and numerous all group sessions; nearly three hundred attendees from a wide array of backgrounds and issues; half a dozen artistic presentations and performances; and keynotes from leading student activists, politicians, artists, and faculty members. The program represented the unique local interests of the student population in the south, and Miami in particular.

It included workshops such as:

• Anatomy of a Movement: Learning from History to Create the Future
• A Hands On Introduction to Campaign Organizing
• Ten Myths About Activism
• Books Not Bombs: Student Voices Against the War at Home and Abroad
• History of Voting Rights: An Overview
• A Legacy of Social Justice: Cesar E. Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement
• The Hip-Hop Movement: Developing a Political Agenda
• Sex, Sexuality, and Spirituality for Communities of Color
• Students and Workers Unite: The Student-Labor Solidarity Movement
• Third Wave Feminist Activism and Action
• Bridging the Gap Between Service and Activism
• The Fires This Time: Civil Rights, Church Burnings, and the American South

Following the Miami Movement Summit, COOL piloted another iteration of the Movement Summit model. In June of 2003 a diverse group of 21 individuals and representatives of organizations who had been involved in past Movement Summits came together for a three day intensive mini summit at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Through in-depth trainings and learning circles, the small group of activists began to formalize and contextualize their personal theories of social change. This small group also contributed to the strength of the program by developing a strategic plan for the future of the Movement Summit.

Beginning in 2003-2004, schools across the country will have the opportunity to take part in the Movement Summit program.

Anyone on campus can host or attend a Movement Summit. Hosting an effective Summit does require some groundwork. Notifying important constituencies on your campus, learning who in your community has experience in past social movements, and creating a strong core team of organizers and advisors are just a few of the building blocks necessary to holding a successful Movement Summit.

To help guide you through this process, we ask everyone who is interested hosting a Movement Summit to first launch or join an Idealist Alliance. In addition to hosting a Movement Summit, Idealist Alliances will allow you to harness the energy and enthusiasm of likeminded students and other members of your campus to improve the effectiveness of socially conscious work at your school.

If you would like to attend a Movement Summit, check out the upcoming events to see if there are any Movement Summits scheduled in your area. If you have any questions, you can email ben@idealist.org.

by Ben Gebre-Medhin, Campus Organizer

We all have our heroes: those who have come before us and whose actions inspire us to push on, lend a hand, rise up, and make the most of our lives. At the top of my list are individuals who stood at the side of powerless and disenfranchised people as they struggled in the face of massive obstacles. They include Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, and Mohammed Ali. When I read about these people or hear their voices on old recordings I am humbled.

While I recognize that their contributions were great, I also struggle with the mystification of their legacies. In an effort to celebrate their remarkable achievements we have so enshrined their memories that they seem out of reach. There exists a void between our struggles and the rich history of social progress. It is as if no one among us could rally a whole country to stand up against the old British Empire, speak for a movement that ended de jure segregation in this country, or organize the poorest among us to campaign for their rights and dignity. This, however, could not be further from the truth

Over the past two years I have had the privilege to be a part of one of the most exciting initiatives undertaken by COOL in some time. As a part of its commitment to embrace the full spectrum of civic engagement, which includes service, activism, and advocacy, COOL has launched a series of educational convenings called The Student Summit on Past Social Movements. Over the past two years, we have convened nearly 500 students, administrators, faculty members, non-profit professionals, and community members to work toward a better understanding of the successes and failures of past social movements. We learned from each other's experiences and began the process of fostering common ground with fellow students and community members who were working on parallel issues.

Take for instance the story of Rosa Parks (as described by Keynote Speaker Paul Loeb at the 2003 National Conference). While most people know that she played a vital role in the civil rights movement, few understand that her actions were not limited to one day on one bus. Her act of civil disobedience, which sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, came after years of planning.

Parks herself was a longtime activist and secretary of the local NAACP who had trained with Dr. King, among others, at the Highlander Education Center for the months ahead of her historic action. If we choose to focus on Rosa Parks the icon, it is easy to forget that just years before her infamous action she was just another member of a community, attending local meetings, sitting at a desk and answering phones, and partaking in the all to mundane tasks required to build a movement.

Seen in that light, our ability to fill what had appeared to be huge shoes becomes much more manageable. Any one of us, sitting at his/her desks, educating others, and building relationships with likeminded people interested in progress are laying the groundwork for a better, more just world. In just a few short years we could be a part of the next Montgomery Bus Boycott.

We at COOL are working hard to support students who desire sustainable long term solutions to the problems that we deal with every day in our service endeavors (hunger, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy). Through the Movement Summit, we hope to inspire young people to dream of having a substantial impact, and to equip them with the skills and historical perspective necessary to be effective change agents. I hope you will join us in rediscovering the rich history of student organizing in social movements.

As I write this reflection I am flying high (literally) at an altitude of 30,000 feet. When I look out the window of my assigned 9F seat, I see an amazing sunset that makes me think and reflect on a truly life change weekend.

For me, the 2002 COOL Movement Summit was one of self realization and a rekindling of a fire within me that had slowly been dying. The first and most important thing that I realized was that I, along with all those who attended, have a gift for speaking out for what is wrong and actually have the ability and courage to address what is wrong - a talent very few people have. This weekend showed me that I am not alone in the fight for fairness and justice in this world of ours. Although we may be students and considered young, does that mean we will be passive? No, instead we must take an active role in changing things. Few can say they have accepted such a role.

Not only was the summit a self exploration, but also a wake up call for myself and the other two students from my school that attended. We realized that our campus needs to change and become more active. Without the conference I would not have realized the importance of issues that face my campus and the lack of interest students and administrators on my campus have to change things. Now I can return to school and face these issues and do something about them. And if called for, I now know how to stage a sit-in thanks to Harvard's Ben McKean and Stephen Smith [not sure if we want to use the names].

I hope all of you gain a little more knowledge and can now be more productive and active on your campuses. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to get all 13 million college students to become active.

As the sun fades away from its location in the sky and I fly back to my home in south Florida, I cannot help but look out the window and look down upon all the people and issues that feed our active voices. I am ready to conquer the world. Are you?

Caroline Cully
Junior, Bonner Scholar
Berry College