| Student unions are students organizing in their own self-interest, based on participatory democracy, able to be part of the decision making process on issues that affect students as a means of resisting the neoliberalization of our universities. This thesis examines what neoliberalism, or late capitalism is and the multiplicity of ways it has affected universities. Student unions challenge Neoliberalism makes college more expensive and shifts the burden of paying for it from tax payers to individuals. Austerity programs have reduced faculty income and university resources making it harder to teach, while administrators continue to collect record high salaries. Students in other countries have long histories of developing and using student unions as a way to resist neoliberal changes in their school systems. This thesis will examine how these unions were created, under what conditions, and how we can learn from their success and failures when building a student movement in the US. The last chapter will examine how previous student movements in the United States and the Labor Movement have influenced the current push for student unionism as well as considering models and options for how to build a union by students who have recently been organizing on their own campuses. The thesis concludes by sharing what has been done in California to build a student movement. |
