A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LSU PROGRESSIVE STUDENT ALLIANCE
The Progressive Student Alliance was founded in the Fall of 2000, when an alliance of SEAC, ACLU, United College Democrats (now the Young Democrats), the Vegetarian Society, Spectrum Alliance, Amnesty International, Women Organizing Women, the Unitarian Universalists of LSU, and the Cannabis Action Network of Louisiana pulled together a student government ticket and challenged the established power structure. We ran eleven candidates, nominated by all the clubs and assisted by energetic volunteers from every progressive organization. After the election we established our constitution, making the PSA a bottom-up umbrella organization of progressive clubs, each electing a representative to PSA's governing body, the Council of Representatives. The representatives vote for their club on PSA policy and issues, on nominations for candidates on the PSA SG ticket, and elect administrative officers to run the day-to-day business of the alliance. The Council, the officers, the PSA senators, and activists work to promote cross-club projects and events, combining resources and communication for campaigns in which we share common interests. Through the alliance, progressives have made gains in fighting homophobia with Spectrum Alliance's Safe Space campaign, moved the Women's Center out of a condemned building, gotten LSU to take a strong position against sweatshop labor in the making of its apparel, and fought for access to all University buildings for those with disabilities. Through Student Government, we open up our elected body to regular students who seek progressive changes on campus. We have been on the forefront of equally distributing student fee money to clubs and events that before our arrival never would receive neither funds nor recognition nor respect. We set the tone and agenda of SG, moving it to take stands against paternalism, racism, homophobia, sexism, classism, and complacency. We moved the Senate to endorse the Workers Rights Consortium (www.workersrights.org) to fight sweatshops, to bring sweatshop workers from Bangladesh to LSU, and to oppose the Higher Education Act of 1998, which adversely affects students who are poor or minorities. We are providing liberals and progressives with valuable coalition, political, and electoral experience so we can improve BR, LA, our country(-ies) and world when we move on from LSU. The PSA now includes the Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics of LSU (AHA) and the Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). We have seated over fourteen members of the Student Senate and currently promote a caucus of senators in the Senate to push through the issues we were elected on. PSA is continuing to build alliances and expand membership in the member clubs of the alliance, get progressive legislation passed, and move LSU's administration to accept our proposals and demands.
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