Hey all,

Gotta few updates for ya'll:

1 - I've hooked up w/ more CG members than I expected (who were attending the GPUS convention anyway), and most of them have promised to come to our session on Sat.; I'm developing a rough agenda right now so the time isn't wasted.

2 - A LOT of GPUS organizers have shown immense interest in how we're doing, so I've been really busy bringing everyone up to speed on us and our happenings and dilemmas.

3 - We've made $10.50 so far (and the convention hasn't "really" started yet: the most important stuff is Fri, Sat, Sun.). Many people have shown interest in our merch and have sort of pre-pledged donations. And don't worry, I remembered to bring the donation slips :-P

I'll send another update tomorrow evening.

Peace,
Dave

Man! It's been too long since anything was posted. For starters, I'll plug in the latest Digest:

CAMPUS GREENS DIGEST
April 2006

In this issue:
1. 2006 National Convention
2. Tell McD's to Join CIW in Real Labor Reform
3. Summer Internships
4. Tell us your successes!
5. Fall 2006 national campaigns

****
1. NATIONAL CONVENTION!!!
The next Green Party Annual National Meeting is being held at University
of Arizona - Tucson, and their CG chapter as agreed to host our 2006
national convention along side! Details coming soon; if you'd like to
join the ad-hoc Convention Planning Committee, please email us at
or Drew Spencer at .

2. TELL McD's TO JOIN CIW IN REAL LABOR REFORM
A message from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (www.ciw-online.org):

On this day, February 1, in the year 1865, President Abraham Lincoln
signed the 13th Amendment into law, officially abolishing slavery in
this country. Yet today, in Florida, federal prosecutors still rely on
laws derived from the 13th Amendment to put farm labor employers behind
bars for holding their workers in modern-day slavery.

There is today a human rights crisis in Florida's fields. But this
human rights crisis does not begin and end with slavery. Rather,
slavery is only the most extreme form of the sweatshop conditions that
exist throughout Florida's agricultural industry – where workers toil
from dawn to dusk for sub-poverty wages at a piece rate that hasn't
changed significantly in nearly 30 years, with no right to overtime
pay, no health insurance, no sick leave, no paid vacation or pension,
and no right to organize if they would hope to improve these
conditions.

On this anniversary of the signing of the 13th Amendment, the CIW is
announcing an important new action in our campaign to abolish slavery
and sweatshops in Florida agriculture.

Over the next several weeks, we ask that you take this simple action to
help end the human rights crisis in Florida's fields: Drop a letter at
your local McDonald's calling on the fast-food giant to stop
sidestepping the real issues and work with the CIW for real farm labor
reform, and ask the manager to make your feelings known to corporate
headquarters in Chicago.

Download the letter by visiting the following link:
http://www.ciw-online.org/mcd_manager_letter.pdf

No right to overtime pay, no right to organize, sub-poverty wages...
it's worth thinking about those conditions again. They are the rule,
the unquestioned norm in Florida agriculture. This environment of
powerlessness and exploitation is the fertile ground from which case
after case of modern-day slavery is born.

That's why farmworkers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers are
organizing to make sweatshops a thing of the past in the fields of
Florida. The agreement with Taco Bell was an important first step
toward corporate accountability in the food industry and gave hope that
other major retail food corporations would follow suit and help
clean up human rights violations in their suppliers' operations.

By paying a fairer price for its tomatoes, Taco Bell helped workers
earn a fairer wage. And by working with the CIW on making its code of
conduct stronger, Taco Bell helped open the door to farmworkers playing
a meaningful role in the protection of their own rights.

But Taco Bell can't do it alone. Nearly one year later, fast-food
industry leader McDonald's still refuses to take these simple steps for
justice. Click on the link below, read the letter that follows, and if
you agree, print it out, take it to your local McDonald's, and ask that
it be sent to Corporate Headquarters. It's one small step toward a
fairer future for Florida's farmworkers, and one giant step for the
fast-food industry as a whole.

http://www.ciw-online.org/mcd_manager_letter.pdf

And as always, visit our website at www.ciw-online.org for the latest
information on this developing campaign.

3. GREEN PARTY INTERNSHIPS
*Green Party of the U.S.*
The Green Party of the United States is looking for interns to work in
our Washington, DC office. Interns will assist with daily office
operations, provide administrative support for campaigns, research, and
help with convention planning and fundraising events. Qualified
applicants should be computer savvy. Activist experience and/or Green
Party membership preferred. Women and people of color are strongly
encouraged to apply.

Start date is flexible. We are currently looking for candidates for both
winter and spring semesters. We are also accepting applications for
summer internships. Hours are flexible although three-quarters to
full-time is preferred.

This is an unpaid internship, although many colleges and
universities offer college credit for internships.

To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to:

Green Party Internship
Attn: Emily Citkowski
Emily@gp.org

*Illinois Green Party*
The Prairie Green Party of East Central Illinois seeks summer interns for
the Tom Abram for 103rd district State Representative campaign. Interns will
also volunteer for three Champaign County Board races and the Green Party
statewide slate.

Work Schedule and Salary

The intern is encouraged to begin work as soon as possible, but must begin
work by May 30th. Applications should be submitted as soon as possible, but
no later than May 1st. The intern is expected to work up to 40 hours a week
and MUST be available to work weekends.

The internship is primarily a volunteer experience, but the campaign will
provide free housing and utilities (may include cable and internet) to any
intern not from the Champaign-Urbana area. In addition, there is a
possibility that interns may receive meal reimbursements, depending on
availability (Note: the intern may only stay in specific apartments that are
being donated by Campus Greens to the campaign. The campaign will not pay
for any other housing.)

The Prairie Green Party will work with the intern to receive course credit
for this internship.

Primary duties include
- Petitioning for a state legislature candidate and several statewide
- Coordinating and activating campaign volunteers
- Fundraising for four Green Party campaigns

Other duties may include
- Write press releases, web copy and/or speeches
- Research and develop policy positions
- Assist candidates at local forums
- Distribute candidate information via web sites, blogs, message boards,
etc.
- Assist with other materials as needed

Qualifications
- Candidate MUST be over 18 years old and a US Citizen.

Desired Qualifications
- A graduate or undergraduate student with knowledge/interest in politics
and/or grassroots organizing
- Excellent writing, verbal and critical thinking abilities
- Competency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access
- Enthusiasm for meeting new people and getting hands-on experience
- General agreement with Green Party's 10 Key Values of ecological wisdom,
social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, decentralization,
community-based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal and
global responsibility, and future focus

Suggested Majors
- Political Science, Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, History
- Students of any major may apply

About the Illinois Green Party
The Illinois Green Party will run a full slate of candidates for statewide
office in 2006, as well as candidates for several local offices. The
Illinois Green Party offers interns a unique opportunity to make significant
contributions to a political campaign, as well as gain hands-on experience
in grassroots organization. For more information about the Illinois Green
Party, visit www.ilgp.org. For more information on the Prairie Green Party,
visit www.prairiegreens.org

Application deadline: May 1st, 2006

To apply, email resume and cover letter (stating your career goals and why
you would like to work for an Illinois Green Party campaign) to Tom Abram at
tom@tomabram.org. Submission can be in either MS Word or PDF format.

For questions and clarifications, contact Susan Rodgers, 619-985-3553

4. TELL US YOUR SUCCESSES!!
We at national are always highly interested in your campaigns and
successes. If you send us a short blurb about your goings-on, we'd be
more than happy to plug it up on the website for all to see :D

The most recent victory comes from Whitman College CGs (Jan. 2006)

"This month’s amazing activism and achievement award goes to the Whitman
College Campus Greens. They have been tirelessly working since spring
semester 2004 on a Campus Climate Challenge campaign to get their school
to purchase renewable energy. Now over a year and many sleepless nights
later, they have made Whitman Washington State’s first SSC school to
purchase clean power. But that wasn’t good enough for the Greens. They
were aiming for a 4% purchase, because at that time that was the
requirement for recognition from the EPA's Green Power Partnership. In
April 2005 they convinced 80% of their campus to support a $5 increase in
tuition for the purpose of buying renewable energy. In response to the
Greens high profile campaign, their school drafted a plan to spend $15,000
a year on renewable energy. As soon as this proposal is rubber-stamped by
the school’s Board of Trustees Whitman will purchase approximately 20% of
their energy from renewable sources. Congratulations to the Whitman
Campus Greens."

5. (Last, but not least) IDEAS FOR FALL 2006 NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS
The CG Steering Committee has elections for officers at the upcoming 2006
convention in Tucson, and will also decide on 1 or more national
campaigns. If you'd like to submit ideas, please send them either to
or to the National Discussion List
<http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/campusgreens-discuss> if you'd like
input from other students.

Where We Are and Where We Want to Be
(by Andrew Dobbyn, Steering Committee)

The national Campus Greens Steering Committee hereby commits itself to achieving the goals listed below within one year's time of the ratification of this document.

Recruitment

·100 affiliated chapters.
·A full national Steering Committee.
·All committee chairperson positions staffed.
·The re-founding of the Council of Advisors and Council of Alumni.

Mobilization

·2 national campaigns with active participation from at least 80 percent of affiliated chapters.
·The re-founding of the national Campus Greens Newspaper "The Catalyst" on a quarterly or monthly basis
·A successful National/North American convention for 2006

International

·Establish connections and coordinated campaigns with 2-3 different foreign young green/campus green organizations.

Fundraising

·Raise enough funds to host a national conference and defray travel costs of delegates.
·Raise enough funds to publish "The Catalyst" on a quarterly or monthly basis.
·Raise enough funds to hire a part time staffer.

Information

·Restart the Campus Greens newspaper.
·Keep the blog active and regularly updated.
·Revise and edit the current Organizing Manual.

Chapter Support

·Create an online Plenary of Delegates.
·Set up a weekly online chat for all interested chapter members and the SC.
·Establish sets of experts on various issues who can assist local chapters with organizing challenges.


Questions? Comments?

The CG Steering Committee is considering an open letter to the Green National Committee stating that we won't pursue the goal of becoming a formal network of the Green Party until the two "camps" of Cobb supporters and GDI supporters agree to stop quarreling. Our question to ya'll: whaddya think of this idea? What are your thoughts? Please post your responses in the "comments" section of this post.

Thanks!
Dave Wilcox
Steering Committee
dave at campusgreens.org

Welcome to Campus Greens! Over the past six months or so, we've gone through major restructuring of our organizatin and are relaunching with a lotta cool stuff going on. I'll post details later.

Peace,
Dave Wilcox
Steering Committee
dave at campusgreens.org