Conference Purpose

During World War II, President Roosevelt called for a "second Bill of Rights" to free all Americans from fear and want. A generation later, Martin Luther King Jr. launched a human rights movement to secure an economic and social Bill of Rights to end poverty and propel prosperity. We believe that now in 2008 the time is ripe to move toward this goal, with poverty and economic injustice worsening-yet political opportunities opening up that we have not seen since the 1960s. Let us heed, in King's words, "the fierce urgency of now."

The Berkshire Institute for Student Activism (BISA) was created in fall 2006 to marshal the energy and passion of Berkshire-area students to tackle the critical problems of our times, locally and beyond: health care, hunger and malnutrition, inequity in higher education, violence against women, rights of immigrants, Katrinas, climate change, etc.

The purpose of this second, multi-college BISA Leadership Conference is to help train college and high school students in key leadership skills (morning workshops) geared to confronting these social problems; and then give each student the opportunity to work with community leaders to further campaigns around these specific problems (afternoon workshops). The day will conclude with a plenary session in which participants and presenters will together discuss how these campaigns are, or should be, interrelated and how they can collectively contribute to establishing a Second Bill of Rights legislated by Congress and the states and implemented by students and other citizen activists.

Schedule: sign up!

Click here for how to sign up, and directions to the venue

8:30-9 am: Reception (Paresky Center Performance Space, downstairs)

9:15: Welcome and Overview

Morning Workshops: Leadership Skills

9:30-11: First Session (participants choose one workshop)

1. Cultivating Ethical Leadership (Chris Romano)
2. Powerful Presentation Skills (Peter Bubriski)
3. Powerful Negotiation Skills (Michael Blank, Insight Partners, Boston)

11-12:30: Second Session (participants choose one workshop)

1. Applying Strategic Nonviolence for a Nuclear-Free Future (Randy Kehler, Promoting Active Nonviolence, Safe and Green Campaign)
2. Creating Community Coalitions (Al Bashevkin, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, & Lily Li '08, Lehman Council)
3. Mobilizing for Disaster Response (Kathleen Schneider, Save the Children)

12:30-1:30: Lunch (Greylock Dining Hall; guest passes for visiting students)

Afternoon Workshops: Campaign Building

1:30-3: Third Session (participants choose one workshop)

1. Health Care Reform (Chip Joffe-Halpern, Ecu-Healthcare, Health Care for All)
2. Immigrant Rights (Brooke Meade, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Pittsfield)
3. Youth Climate Change Movement (Morgan Goodwin '08, Thurs. Night Grassroots)

3:15-4:45: Fourth Session (participants choose one workshop)

1. Food Security & Eliminating Hunger (Jo Comerford, Western Mass. Food Bank)
2. Ending Violence Against Women (Elizabeth Freeman Center, North Adams)
3. Promoting College Access & Educational Equality (Lili Rodriguez & Christine Williams, Williams Admissions Office)

5-6: Plenary Session: How to Frame and Implement a Second Bill of Rights (Paresky Performance Space)

Contact 08lyl or 10tet for more information

Events Leading Up to the Saturday BISA Conference (all events are free)

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 5 pm, Film: "A Panther in Africa" (Images Cinema, Spring St.)

Weds., Feb. 20, 7:30 pm, Discussion with Bennington President Elizabeth Coleman on the "Thought/Action Continuum in Higher Education" (Griffin Hall 7)

Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:30 pm, Lecture by Prof. Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois, "Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign" (Paresky Performance Space)

Friday, Feb. 22, 7 pm, Lecture by activist Charlotte O'Neal, "Reclaiming the Black Panther Legacy of Social Responsibility" (Paresky Performance Space)

Sponsored by the Williams College Center for Community Engagement and the Schumann Program in Democratic Studies