Instructor: Doreen Stabinsky

First year student Sarah Neilson attended the November 2005 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and wants to develop practical skills that will help her make an impact on this issue.  Tracy Pinkham says she is bombarded with information about issues that are important to her and wants to learn how to do something about them.

Both have enrolled in Practical Activism, a course developed by professor Doreen Stabinsky to help students gain the experience and skills they need to plan and implement environmental and social justice campaigns. Doreen makes an excellent mentor - as a genetic engineering campaigner for Greenpeace International, she has plenty of real-world experience to share with her students.

The course covers a variety of topics, such as issue framing, strategic planning, power mapping, building coalitions, and working with the media. A recent class focused on the role of the internet in campaigns. Students discussed MoveOn, with Doreen noting, "It's one thing to be connected, but it's another thing to use the internet to organize people.” She says that MoveOn has been effective at using email and the web to mobilize people but that house parties and other face-to-face meeting opportunities have helped MoveOn keep them engaged.

The opportunity to plan and implement a real campaign is a key component of the course. The spring 2006 class divided into two groups, with one group addressing reproductive rights and the other working to oppose construction of a Wal-Mart Super Center and associated big box shopping complex in the nearby town of Ellsworth. Students share their progress and strategies in class, reflecting on their activities and getting feedback from their classmates.

In a recent class, the Wal-Mart group discussed the outcomes of their preliminary meetings with a group of Ellsworth citizens already working on the issue and shared some possible strategies for developing an action plan. The students collaborated with their peers in Ken Cline's land use planning course, who are working on the same issue.

The group addressing reproductive rights organized a march to support women's rights and to encourage Maine's two U.S. Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, to co-sponsor the Freedom of Choice Act .  Demonstrators marched through Bar Harbor to the Village Green where they held a vigil to honor women who died from illegal abortions before the passage of Roe v. Wade. Campaigners also staffed a table on the Village Green for two days and collected more than 100 citizen letters, which they hand-delivered to the senators' offices. Two members of the class also wrote opinion letters that were published in local newspapers.

Course Readings

• How to Win Campaigns: 100 Steps To Success, Chris Rose
• Reclaiming America, Randy Shaw
• Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements, Bill Moyer