In September 2021, Students United’s Board of Directors adopted a set of advocacy priorities for the academic year. With the adoption of the new strategic plan in June 2021, the goal is for annual advocacy priorities to progress us towards our long-term advocacy objectives: affordability, accessibility, and justice/equity/diversity/inclusion.
For 2021-2022, the advocacy priorities are comprehensive and include continuing advocacy from previous years and preparing for advocacy in future years.
Academic Affairs/Classroom Experience
In our new normal, there’s an important opportunity to fundamentally transform students’ academic experience towards being more inclusive, accessible, and safe for all students and community members.
Some of our goals include:
Increasing dialogue between student and faculty leaders to provide opportunities for education on inclusive classroom practices and policies
Identifying opportunities to reform absence policies
Pushing for a more seamless and supportive pathway for transferring between schools in the system
And more!
Basic Needs
We will be organizing and supporting local, system, state, and federal efforts to increase housing and food security, support students’ physical and mental health, ensure technology/internet access, and more.
Some of our goals include:
Lobbying for legislation that protects student renters, prevents mass evictions, and expands SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) benefits
Reviewing system and campus housing policies/procedures to identify where access, safety, and wellbeing can be better prioritized
Supporting systemwide mental health initiatives, including peer-to-peer mental health support models and the implementation of campus “basic needs hub websites”
Increasing awareness of the Emergency Broadband Benefit, which provides an internet discount to many people, including Pell Grant recipients.
And more!
International Students
Due to the pandemic’s impact on the healthcare market, the effort to find a more affordable, stronger coverage healthcare plan for Minnesota State international students was stalled. Now, with the market emerging from the pandemic, as well as a new federal administration imposing less restrictions on international student and scholar visas than in previous years, there are renewed opportunities to advocate for affordability and accessibility for international students.
Some of our goals include:
Finding avenues for continued relief for international students on the Minnesota State-provided health plan, including calling for market research
Finding avenues for federal advocacy that can improve international student visa policies
Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion + Equity 2030
The opportunity to transform our university system towards more accessibility, more inclusion, and more equity is in front of us in this historic academic year. Students United and our many friends and partners in this fight, are collectively and independently pushing for key initiatives to ensure critical steps are taken to make our universities more equitable and inclusive for all students.
Some of our goals include:
Organizing campuses to commit to student-centered, student-driven diversity/inclusion initiatives, including dozens outlined in the Students United platform
Pushing for more transparent access to diversity, equity, and inclusion data from the campuses, including data that is disaggregated to ensure it conveys the full picture
Working with a historic coalition of Minnesota State stakeholders, including bargaining units, student associations, and employee resource groups, to push system and campus leaders on key issues impacting students, staff, and faculty of historically-marginalized and excluded communities
And more!
Sexual Misconduct
With a new federal administration that is known for its interest in Title IX, there is an important opportunity to improve national, and Minnesota State system-level, protections for victim-survivors of sexual assault.
Some of our goals include:
Working with national organizations to push through Title IX reforms that align with Students United’s values, including an affirmative consent (yes means yes) standard
After a Title IX reform is secured, work with Minnesota State to improve the systemwide sexual violence policy (1B.3)
Student Debt Crisis
As the chorus on student loan forgiveness grows louder and the college affordability crisis collides with the pandemic’s impact, the time is now for student debt relief.
Some of our goals include:
Directly providing relief to borrowers by launching the one of a kind Student Debt Cancellation Fund
Lobbying for debt forgiveness, double funding for the Pell Grant, and revisions to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
Calling for state and system level student debt relief
And more!
Sustainability
In addition to supporting important sustainability legislation, organizing campuses to make strong sustainability commitments can best be achieved by understanding each campus’s individual needs and abilities and nudging those to align with students’ expectations of their universities.
Some of our goals include:
Supporting critical bonding requests designed to reduce campus emissions and increase sustainability
Organizing campuses to commit to student-centered, student-driven sustainability initiatives
Voter Registration
After successfully advocating for a Minnesota State systemwide voter registration policy, Students United aims to observe the implementation of the policy and assess effectiveness so that as many students as possible are registered to vote (and actually go vote!)
Some of our goals include:
Supporting the implementation of this new policy and helping campuses implement strong voter registration tools online
Ensuring that every student who is an eligible voter is given the opportunity to register to vote in the upcoming years
Workers/Jobs
From a nationwide worker shortage increasing the incentives/wages offered by employers, to a reckoning with the treatment of frontline workers, to a global need for financial security, there is an important opportunity to call for new protections, training, benefits, and increased wages for student workers.
Some of our goals include:
Helping to organize an effort to increase campus wages for student workers
Securing increased protections, training, and pay for on-campus student employees, especially students employed on frontlines such as in housing, dining, or campus safety
Key efforts from last year will continue on and new issues will arise. Interested in sharing your ideas with our Board of Directors? Consider joining one of our committees of the board, attending our Advocacy Conferences,
and find other ways to get involved!