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Letter To The Editor: Petitions & Power
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Letter To The Editor: Petitions & Power
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Kevin Carriere, MPP, PhD
W&J assisstant professor of psychology
Petitions when well organized build POWER. If you’re thinking about starting a petition, use this quick mnemonic device to ensure that you are utilizing your POWER appropriately “to cultivate the active participation of community members in decision-making to ensure the success of the College” -- to make change. Petitions are Personal
You, dear reader, are an identifiable member of the Washington & Jefferson Community. Anonymous, we falter. “Together, we thrive”. We need real names on petitions (with graduation years) to be sure that the petition is not a movement concocted by internet trolls. Connected with this, petitions are best delivered personally. 1. Handing over a nicely typeset letter with fifty signatories in person, filming you and your group’s march across campus live on Instagram will always be more impactful than to have some weblink to pass around. 2. You can ignore a link. 3. You cannot ignore someone in front of you. Petitions build you power. Petitions are On Target and On Message
A good petition identifies not just the receiver, but also who has the power to make that change. To lobby your psychology professor to move the exam deadline, you do not go to your history professor. Once we’ve identified who is receiving your petition, you want to focus your efforts on clear, targeted grievances.4 If you want to complain that my class has increased in difficulty every week, do not also talk about the rainbow bird outside your window that wakes you up in the morning. Not only do I not have any power over the bird, but we are also now all much more interested in the bird than the difficulty of my class. You’ve lost your audience and your message. Petitions build you power. Petitions are Well Cited
If you are going to make any claim, never mind multiple serious and defamatory claims, each claim needs to be justified with citations. National statistics, stories from the Red and Black, peer reviewed research, think tanks, examples from peer institutions, motions from the Student Government Association, words on our
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Kevin Carriere, MPP, PhD
W&J assisstant professor of psychology Website - all are ways to back up your claims. Without evidence, you only hurt, defame, and disparage the thing you claim to love and want to improve. Without evidence, you fail in your “mission to be ethical leaders” and belittle your movement.
These citations are not just for why we’re upset, but they are also for why change needs to occur. We have values here. If your petition doesn’t have the words “Together We Thrive”, you have missed the mark. Draw on mission statements, on vision statements, on our fiveyear strategic plans (and the strategic plans before that). Not only does it show the reader that you have done your research, but it also places your target at risk of contradicting themselves. (Homework: Identify the three times I’ve use College slogans). Petitions build you power.
Petitions are Escalatory Imagine we want no more final exams. You might want to ask faculty to hold open office hours to hear student complaints, hold a studentmoderated town hall, outline clear changes to the curriculum, and more. Depending on your audience, you might call for a
maximum number of exams, studentled walkouts during exam time, or a requirement that for every exam given, a faculty member must sit an exam of their fellow colleague. Each demand within the petition moves towards your end goal (no more finals), while also giving you ammunition to claim that you tried to achieve compromise. If they act, you have shown how your action makes change. If they do not, they clearly continue to ignore our (reasonable) demands and that necessitates further actions. Both ways, you win. Petitions build you power. Petitions Are Reactive
Finally, your grievances need to have a context. Did something happen recently on campus? Was a statement made, or a policy proposed? Did news break about a topic? Was there recently a national conversation about something? That is, protesting needs to be reactive to current ongoings - not hypothetical changes based on rumors and fear. The context under which the petition occurs helps others understand and identify with the movement. If the petition has no identifiable context, it may come off less like a well-meaning grievance and more like a hearty late night weekend discussion over one too many libations at the local pub. POWER is not easy.
Build your power. But build it well and build it meaningfully. Following these steps is not easy. But improving the things you love is not easy either. Every person on this campus wants us to thrive. Changing who is on campus will not change your ability to thrive. Think about the change you want - not the figureheads, not the leadership - but the actionable changes we could make for the next generation. You are the leadership. You are the figureheads for change. Find where that change is, and act on it with personal, on message, well cited, escalatory and reactive actions. Build your power.
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