The University of Mississippi’s new chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its inaugural meeting on Sunday, March 1, in Lamar Hall. The following day, members took to the Circle to protest the United States’ recent missile strikes on Iran.
The group’s first sponsored event was a sit-in protest under the slogan “No War in Iran” from noon to 1 p.m. Approximately 15 people sat around the flagpole in the center of the Circle.
Members disapproved of recent U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Six American servicemen have died since the U.S. and Israel coordinated missile strikes on Iran. The protest was held in collaboration with the national SDS organization, which held similar events across the country on March 2.
The sit-in-style protest was chosen due to fears that the organization may come off as too disruptive to campus life. Members are considering more active forms of protest, such as marching and chanting, but they are reluctant to pursue them.
“We consider maybe marching around campus chanting, but we wouldn’t cause any riots or anything,” Mia Kienberger, a freshman majoring in computer science who attended the protest, said.
Gabriel Navarro is a junior creative writing and French double major from Amory, Miss. He’s a member of SDS and participated in the protest. Navarro voiced goals of the sit-in and his opinion on the organization.
“We don’t support … what the (Trump) administration is doing,” Navarro said. “We don’t support our foreign policy with Iran — what we’re protesting right now. We don’t support very conservative, hyper-capitalist systems.”
The event organizers came prepared with custom posters and encouraged students to create their own boards and slogans. The posters featured different messages showcasing the group’s opposition to U.S. military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Some were simple, direct phrases like “No War” and “War is Bad.” Others were more detailed. One sign read, “If the bombs feel far away… press your ear to the ground … the Earth & its people cry for justice!”
The greater national New Students for a Democratic Society organization was founded in 2006 following the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. The organization is a progressive, national multi-issue movement with more than 40 chapters across the U.S. Their slogan “Join the fight! Dare to struggle, dare to win” invites students to join protests against U.S. wars and intervention, racism, homophobia, transphobia, police brutality and other societal issues.
Kienberger shared some of the organization’s goals and what she hoped to achieve during the inaugural meeting on March 1.
“We want to have a group of people on campus come together and fight against (President Donald) Trump’s agenda and be a mobilized effort,” Kienberger said. “We want to have a sense of community on campus.”
Though there is no formal relation between the two groups, the original Students for a Democratic Society was founded in the 1960s as a student activist organization dedicated to opposing the Vietnam War and fighting for participatory democracy, political and social issues. The SDS disbanded in the 1970s following an incident involving a radical faction of the organization called The Weather Underground that resulted in the deaths of three members, according to Smithsonian magazine.
Lauren Fuller, a graduate student pursuing a master’s in biology, helped found the UM SDS chapter. Prior to the first meeting, she tabled in front of the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union on Feb. 21 to gauge interest.
“I have some friends in the SDS national organization in Louisiana, and they came up here last week to help see if there would be people interested in starting a chapter,” Fuller said. “I think we had over 70 people sign up. A lot of people were in support of what we were saying. We’ve had some hecklers, but I think that’s what you’ll get no matter what. And it was only a couple people. It just feels like it’s a very loud minority.”
Fuller shared what she thinks sets SDS apart from other left-leaning organizations on campus, such as University of Mississippi College Democrats.
“The main difference that I see is that we are more of a fighting opposition,” Fuller said. “SDS at Loyola University of New Orleans was able to keep Turning Point USA from getting chartered at their university. When JD Vance came to Oxford, UM Dems hosted a teach-in. There was no protest. There was no opposition. I think what SDS brings that other student organizations don’t is that we are action-oriented, meaning that we have demands and goals and we’ll escalate them.”
Fuller talked about some of her future plans for this chapter.
“One of our campaigns that we discussed previously with some of the people we met with was an affordable housing campaign,” Fuller said. “That’s a big issue here in Oxford, and I think the goal is to bring that directly to the dean. I know that UM Forward has a petition, and I’m interested in that. I think that we could help bring that directly to the people who need to see it and make demands.”
At the protest, Kienberger hinted at future collaborations with UM College Democrats and UM Forward. Navarro also mentioned a possible No Kings protest, as part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations against President Trump, later this March.
UM College Democrats President Elizabeth Wildman, a junior public policy leadership major from Laurel, Miss., said she is excited about a possible collaboration with SDS.
“When people sit back and expect action from their peers, democracy struggles,” Wildman said. “We are excited to see SDS decide to stand alongside us and demand a better future. The movement will benefit from their support.”
