Student Movements and Social Justice: Histories and Futures

March 10, 2026, 9:30 am–5:00 pm

CUNY Graduate Center, Elebash Recital Hall

The conference brings together organizers from university-based organizations working for free education, affordable housing, cops off campus, campus labor, accessible childcare, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, and other struggles, to think, strategize, and build relationships across siloed struggles and disparate geographies.

The conference will feature four panels. One panel will bring together student organizers from struggles outside the US, including the 1999 UNAM strike in Mexico City, Fees Must Fall in South Africa, and the 2011 Quebec student strike. There will also be a panel on abolitionist university studies with the abolition university collective, a panel on campus policing with scholars such as Yalile Suriel, Erica Meiners, and Davarian Baldwin, and a panel on CUNY struggles from 1969 until today. 

This conference is fully open to the public, and we invite all students, faculty, staff, community organizers, and wider publics to join us.

Coffee and light snacks will be provided, and we will share nearby lunch options for you to gather together!

Check back for the full program, schedule of panels, and list of speakers.

If you are a student or currently organizing on campuses and are interested in attending a student-focused workshop on Monday, March 9th, focused on praxis-oriented political education, please email lbaskin@gradcenter.cuny.edu.

This event is free and open to the public. The conference is organized by the Center for the Humanities and cosponsored by the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics and Scholars for Social Justice.