SYMSYS 255 & 255A
Building Digital History:
Social Movements and Protest at Stanford



2013-2014 Winter Quarter, Stanford University

SYMSYS 255: 3-5 units, Ltr-CR/NC
SYMSYS 255A: 1 unit, S/NC only

Instructors: Todd Davies and numerous guest lecturers

Tuesdays, 7-9:45 pm
Room 460-126 (Margaret Jacks Hall, first floor)

Interactive website:
http://www.stanford.edu/class/symsys255/restricted
(sign up for the class to get access)
 photo of Stanford students staring at police at a protest of a visit by President George W. Bush in 2006

[July 15, 2014 - retrospective syllabus; check back here later this year for a link to the new public interactive website]

Course Description

This is a new course focused on developing a collaborative history website based on oral and archival history research. The thematic focus is the history of student activism at Stanford. How have political activities such as demonstrations, assemblies, educational events, and civil disobedience been organized on campus, and how have they affected Stanford? What lessons can be drawn from the past for students interested in social change? Students will choose historical periods and/or specific social movements for research. The course will feature guest appearances by representatives from a range of social movements at Stanford over the past fifty years, and the building of an online repository and community for the collaborative representation and discussion of history.

NOTE: SYMSYS 255 is the full version (3 to 5 units). SYMSYS 255A consists of the lectures only (1 unit).

The course is being offered with support from the Hoagland Award Fund for Innovations in Undergraduate Teaching, as part of the Peace+Justice Studies Initiative (PJSI).

Intended Population

The course is intended for any student interested in the history of social movements at Stanford, building history collaboratively using digital media, or both. There are no prerequisites.
Format

After initial sessions introducing the topic of the course overall, including presentations by History Professors Barton Bernstein and Clayborne Carson, the bulk of the remaining class periods will be devoted to guest presentations/interviews featuring representatives from past student social movements and protest at Stanford. The final two sessions will be devoted to chronology and analytical paper presentations by students in the class. Each session will have assigned reading, including readings chosen by guest presenters aimed at sharing the perspectives that influenced their participation in social movements. Some presenters may appear virtually through Internet videoconferencing.

The digital part of the course will be based around a common platform to which students, alumni, and others can post historical documents, chronologies, analyses, and comments. Students enrolled in SYMSYS 255 (the full version) will choose historical periods and/or specific social movements for research. Projects will include the development of shareable, online chronologies and analyses based on resources such as the Stanford University Archives, the Stanford Historical Society, interviews with former students, and published materials.

The course meets for two and a half hours each Tuesday evening, in order to facilitate participation by outside lecturers. Each meeting will be divided into two 75-minute sessions with a 15 minute break between them (7-8:15 and 8:30-9:45 pm).

Requirements and Grading

Students enrolled in SYMSYS 255 will be expected to do the following:
For 3 units, the grading breakdown is:

For 5 units, the grading breakdown is:

Students enrolled in SYMSYS 255A will be expected to:

For 1 unit, a grade of Satisfactory requires attendance and sign-in at 9 of the 10 class meetings

Schedule (watch here for updates):

CLASS SESSION
 READINGS*
 		OTHER MEDIA*
January 7
7:00-8:15 pm

Overview - Why this course? Intro to Digital History Platforms

Todd Davies
 Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
January 7
8:30-9:45 pm

Historical Research Methods and Stanford History

Barton Bernstein (Professor Emeritus of History)

 Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
January 14
7:00-8:15 pm

Stanford Social Movements: A Personal Perspective I

Barton Bernstein (Professor Emeritus of History)
  • Audio
  • Handout: Wise Memos, 1967 (from Brooks collection, Stanford Archive)

 Required Reading:

Reading Resources:

 Media Resources:
January 14
8:30-9:45 pm

Stanford Social Movements: A Personal Perspective II

Clayborne Carson (Professor of History and Director of the King Institute)
  • Video: "Apartheid and the Club of the West" from Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (showed from 35:45 to 52:35)
  • Audio

 Required Reading:
  • "Editing King", Chapter 10 from Clayborne Carson, Martin's Dream, 2013

Reading Resources:

 Media Resources:
January 21
7:00-8:15 pm

From Mississippi Freedom to Draft Resistance

David Harris (Class of '67)
 Required Reading:
  • David Harris, Dreams Die Hard, chapter 3, 1982/1993

Reading Resources:

 Media Resources:
January 21
8:30-9:45 pm

The April 3rd Movement: Protesting Stanford's Role in the Vietnam War

Jeanne Friedman (AM '64)
Lenny Siegel (Class of '70)
  • Audio
  • Poster: Strike Against the Stanford Empire, 1970
  • Poster: Stanford Industrial Park, 1970

 Required Reading:
  • Articles from Sandstone and Tile, Stanford Historical Society, Winter 2011 (pp. 3-22):
    • Susan Weis, "The Troubles at Stanford: Student Uprisings in the 1960s and '70s", pp. 3-4
    • Richard W. Lyman, "Stanford in Turmoil", pp. 5-14
    • Jeanne Friedman, Georgia Kelly, and Lenny Siegel, "The Roots of the Stanford Peace Movement", pp. 15-22
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
January 28
7:00-8:15 pm

"The Taking of the Mike" by the Black Student Union

Frank J. Omowale Satterwhite (Ph.D. '77)
 Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
January 28
8:30-9:45 pm

Chicana/o-Latina/o Activism and the Hunger Strike of 1994

Elvira Prieto (Class of '96 and Associate Director of El Centro Chicano)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 4
7:00-8:15 pm

Native American Students and Activism at Stanford

Karen Biestman (Associate Dean and Director of the Native American Cultural Center and Lecturer at Stanford Law School)
Myrton Running Wolf (Ph.D. student, Theatre and Performance Studies)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 7
3:00-4:15 pm
in 460-127B

Building Coalitions: Anti-Apartheid and Anti-Nuclear Activism in the 1970s

Chris Hables Gray (Class of '76)
 Required Reading:
  • South Africa Catalyst Project, Organize, 1977
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 11
7:00-8:15 pm

Stanford Movements Against South African Apartheid in the 1980s

Amanda Kemp (Class of '88)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 11
8:30-9:45 pm

Challenging Speech Codes and Restrictions

Robert J. Corry (J.D., '94)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 18
7:00-8:15 pm

The Takeover of 1989 and Its Antecedents

Gina Hernandez (Class of '88, Director of the Arts in Undergraduate Education)
Cheryl Taylor (Class of '90)
Richard Suh (Class of '90)
Required Reading:
 Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
February 18
8:30-9:45 pm

Stanford Social Movements: A Personal Perspective III

Todd Davies (Class of '84, M.S. '85, Ph.D. '95, Associate Director and Lecturer in Symbolic Systems) 		Required Reading:

Reading Resources:

 Media Resources:
February 25
7:00-8:15 pm

LGBT Students and Activism at Stanford

Janani Balasubramanian (Class of '12)
Arion Stone (formerly Rhio Hiersch, Class of '83)
H. Stephen Kaye (Ph.D. '83)
Required Reading:

Reading Resources:

 Media Resources:
February 25
8:30-9:45 pm

SEAS, SEAC, and Student Environmental Movements in the 1990s

Abdi Soltani (Class of '95)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
March 4

NO CLASS MEETING - SPECIAL EVENT:

Civil Rights Icons: Freedom Riders (7-9 pm in 420-041)
  • Video: Freedom Riders (showed first ~50 minutes)
  • Audio

Reading Resources:

Media Resources:
March 11
7:00-8:15 pm

Stanford Social Movements: A Personal Perspective IV

John F. Manley (Professor Emeritus of Political Science)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
Media Resources:
March 11
8:30-9:45 pm

Student-Labor Coalitions from the 1980s to the 2000s

Chris Gonzalez Clarke (Class of '85, Ph.D. '13)
Zev Kvitky (California Federation of Teachers, former President of United Stanford Workers)
Stacy Villalobos (Class of '11, Law '15)
Required Reading:
Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
Thurs., March 13
7:15-9:05 pm

Final Session

Cole Manley
  • Timeline: "The Makeup of the Stanford Trustees, 2000-2014"
Todd Davies
 		Reading Resources:
 Media Resources:
* Readings and Media marked as "Resources" are not required prior to the class session
 
Example Research Topics (not meant to be exhaustive at all):

Any of the topics on the calendar above would be acceptable ones for a chronology and/or analytical paper. Here are some additional topics that would be interesting to pursue:
Additional recommendations from Bart Bernstein: