Crisis in the Campus Greens.

• Author: Mortenson, Jesse
• Position: Politics and Election

On October 19 2002, the Steering Committee of the Campus Greens organization (CGSC) voted 5-4 to fire its paid National Director, Carolyn Danckaert. Leading to this act was a disturbing chain of events involving high-ranking officials from the Green Party of the United States (GPUS), state Green Parties, and dozens of student leaders from over half of the country who call themselves Campus Greens. Brought into the open by Danckaert's firing was the precarious position of ostensibly independent organizations aligned with the GPUS.

Campus Greens was founded in August, 2001, at its first annual convention, in Chicago. Delegates from around the country voted into existence a set of bylaws and the first Steering Committee, comprised of 10 members. Danckaert, previously the Volunteer Coordinator for Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign, was selected to be the CG's National Director. Organized as an independent 501 c (4) non-profit, Campus Greens legally cannot dedicate more than 49% of its resources to partisan political action. The bylaws make this balance of electoral and activist work clear: "The Campus Greens shall seek to facilitate the participation of students in Green Party politics and the Green Movement as candidates, organizers and as activists" and "The Campus Greens will develop and promote nationwide campaigns regarding issues relevant to campus activism and student life."

In theory this statement is broad enough to include the full spectrum of Green student activism without conflicts. In reality, however, at the national level problems cropped up in the CG's first year. In June, 2002, CG founders and present GPUS officers (including GPUS SC Co-chair Ben Manski, GPUS legal advisor and presently a declared candidate for GPUS presidential nomination David Cobb, and WIGP officer Robert Miranda) released an open letter accusing the national staff of the CG of not contributing enough to the growth of the GPUS and to Green electoral campaigns, stating, "Campus Greens was founded as an organization driven to engage campus activists and young people in Green Party politics.." At the second annual CG convention, held August 2002, members of the CGSC released statement of 14 grievances against the national staff (to which Matt Hancock, former CGSC member, had been added as Organizing Director). These included claims of miscommunications between the CGSC and staff, improper control of information, and actions made without the SC's approval. In addition to releasing the list of grievances, members of the CGSC tried, in a lengthy closed session, to fire Danckaert and Hancock. The votes to do this could not be mustered, but the SC did pass a resolution recommending that the next SC do so.

During the convention's plenary session (wherein the assembled delegates from chapters act as the ultimate decision-making body of the CG), the CGSC proposed a resolution to "reaffirm decision making power of the SC" (quotes from Plenary notes taken by Kyle Jorey) and to blame the staff for "undermining" that decision-making power. Plenary delegates agreed to the principle that the SC makes the...