Sharps Nonviolence Tactics and Controlling the Amount of Agitation

I know that we talked about different nonviolence tactics available in our toolbox a while ago, but there is something that I am reminded of now that we are beginning to look at nonviolence movements strategically. Since my group is working on changing the nondiscrimination policy at Juniata to include gender identity and expression, I have found many of the tactics in the toolbox irrelevant to our struggle. There are some useful tactics in there such as protests and other items that although effective, I believe are best saved for a last resort. The difficulty of this movement nonviolently is that our opponents seem thus far to be sympathetic to our claims. The president, the cabinet, and a few trustees and alumni have already given support of the notion but the problem now is that there are no steps being put in place to actually begin the process of writing an inclusive nondiscrimination policy. Therefore, a lot of the nonviolence tactics that we have learned about is focused on the people seizing control rather than using the power structures in place to create social change. I believe the usefulness of civil disobedience is very limited when working on this scale. It becomes problematic because as we increase agitation, the less likely we are to be able to keep the administration on our side. If we lose support the movement is hopeless again. There has to be nonviolence tools that can be used that help gain the respect of the target audience. As students, actions for change be met with respect by the administration, especially because we are trying to foster world citizens here at Juniata, and to see students concerned about the college is a good way to win the respect of some administrators. The trick though is how to keep them from writing us off as young students with a "good job, we are so proud" pat on the back and whatnot.

Right now, I believe that before we ask the administration to change, we have to make sure that they see us making a difference on a small and unrelated scale. If we start small projects that are sure not to fail such as getting more LGBT minded Beyond Tolerance Events, and other proactive steps towards bringing about change that does not bring agitation. When the administrators can look at us and all the change we are already in the process of brining to Juniata, it will be a bit more difficult to ignore our power.