Last updated: September 2023
Mizzou Young Democratic Socialists of America is a big tent student organization open to leftists of all kinds at the University of Missouri with a history of educating and organizing students, workers, young people, and members of the community at large to make real and effective changes in our community. We believe that the issues facing students are intertwined with the issues faced by our community and are rooted within capitalism and its failures. Some of our major efforts include hosting the recent March for Trans Youth in Columbia, pushing the University of Missouri to provide Plan B for only $8.88, advocating for the wage of campus dining workers to be raised to $15/hr, and sending students to Jefferson City to speak out against hateful bills in our senate. We hope to organize ourselves en masse to build the leverage necessary to make our own and our comrades’ lives better.
Our general meetings are currently held weekly on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in LeFevre Hall, Room 106.
STEERING COMMITTEE
Mizzou YDSA’s executive decision-making body is our Steering Committee. This group is made up of our elected chairs: Chair, Co-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and Social Media Chair.
Our current Steering Committee is: Mel Tully (Chair), Ian De Smet (Co-Chair), Zari Chaney (Secretary), Mal Gerhardt (Treasurer), and Sami Binning (Social Media Chair)
OUR ISSUE CAMPAIGNS
MAKING COLUMBIA A TRANS SANCTUARY CITY
This May, Kansas City City Council passed a resolution that declared Kansas City a safe haven for gender-affirming care. This resolution directs City personnel to not criminally prosecute or impose administrative penalties on an individual or organization for providing, seeking, receiving, or assisting another individual who is seeking gender-affirming healthcare. We and MidMO DSA have contacts within Columbia City Council that want a similar resolution passed in Columbia. Our job would be to spread information about this effort and meet with people in power to make it happen; gathering support and showing City Council members that this is what the people of Columbia want. The state of gender-affirming care in Missouri is and will become more and more dire as time goes on. Providing gender-affirming care to minors and those in prison is now illegal in Missouri, and Mo HealthNet and Medicaid will no longer cover any care. This is a measure we can take to save so many lives of trans individuals in our state.
Passing an ordinance would be the first step in the process. Afterwards we will have to ensure that county prosecutors also do not enforce these restrictions. Once that is in place, our final task will be to encourage providers of gender-affirming care to still administer it regardless of state law.
$15 MINIMUM WAGE BALLOT INITIATIVE CAMPAIGN
Mid-Missouri DSA and Missouri Jobs with Justice are currently collecting petition signatures to get a statewide $15/hr minimum wage (along with other things) onto the ballot. The petition would put a minimum wage of $15/hr on the ballot tied to inflation, as well as a mandatory hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked (Full-time workers would have ~8 days a year). It would go on the ballot in November of 2024 and would go into effect within 2.5 years after that. Statewide, this petition needs to get ~120,000 signatures. As advised by JWJ and MidMO DSA, our goal as YDSA would be 1,000 signatures for the 23-24 school year, which is an average of 34 signatures a week. We have a lot of experience gathering signatures and training signature gatherers. We would collect signatures at the table, YDSA events, and can do signature pushes at campus events such as football games. This campaign would be a great way to get new members involved and can easily run alongside another, more strenuous campaign.
In the event that a ballot initiative guaranteeing the right to an abortion is approved by the Missouri Secretary of state, this Campaign Committee may collect petition signatures for it.