Progressive Student Union records

The Progressive Student Union (PSU) is a student organization at The George Washington University. The PSU was established in the 1980s as a multi-issue, social peace and justice student organization working to combat all forms of oppression. The PSU served as a coalition-building group, a direct action group, a campaign planning group, an event sponsor, and a provider of solidarity.

The organization worked on a broad spectrum of social justice issues (including but not limited to racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism, homelessness, poverty, US foreign and domestic policy, environmental destruction, corporate control of the media, corporate control of educational institutions, increasing corporate power globally, exploitative labor policies, union busting, animal exploitation, censorship, free trade agreements, violence, war, and corporate globalization) with a variety of campus, community, national, and international organizations. The PSU was active in national and local movements, beginning with anti-apartheid/disinvestment campaigns in the 1980s. In the 1980s, it operated as the east coast headquarters of the Progressive Student Network (PSN), and for several years published the PSN News, the periodical newspaper of the Progressive Student Network. After the PSN declined after 1994, the PSU continued to operate as a catch-all progressive group, organizing and advocating for scores of issues, including women’s reproductive rights, the power of labor unions, Native American rights, environmental sustainability, and many others.

In recent years, PSU worked to end GW’s contract with the Coca-Cola Company, to increase the wages and benefits of security guards in non-academic buildings and food service workers in the J Street restaurant complex, and to support the Employee Free Choice Act. The PSU was also instrumental in establishing the Socially Responsible Initiatives Commission in 2007-2008, which helps distribute resources by students designated for events or campaigns that promote social responsibility. The PSU worked and works with both local organizations such as DC Student Labor Action Project and local unions, as well as national organizations like United Students Against Sweatshops and Jobs With Justice. The Progressive Student Union is non-hierarchical organization with no elected officials; the group seeks to make decisions by consensus and operates through volunteers.