Kelly, Christine A., 1961-

The National Student Convention '88 files, 1983-1992, is a collection which documents left-oriented student activism at Rutgers University and the attempt to coordinate student activism on a national level. This collection was donated by Rutgers' student activist Christine Kelly, one of the prominent organizers of the National Student Convention '88.

In January 1987 a conference was held at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts to address the unrealized potential of student activism against apartheid, CIA recruitment, and the war in Central America. This conference was called to discuss the formation of a national student organization, however, due to the lack of agenda, structure and schedule, produced few results. From this failed conference, came the idea of the National Student Convention '88. The goal of the Convention was to bring together student activists from across the nation, and in a structured program spanning the course of a weekend, make decisions regarding the formation of a new national, multi-racial student organization which would address social, political and economic issues abroad and within the United States. As stated in the National Student Convention literature, the goal was to "realign the student left."

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