United States National Student Association

The National Student Association was founded in 1947 as a confederation of student governments across the nation, united for the purpose of improving education. It advocated federal aid for education, student publications without censorship and it took a stand against discrimination. Smith College students began affiliation with the organization the year it was created. In 1978 it merged with the National Student Lobby, forming the United States Student
Association.

The United States National Student Association (NSA) was a confederation of college and university student governments that was in operation from 1947 to 1978.[1] The NSA was founded at a conference at the University of Wisconsin in 1947, and established its first headquarters not far from the campus in Madison. The NSA was led by officers elected at its annual National Student Congress. It later opened an office at 2115 'S' St. in Washington, D.C. William Birenbaum, later Provost at the New School and President of Antioch College, was an early leader of the NSA. From the early 1950s until 1967, the international program of the NSA, and some of its domestic activities, were underwritten by clandestine funding from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as revealed by Ramparts magazine [2][3][4][5]

Beginning in the late 1950s, the NSA conducted an annual Southern Student Human Relations Seminar (SSHRS), educating Southern student leaders on issues relating to race and civil rights. In late 1959 the SSHRS leadership opened a year-round office in Atlanta. However, objecting to sit-ins and other direct action, its August 1960 convention in Minneapolis debated a motion to deny support to the fledgling Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It was defeated following a standing ovation given to an intervention by Sandra Cason (Casey Hayden).[6][7] She was recruited on the spot by Alan Haber for new, rival, campus organisation, Students for a Democratic Society, into which she was followed by other NSA delegates, including Tom Hayden, editor of the University of Michigan newspaper.[8] In 1978 the NSA merged with the National Student Lobby (NSL), to form the United States Student Association (USSA).

The NSA originally housed the United States Student Press Association (USSPA), and its news agency, Collegiate Press Service (CPS). Both groups spun away as independent groups but eventually shut down as student-run organizations. Collegiate Press Service survives as a successful commercial publication.