Organizing to win "College For All" in Alaska

This action is for everyone who lives in Alaska. We want to organize people to put pressure on members of Congress (or people who are running to become members of Congress) to cancel all student debt and make public universities completely free. This can take many forms. Reach out to each other, start talking and making plans. Here is some information that you might find helpful.

Senate

Senators Lisa Murkowski (Republican) and Dan Sullivan (Republican) have not yet taken a position on the College for All Act of 2019. Can you convince them to co-sponsor it?

Sen. Sullivan is up for reelection in 2020. So far no other candidates have filed to run for election in this district in 2020, but that could change. If other candidates do run we need to make sure to pressure them to support these bills too.

House

Rep. Don Young (Republican) has not yet taken a position on H.R. 3473 College for All Act of 2019 (this bill would make all public colleges and universities free) or H.R. 3448 Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 (this bill would cancel all $1.6 trillion of student debt). Can you force him to co-sponsor or publically support these bills?

So far Alyse Galvin ( Democrat ) is the only other candidate who has announced a run for this seat in 2020, although there might be more who announced in the future. Can you force her to take a position on these bills and adopt them as a part of her campaign?

Use the comments below to plan and coordinate with each other on a state-wide level.

Resources

The Indivisible Guide provides good advice about how to set up a meeting with your members of congress (or the people currently campaigning for office), how to show up at town halls, how to write letters to the editor, etc. We can do all of that and more. Feel free to get creative and come up with your own plans in addition to these tried and true methods.

Use this data sheet :arrow_right: StudentDebt_AK.pdf (1.1 MB) about student debt in Alaska.

Use this study by economists at the Levi Institute which outlines several positive effects of canceling all student debt.

The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) have a great resources about organizing for College for All. If there is a YDSA chapter near you please reach out and coordinate with them.