[ Golden Gater Online - November 13, 1997 ]
by Bernadette Smith
Staff writer
Food Not Bombs provided the catering as students, homeless people and members of community activism groups mingled at SF State's first student conference on homelessness and poverty.
The Stakes Is High conference, held Saturday in Jack Adams Hall, occurred in the midst of a housing crisis in San Francisco. Some of the major topics discussed at the conference included Verducci Hall, an empty campus dormitory, which was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake, and the recent sweeps of homeless encampments in Golden Gate Park.
"This world is our home and so no one is homeless, they're just houseless," said Mike Franti, a member of the band Spearhead, who engaged in a spoken-word performance at the event.
More than 200 people attended the conference, which was organized by Students for Safe and Stable Homes, the Robert F. Kennedy Fellows Program, the Bay Area Homeless Program and New College of California.
In addition to various speakers and performers, which included Jello Biafra and MC Justice, the all-day conference provided the participants with the opportunity to take part in several workshops, geared toward facilitating a connection between students and local groups, according to Chris Daly, an organizer from New College.
He said the conference was important because students "have a role to play" in helping the city's homeless organize to effect changes in policy.
The issue of housing students in Verducci Hall was raised as a petition, and flyers circulated encouraging people to call SF State President Robert Corrigan to ask him to reopen the building.
Most of the people who attended the event signed the petition, according to Jeff Goldblatt, an organizer of the conference.
"I have a real issue in student homelessness because it is bigger issue than is admitted," said Elizabeth Campos, an SF State student who has been homeless since 1994.
Campos, who currently lives in a van with her puppy, Sparkles, believes that more students need to admit they are homeless. She estimates there are 200 homeless students attending SF State.
"I was hoping my story in the paper would have helped more people come forward," said Susan Wilkolawski as she played with her dog, Wolfe, at the conference.
Wilkolawski, a homeless SF State student who sleeps in her Volkswagen van, was profiled earlier this semester in the Golden Gater. Soon after the article was published, she was evicted from Parking Lot 20 where she had been sleeping since the beginning of this semester, by university police.
She said San Francisco police officers, while conducting homeless sweeps of Golden Gate Park in compliance with an order by Mayor Willie Brown, woke Wilkolawski up at 2 a.m. by shining lights in and shaking her van, which was parked on Fulton Street.
Wilkolawski said she held Wolfe to keep him quiet until the officers left. She did not receive a citation, but said she knew of 15 people living in their cars who were cited that night.
Last week, Brown intensified the clearing of the park's homeless by ordering the use of heat-seeking helicopters to locate encampments. Brown also said there are enough emergency beds in San Francisco for everyone who needs them.
But many people at the conference voiced their skepticism of Brown's statement.
"If there's a 1 percent vacancy rate how can there be bed for all the homeless?" asked Danny "Shorty Bang Bang" McClendan, who works
with the Mission Agenda , a group which provides information and referrals to residents of downtown and Mission hotels.
Campos, who works with the Marin Interfaith Homeless Chaplaincy, said she cried last week as people came to her looking for clothes because theirs were taken in the sweeps.
In workshops held at the event, participants discussed the city's attitudes and policies about homelessness and what could be done to change them.
Ideas ranged from organizing protests to sending Brown an eviction notice.
The conference drew a diverse mix of students, homeless people and activists, said Mike Ilich, an organizer with Safe and Stable Homes, who said he plans to make the conference an annual or semi-annual event.
"It went better than I ever could have expected," he said.
As Franti drew his performance to a close, he told the crowd he had been an SF State student a decade ago. Looking around the full, hushed hall, he said, "It's good to know SF State students still give a fuck, you know?"
[ Golden Gater - November 13, 1997 ]