Since 1991, the Friedman Project serves high school teachers and students by providing substantive information about civil rights and civil liberties. All of the following student programs were designed, implemented, and evaluated by the ACLU Student Advisory Committee, a dedicated group of 35 high school students from as far away Sacramento, Merced, San Jose, and Vallejo who met regularly throughout the year. With each program, a new group of students are attracted to the ACLU and join the Student Advisory Committee bringing creative ideas and energy for planning future events on student rights and liberties.
All programs are free to students.
This sixth annual conference provided over 750 students from 35 high schools throughout northern California a unique opportunity to debate, discuss, and organize around key civil liberties issues including affirmative action, drug decriminalization, welfare reform, and gay marriage. The conference also featured alternative music from Mack the Turtle, rap from The Coup, and a call for student empowerment by gay rights activist Chastity Bono. This new program was instituted in 1996 in conjunction with Global Exchange. Unplugged was a summer trip for students to explore in-depth the issue of immigration as it affects California. Eighteen high school students and four adults spent 9 days traveling to Los Angeles, San Ysidro, Tijuana, San Diego, La Paz, Bakersfield, and Salinas meeting with border patrol agents, working with farmworkers, observing anti-immigrant rallies and the National Republican Convention, and taking part in marches, demonstrations and a border blockade.