SDS is an education and social action organization dedicated to increasing democracy in all phases of life. It seeks to promote the active participation of young people in the formation of a movement to build a society free from poverty, ignorance, war, exploitation, racism, and sexism.

Who are the STUDENTS?
Some of us are students of a university, but we are also students of our own lives, of our local community, of a world that is changing at the pace of history. We are professors, staff, citizens, and workers. But what unites us is a shared effort to understand.

What is DEMOCRACY?
We are concerned with democracy in the truest sense of the word: the freedom of all people to rule themselves. Democracy permeates all aspects of our lives. Democracy is not a passive observation, or participation at sanctioned dates and places; it is to continually evaluate and engage events, policies, and institutions that threaten our voices and ability to act.

Why SOCIETY?
Society is larger than neighborhoods, cities, or nations; it is that formless entity that contains the totality of relationships between all life. The society we envision is a truly democratic one, in which we are all students of each other and teacher to none.