Daniel Vaught was one of hundreds of students who protested higher tuition rates at a rally last year.

No, he’s not a student at Kansas University. He’s a senior at the University of Arkansas.

Vaught and the approximately 40 other students participating in the “180 Movement for Democracy and Education” conference this weekend at KU are finding they have a lot in common with activists on other campuses.

“It feels good to know you’re not alone sometimes,” Vaught said. “You’re part of a bigger group than just the one on your campus.”

The Little Rock, Ark.-based organization, founded in 1998, has 15 chapters, including Delta Force, a KU activist organization. It focuses on improving access to education and decreasing corporate influence on campuses.

The conference began Thursday night and continues through Sunday. Topics include effective activism, grassroots organizing and online education.

Andy Burns, the organization’s staff organizer, said trustees and regents at many universities had a financial stake in higher education  such as serving on bank boards  and declining state support has meant a new professor’s ability to solicit donations may be as important as his teaching abilities.

“Not only are (universities) behaving like corporations, but they are having to rely more and more on corporations,” he said.

Among the workshop presenters Friday was Greg Douros, a graduate student at KU. He talked about the tactics the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition had used in contract negotiations, which led to a tentative agreement many GTAs consider a victory.

Those tactics included “embarrassing and marginalizing” KU’s administration, he said.

“The goal is to make them look like the extremists,” Douros said. “You’re the reasonable group.”

Mike Ewall, a volunteer organizer with Action Center, a Philadelphia-based activist group, said many activist organizations turned into service organizations. The key is finding a balance, he said.

“You need things to be fun, but you need to do things,” he said. “The doing things can be fun if it’s done right.”