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Micah Daigle
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Micah Daigle currently serves as SSDP’s associate director. He is based out of SSDP's west coast field office in San Francisco, CA. He can be reached at micah@ssdp.org
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[edit] SSDP Associate Director
As associate director, Micah's primary responsibilities/projects include:
- Campus Change Campaign development and oversight
- Alumni Network and Educator Network coordination
- Facilitating communication between SSDP chapter leaders
- Fundraising
- Leadership training
- Conference coordination
- Graphic design & material development
- Website development and management
- Directing SSDP's west coast office
In June of 2006, Micah was hired as SSDP's field director, the main contact person for all activists in the field. In March of 2007, SSDP hired an outreach director to focus solely on helping students start new chapters. Since bringing on an outreach director, Micah has primarily assisted established chapters with campaigns and events, while overseeing the organization's outreach.
In August of 2008, SSDP hired an additional outreach director and Micah was promoted to associate director, whose new responsibilities would include directly managing and coordinating the work of both outreach directors.
Micah's background in art has allowed him to serve as the organization's graphic designer. He designed SSDP's new logo and materials, as well as the new website (which was built on software created by Morgan Lesko).
[edit] West Coast Field Office
Micah moved from Washington, DC to San Francisco, CA in March of 2008 to establish SSDP's first west coast field office. Since SSDP has traditionally been strongest in the east coast and midwest, the move was made largely as an attempt to build and sustain an equally strong chapter network in the western half of the country. It will also allow SSDP to more readily assist with drug policy reform activity happening on the west coast (medical marijuana, harm reduction, and prison reform are priorities), while cultivating relationships with current and emerging donors, many of whom live in California.
[edit] Experience as a Student Activist
Before working in SSDP’s national headquarters, Micah was a chapter leader of University of Rhode Island SSDP. During the 2003-2004 academic year, Micah served as co-president of the chapter with Tom Angell, who would later become SSDP's government relations director.
In the summer of 2004, Micah worked with the Marijuana Policy Project as a Summer Fellow. He organized a campaign to convince Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons to vote "Yes" on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment, which would bar the Drug Enforcement Administration from spending federal tax dollars on arresting people for medical marijuana in states where it's legal. After Micah arranged several protests and educated voters about Simmons' stance on the issue, Simmons changed his mind and remained a consistent "Yes" vote on the amendment until he was unelected in 2006.
During that same summer, Micah was sent by SSDP to the 2004 D.A.R.E. International Training Conference where he collected information about D.A.R.E.'s methods and curriculum for SSDP's National Office. He also distributed a letter, by hand, to nearly every D.A.R.E. officer in attendance, urging them to reconsider the wisdom of drug prohibition.
Micah was awarded SSDP's Outstanding Student Activist Award at SSDP's 6th annual conference in November of 2004.
During the 2005-2006 academic year, Micah led a student movement to oppose punitive campus drug policies, founding the URI Student Rights Coalition, comprised of over 20 student organizations and thousands of members. Their efforts, including a large protest at the university president's office, were covered in local and national media. The campaign resulted in the university instructing R.A.s to use discretion when calling the police during incidents involving small amounts of marijuana.
[edit] Personal Interests
- Cooking
- Visual Art & Graphic Design
- Philosophy
- Travel
- Ethics & emerging technologies
- "Intellectual Property" Rights
- Brain-Computer Interfacing
- Life extension
- Nanotechnology
- Playing guitar & piano
- Consciousness studies