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Triangle Tenant Union is No Longer a Member-Led or Democratic Organization; Censure of the NCTDSA Members on Triangle Tenant Union Coordinator Committee

Whereas, Triangle Tenant Union (TTU) was founded fully by Triangle DSA (TDSA) members, has been formally tied to TDSA via use of a bank account, and is a section of TDSA, as established in the Resolution to house TTU under DSA.

  • TDSA was managing the TTU bank account purely to support TTU. All TTU members’ dues that were collected went entirely to TTU.

Whereas, TTU describes itself as follows: “TTU is a mass organization that is democratically—which is to say collectively—run by its membership body.”

Whereas, The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) recognizes the following as necessary norms in a democratic, member-led organization:

  • The right of members to advocate and organize for minority viewpoints within the established bylaws of the organization, and to generally participate in the organization fully as enshrined in the bylaws.

  • The right (and necessity) of members to recruit new members to the organization.

  • The right of members to due process and fair disciplinary procedures including but not limited to the right to present their case, the right to specific charges, and the right to communication about behavioral concerns.

  • The right of members to an assumption of good faith and to be treated with basic respect.

  • Any changes to bylaws that alter voting requirements should be announced to the general body so that they have the opportunity to ensure that they meet those requirements, and such changes should not occur immediately before contentious votes.

Whereas, Organizational bylaws are necessary and must be adhered to and respected in any democratic organization for the following reasons:

  • The bylaws of any democratic organization are adopted by the general membership and outline procedures for amending the bylaws if the general body finds this necessary.

  • Adhering to bylaws and democratic norms is particularly important when contentious questions arise.

  • The procedures articulated and codified by the bylaws of any democratic organization exist, in part, to protect those with minority political views and the rights of membership, and to help members feel confident that organizational decisions are made fairly.

Whereas, TTU Coordinator Committee has violated its bylaws and the aforementioned norms necessary for democratic, member-led organizations in numerous ways, including:

  • TTU Coordinator Committee suspended one Coordinator Committee member and treasurer, Hamza A, and three TTU co-founders and rank-and-file members, Billy R, Megan S, and Will J, in a TTU Coordinator Committee meeting out of session and in violation of the TTU bylaws.

  • The members were suspended without due process, without evidence, and no justification was articulated or communicated until more than two weeks after the suspensions.

  • At least one of the suspended members – Will J – never received any charges.

  • The suspended members were not given an opportunity to provide their perspective or any sort of defense to TTU membership at any point.

  • The suspended members have responded to all charges, with supporting evidence for all of their claims, and feel that they have thorough and compelling defense.

  • The suspension was carried out in an apparent attempt to suppress a minority political viewpoint shared by the suspended members – namely, opposition to the formal affiliation of TTU with the foundation-funded, staff-led non-profit North Carolina Tenant Union (NCTU).

  • TTU’s Coordinator Committee attempted to impose new requirements on voting eligibility during a subcommittee meeting, in violation of their bylaws, which require that any changes to voting eligibility be approved by the general body.

  • Three of the four suspended members opposed the attempt to impose new voting eligibility requirements, which failed due to their opposition, and were suspended within 24 hours, with “bloc voting” cited as a reason for suspension.

  • In violation of the TTU bylaws, and despite being voted down at the prior subcommittee meeting, TTU Coordinator Committee adopted the new voting requirements anyways.

  • TTU’s Coordinator Committee is on record discussing the use of the new voting requirements to disenfranchise TTU members who challenged the suspensions or otherwise spoke out against the contentious political issue of formally affiliating with NCTU.

  • Those same notes document TTU Coordinator Committee discussing ways to physically prevent the suspended members from attending the meeting.

  • There is documented evidence that the new voting requirements were in fact weaponized to disenfranchise members of TTU opposed to the suspensions and the formal affiliation with NCTU.

  • These maneuvers to disenfranchise political dissidents occurred immediately preceding a meeting where two contentious votes occurred – the vote to endorse TTU Coordinator Committee’s suspensions after the fact, and the vote to formally affiliate with NCTU.

  • In the lead up to the said meeting, the new voting requirements were not announced to the general TTU membership, nor were members given sufficient time to ensure that they met the requirements before the vote during the contentious meeting.

  • The NCTU staff, including the NCTU staffer who sits on the TTU Coordinator Committee and is a member of TDSA, has collaborated in the above efforts to ensure NCTU affiliation in a context where the political opposition has been bureaucratically silenced – including by drafting talking points for the TTU Coordinator Committee to use to inoculate the general membership against the suspended members and to encourage the general membership to vote in favor of TTU’s formal affiliation with NCTU.

  • TTU Coordinator Committee has operated with an unwarranted assumption that those dissenting from their actions, including several members of TDSA, were acting in bad faith, and TTU Coordinator Committee refused to treat these members as comrades and afford them basic respect.

  • Immediately following the suspensions, one of the TDSA members on TTU Coordinator committee contacted multiple DSA members to spread demonstrable falsehoods about the suspended members of TTU.

  • TTU Coordinator Committee created a demonstrably false conspiracy theory that the suspended members, together with TDSA co-chair Gabe F, and several other TDSA members were engaged in a plot to redirect TTU to engage in electoral work.

  • TDSA member Chris C was recruited by the NCTU staffer and TDSA member on TTU Coordinator Committee, then falsely accused of being recruited by the suspended members to undemocratically sway the outcome of the contentious NCTU affiliation vote, as part of the conspiracy theory mentioned above.

  • Several other TDSA members were accused, without evidence, of joining TTU for the same reason.

Whereas, Based on public and private statements and Coordinator Committee meeting minutes, these decisions were actively supported and organized by all members of the TTU Coordinator Committee, with one TDSA member on TTU Coordinator Committee officially co-signing the later suspension proposal.

Whereas, Three members of TDSA sit on the TTU Coordinator Committee.

Whereas, Following the vote on July 12, 2025 for TTU to affiliate with NCTU, TTU’s prior relationship with TDSA has been formally dissolved.

Therefore be it resolved, TDSA recognizes that democratic processes and norms have been degraded in TTU to a point where TTU can no longer be considered a democratic organization.

Resolved, TDSA recognizes that, due to the suppression of the rights of TTU members to engage in the organization and organize for their viewpoints, and due to TTU Coordinator Committee repeatedly violating their own bylaws to guarantee an outcome they have declared the majority will, TTU can no longer be considered member-led.

Resolved, TDSA removes TTU from the allowlist of automatically endorsed organizations.

Resolved, TDSA recognizes that the actions of TTU Coordinator Committee have been undemocratic and incompatible with expectations of TDSA members acting as leadership in a nominally democratic, member-led organization.

Resolved, TDSA registers its official disapproval of these actions of the three TDSA members who sit on TTU Coordinator Committee.

Resolved, TDSA resolves that its members should adhere to democratic norms in DSA and, as representatives of DSA, in all organizing contexts.

  • TDSA members should not suppress minority political viewpoints among members, nor the rights of members to engage in an organization.
  • TDSA members should treat other members of DSA and fellow members in associated organizing contexts as comrades, assuming good faith and being transparent and communicative about concerns.
  • TDSA members should follow bylaws, due process, and take reasonable measures to ensure any necessary disciplinary procedures are fair and transparent.

Resolved, Resolution authors will write a retrospective on their experience in TTU and lessons learned to inform TDSA’s approach to future mass work.

Resolved, TDSA will engage in future discussion about how to relate to TTU in light of this resolution.

Appendix: Bibliography of related statements and documents