The Portland State University Student Union explains itself on Twitter as “your friendly, neighborhood, radical student action team.”

One evening in June, its leaders convened at a cafeteria table in the basement of the student union to talk recruiting strategy for the new academic year. Each meeting begins the same way: They say their names and preferred gender pronouns and then respond to an oddball question. Today it was: Matte or glossy? One preferred matte, one glossy and a third favored glossy in summer, matte in winter.

The discussion then turned to tabling on campus, fliers, banner drops and their 1,000-student list-serve.

Kaitlyn Dey, organizer for PSUSU (pronounced sue-sue), pointed out that membership surged after members stopped the president’s convocation speech in 2015 and led the auditorium in a chorus of protests.