"Whose Schools/Our Schools: A Strategic Round Table on the NYC Student Movement at the Brecht Forum"Check out a panel on activism at NY schools at the Brecht Forum this Sunday featuring a good friend and fellow activist, Tara Mulqueen. Whoa!
Featuring organizers at the forefront of the student movement in New York, this event will address the successes and failures of student organizing from the perspective of activists engaged in ongoing struggles against university administrations across the city. Along with long term strategic questions for student organizers, we will be discussing the relationship between universities and capital, and the role of student organizing for the left in general.
Sunday April 26th, 4pm
Sliding scale
With:
Tim Hearin - New School
Yotam Marom - Radical Student Union (New School)
Tara Mulqueen - CUNY Movement
Drew Phillips - Take Back NYU!
Banu Quadir - Take Back NYU!
Doug Singsen - CUNY Movement
The Brecht Forum is located at 451 West St. on the West Side Highway between Bank and Bethune Sts in the West Village. for more info and directions visit www.BrechtForum.org
Global Week of Action is HERE
As some of you may know, Global Week of Action Against the Commercialization of Education is 4/20-29. Via Mo from the Emancipating Education for All website, here are some highlights of the last two days.
-More than 500 students and pupils kicked off the Global Week of Action with a demonstration through the old town of Heidelberg, Germany right after a general assembly on campus.
-Tampere, Finland. The day began with lowering a banner from the rooftop of the university, followed by a welcoming speech and everyone entering the university. There were several dozen participants. Societal songs were sung inside the university. Actions executed by the student movement in Tampere and elsewhere in Finland were presented.
There was a discussion on which themes the student movement should grab in the future, both inside and outside universities. Students' monetary situation and basic security matters were also discussed, as well as the administration of spaces at university and general societal situation.
After the opening of Global Action Week documentaries were shown as a basis for discussion. The chosen documentaries were "The Potentiality of Storming Heaven", "Money as Debt" and "Good Copy/Bad Copy". [The following day,] the student movement served free soup and provided information in front of a university building as part of a boycott on Sodexo (there is a Sodexo restaurant in the building). A reporter from a prime Finnish newspaper documented the action, as well as several other medias.
On-going reading circles at the university presented themselves, and there were public discussions on selected texts by Bourdieu, Gramsci and on a pamphlet called "Wissensarbeit Macht Frei".
In the evening a Finnish movie called "Vihreä leski" [Green widow] was shown. The movie is about the anxiety and alienation caused by suburbanity.
- Zagreb, Croatia.
The Independent Student Initiative for the Right to Free Education has organized a peaceful occupation of the Faculty of Philosophy.
The occupation has been initiated as a mean to promote their demand for free education for all. They have stopped classes and exams, and have organized various lectures, discussion and movie screenings instead of normal classes.
They'll be translating some of their press releases in English and German, to make the information about the occupation available to others outside the region. Right now, their materials are only available in Croatian, at this web page: slobodnifilozofski.bloger.hr
Video, unfortunately only in Croatian, is available here.
Why I'm Walking out of Class
Via SocialistWorker:
Conor Tomás Reed explains why he's ready for an April 22 protest at City College of New York against a tuition increase and faculty cutbacks.
WE STUDENTS are not told of the inspiring radical history of our City College of New York. We are not told that our school was free until 1976, or that it was such an exciting hotbed of political ideas in the 1930s that Black writers like Richard Wright affectionately called it the "Little Red Schoolhouse."
Most conspicuously, we are not told of the mass 1960s struggles that rocked our campus for the people's basic right to an education, culminating in the historic 1969 CCNY Open Admissions Strike. This action successfully fought the school's previous racist admissions practices, and ultimately forced its doors open to welcome huge numbers of students of color and the creation of ethnic studies departments all over CUNY.
Such victories are not officially discussed because, hey, what happens if the students decide to advocate again for our educational rights?History does not repeat itself, but rather interacts its past with its present and future in a continuous dynamic process. Right now, we are seeing history being looped and remixed. The disastrous economic crisis has politicians and bankers alike scrambling to find ways to apply band-aids here and there at the terrible expense of students and working people.
For CUNY students, a recent state legislature decision in early April to impose $300 more in tuition fees each semester demonstrates that our lives and our right to an education are under attack. This tuition increase is not even going toward more investment in our schools; 80 percent will be funneled directly into the state budget. We are effectively being taxed for wanting to go to college.
That's why CCNY students are organizing a mass walkout on April 22 at 2 p.m. with a clear message: We are walking out today so we don't have to drop out tomorrow.
This walkout has been a long time coming. Military recruiters are still invited every semester to peddle their education-for-murder-abroad exchange program. Whole departments, like Black Studies, Women's Studies, Psychology and more, are being eroded into oblivion. Baskerville Hall, the place where in the past clubs could actively congregate, is a never-ending construction nightmare.
Professors and adjuncts are being told to work more for less pay, to endure larger class sizes with fewer resources. CCNY security makes entrance into NAC more and more of an aggressive process. Who knows--maybe we'll soon have to take off our shoes and be administered body searches?
We are walking out on April 22 because we think that CCNY can reclaim its original vision, as stated on January 21, 1849, the day it opened free educational doors to NYC--that "the experiment is to be tried, whether the children of the people, the children of the whole people, can be educated; and whether an institution of the highest grade, can be successfully controlled by the popular will, not by the privileged few."
We are walking out on April 22 because we are feeling more and more disenfranchised from this "Poor People's Harvard," which should be seen as a haven from the economic crisis, not an extension of its uncertainties. At a time when our city and state governments should be consciously investing in our futures with more educational funding, more scholarships and more resources for students and teachers, we are being told to learn with less.
Join us on that day, when we will reclaim our radical history of City College by leaving our classes en masse at 2 p.m. to hold a rally at the NAC plaza and firmly assert that education should be for the people, not for profit.
Walkout Against Cuts at University of Vermont
 Via SocialistWorker:
Students and faculty at the University of Vermont (UVM) walked out of classes on April 9 in the latest action against the university administration's proposed budget cut measures that will result in 107 faculty and staff layoffs, ballooning tuition and an increase in class sizes.
Students left classes to join a 1,000-strong rally and were quick to point out that the administration's drive to balance the budget on the backs of students and workers reveals a twisted set of priorities.
The administration has attributed recent budget cut measures to the economic crisis, presenting their case in the all-too-familiar language of "shared sacrifice," despite the fact that state appropriations--thanks to federal stimulus money--will restore university funding to normal levels in 2009.
The proposed cuts come at the same time that 40 top-level administrators, whose combined base salaries--before benefits--add up to $7,312,381, were revealed to have received nearly $1 million in Wall Street-style bonuses in the last several years. If these same administrators were to take a 5 percent pay cut, the savings would be enough to restore all 27 lecturers laid off from the school of Arts and Sciences.
The protesters congregated to listen to outraged faculty and community members speak out against the cuts. Members of Students Stand Up, the group responsible for organizing the event, engaged the crowd with a political skit about the budget cuts, using a puppet resembling UVM President Dan Fogel.
First-year student Naadhira Ali said she was excited to see the turnout of both faculty and students. "Usually, faculty are kind of resistant to the idea of protest, but my biology professor told us this might be her last lecture at UVM, and she appreciates everyone walking out against the cuts," said Ali. Not only did professors allow their students to leave class, but manyended class early so students could attend the protest.
Larry Ziegler-Otero, an anthropology lecturer facing layoff, said he was encouraged by the scope and spirit of the rally. "I think it's wonderful," said Ziegler-Otero. "I'm deeply grateful to the students for making this effort."
After the spirited speak-out, the crowd marched to the Waterman Building, which houses the university's bloated administration, chanting, "They say cut back, we say fight back," and "Money for jobs and education, not for Fogel's administration."
Upon arriving at the Waterman Building, the demands of the campaign were read to the crowd. They include revoking all layoffs, issuing a statement of neutrality regarding faculty unionization, reinstating the discontinued varsity baseball and softball teams, and allowing students, staff and faculty a role in future university decision-making.
Students then stormed into the building and gathered outside the administrative wing chanting, "One, we are the students; two, you can't ignore us; three, stop the cuts at UVM!"
After some time, Vice President of Finance Richard Cate emerged from the wing to address the crowd. When asked if the administration was ready to accept student demands, he responded by saying, "Not yet." After a few more minutes, people began to leave the building chanting, "We'll be back!"
About 50 students returned to the Davis Center for a discussion of the next steps for the campaign, including strategies for outreach and the potential of a building occupation.
This protest was the largest at UVM since the anti-apartheid struggles of the 1980s. The stirrings of a mass movement uniting all forces against the administration are apparent as students and faculty plan their next move in the fight against putting profit before UVM community members.
New School in Exile update
Yesterday, Friday April 10th, at about 6am a group of students from the New School in Exile took over a New School building with two simple demands: the resignation of New School President Bob Kerrey and full control the building as a free student space. By noon, most of the occupiers were gassed and arrested and are now sitting in jail. Bob Kerrey and the NYPD claim that some of the occupiers were violent, albeit NSIE claims otherwise. Regardless, I can't image that the NYPD were too civil themselves.
For more info and pics you can visit the New School in Exile's website here.
Angus at StudentActivism.net added a video to his blogging about the matter. The video, which is 1 minute and 59 seconds long was put out by the NYPD. For the video click here.
He writes:
It’s a little odd that the cops would think that posting video in which they weren’t beating or pepper-spraying people would serve as a defense against evidence that they beat and/or pepper-sprayed other people at a different stage of the day’s events. What’s really odd, though, is that the video is so short. If there was no police misconduct at any point during the arrests inside 65 Fifth, that’s great news. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t the cops release all the tape they have from inside the building, instead of just a two minute clip?
The fact that the NYPD youtube administrator has decided to disable all commenting on the video is also pretty questionable, since they only appear to do that for a select few videos. We're not idiots, right?
Anyhow, I think its amazing that Kerrey is still sticking around. If most of your students and a fair amount of your professors hate you and wish you would leave, and the only people who respect the legitimacy of your presidency are the officers of the NYPD, then don't you think it's time to find a new day job?
Play: A Day in the Life of Bob Kerrey
The New School in Exile, a group created by students at the New School in response to injustices by their administration, has vowed that they will be shutting down their school on April 1st unless their President, Bob Kerrey resigns. Well, they've created a play in two parts about the politics surrounding the issue. What an entertaining way to educate!
Protest Paterson's draconian budget and FOR THE FAIR SHARE TAX REFORM ACT
Come out today 4-6pm in front of the West Building at Hunter College, 695 Park Ave, to protest that David Paterson's ridunkulous idea of a budget that will award banking corporations and steal money from workers and students. But when they say cut back WE SAY FIGHT BACK.
link to the facebook invite here.
Student Occupy Universidad de Barcelona as police forcibly remove them
The ITS reports that yesterday, March 18th, students at the Universidad de Barcelona were violently evicted from a university building which they had occupied for 118 days.
Mo got this description of the event (Check the link for the video after the quote):
This morning the Mossos D'Esquadra (catalonian police) have entered the historical building in the University of Barcelona, the rectorate, to evict it violently. they have charged brutally against people that were peacefully concentrating in front of the building.
This morning, between 5:30 and 5:45 12 police vans have arrived, they have evicted the occupied rectorate by force and making use of violence.
Outside the building people have made a peaceful concentration, students, professors, workers in the university, media and citizens.
Police have charged brutally against all these people, turning the centre of Barcelona into a police state. It seems that there have been 17 people arrested and more than 100 people injured.
The assembly of the occupied rectorate has always had the will of dialogue and debate. The rectorate and political institutions have proved that this will is answered with repression and the most brutal physical violence. We are astonished, indignant and hurt. They hace entered by force in a space that was a place for resistance and critical thinking. the rector and politicians are the repressors that have applied to franquist politics.
Ramirez, Moreso, Palmada, Huguet, Saura: they are all to blame.
The rectors have decided to start repression.
There's a video link and, although I have no idea what anyone is saying, the video makes it clear just how brutal the police force was. I mean, SHIT, you're talking multiple officers swinging multiple clubs at individual protesters.
Fair Share Tax Reform Act NOW!
The Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the union that represents the faculty and staff of CUNY, has put together this great ditty where you can automatically contact your very own representatives and ask them to pass the Fair Share Tax Reform Act of 2009 that would undo the regressive (and fucked up) tax reforms that have taken place since the mid-90's.
From the PSC's Website:
Send a letter to your State Senator and Assembly member today, urging them to support the Fair Share Tax Reform Act of 2009 (S 2021; A 5912). This tax reform legislation would raise $6 billion in revenue for New York State by increasing the marginal tax rate on adjusted family income over $250,000.Fair Share Tax Reform has broad backing from labor and community organizations -- and the general public, as demonstrated by numerous opinion polls. The PSC has taken a leading role in proposing revenue solutions to the current budget deficit. Responding to this budget deficit by cutting services like public higher education makes no sense. Investing in CUNY, and public higher education, is the best way to reinvigorate our economy and rebuild our future.
EFFING EVENTS and Info!
Yes, I know. The blog has been terribly slow this last week. Hope our small troupe of followers haven't disintegrated into other (less cool) Blog scenes. Truth is:
1) Going to change servers soon.
2) Have been doing a lot of organizing at CUNY
That said, here is what's up:
This Thursday, March 5th there will be a rally and march to City Hall which is in protest of the proposed CUNY budget cuts and tuition increases and in favor of the fair share tax reform. Rally begins at 3pm at Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street. March to City Hall begins at 4pm. Have class? Don't go. Have work? Call in sick. For more info on bureaucracy behind CUNY and why this is important, visit the excellent blog, CUNY Disorientation Guide. For more info on the Fair Share Tax reform and why this is important, click here.
If you straight up want me to feed you reasons for why you should go, here are some facts:
1) David Paterson and Michael Bloomberg have agreed to CUNY Chancellor Goldstein's proposed CUNY tuition increases of $600 with the pretext that it will fill the budget which NY State wants to cut in order to save mullah.
2) This is horseshit because they only want to spend 20% on CUNY ($22 million) and use 80% ($88 million) to backfill the NY state deficit caused by wall street. In other words, they want to take more from poor students, mostly minorities and disadvantaged students, many of whom work jobs to stay in school, and relegate little (i.e. no) responsibility to all of the very wealthy individuals who enjoy this city.
3) The fatcat administrators at CUNY have no problem cutting CUNY's budget by $51 million, which includes financial aid as well as NYC-based, merit-based scholarships, while taking (i.e. stealing) $7 million is administrative salary increases in the last few years. their arrogance is appaling.
4) Contrary to what Bloomberg, Patterson, and Goldstein want us to believe, this isn't an individualized instance of tuition increases necessitated by the economic crises. The latter two have actively been privatizing CUNY, slashing their budgets and raising their tuition for many years. We've had enough.
5) Implementing the Fair Share Tax Reform would undo the tax cuts to NY's wealthy, implemented since the mid-1990's, and would very easily backfill the deficit.
Coming? Good. Facebook has en events page.
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