Skip to content

Higher Education

Support Grows For Striking Columbia University Graduate Students

March 29, 2021 Josh Varlin, WSWS. , , ,
Today marks the beginning of the third week of the Columbia University graduate workers strike. The courageous struggle by over 3,000 graduate student-workers for improved wages, benefits and working conditions continues to receive support from workers at Columbia and more broadly throughout the US. Last Thursday, rank-and-file members of the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC), which is affiliated with the UAW, defied an attempt by the union bargaining committee to shut down the strike with a deal that would have signified a de facto pay cut for the graduate students, taking into account inflation and union dues. Now, the university, whose president Lee Bollinger takes home $4 million every year, is significantly ramping up pressure on the graduate students to force them to give in.

We Can Win Student Loan Debt Cancellation

March 29, 2021 Umme Hoque, Commondreams. , , ,
On March 18, the Biden administration's Department of Education announced that it will cancel $1 billion in federal student loan debt held by 72,000 borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit universities. These students received subprime educations and worthless degrees, and then were burdened with debt often in the tens of thousands of dollars—all while predatory companies and their investors made millions.  The only reason this debt is now being cancelled is because debtors got organized. In 2015, students from for-profit, now defunct Corinthian Colleges Inc. launched the country's first student debt strike, refusing to pay their loans because they had been scammed by their school.

Higher Education Workers Are Organizing For Their Own Safety

February 22, 2021 Brian Wakamo, Inequality.org. , , ,
President Biden included $35 billion in funding for higher education in his American Rescue Plan. If this aid makes it into the final Covid relief law, college and university employees across the country will no doubt applaud. The pandemic has hit this sector hard. Around 260,100 university employees (14.6 percent of the total workforce) have lost their jobs since February 2020. Staff also make up most of the Covid-19 deaths on college campuses. But while federal funding is welcome, it is no guarantee of equitable treatment for higher education workers. Economic disparities and unsafe working conditions are motivating staff on a growing number of college campuses to build power through union organizing. One of the most ambitious university organizing efforts is taking place in Arizona. Late last year, staff at two schools — the University of Arizona and Arizona State University — formed United Campus Workers Arizona Local 7065, a “wall-to-wall” union representing all of the schools’ employees.

Study Finds Increase In Anti-Zionism At US Universities

February 12, 2021 Middle East Monitor. , , ,
The past few years have witnessed a significant rise in anti-Zionism across colleges and universities in the United States, a new study has found. Professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, Miriam Elman, said in a study published by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University that a majority of universities in the United States have turned into incubators of anti-Zionism, which contributes to creating a negative atmosphere against Jews on campus. Elman claimed that university and college officials respond to this by viewing it as political expression that does not justify any interference from authorities.

Lessons From A Decade Of Student Activism In The UK

January 13, 2021 Hector Rios-Jara, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
Ten years ago, tens of thousands of students flooded the streets of London protesting against fees, cuts and demanding free public education in the biggest student demonstration in British history. They took over the Conservative Party headquarters, hanging red and black flags from the rooftop and surrounding the building with barricades. The demonstration marked the rebirth of the British student movement and the beginning of a new generation of activists that would confront marketization and austerity over the coming decade. Though students could not stop the further commodification of higher education, they succeeded in generating a culture of anti-market resistance, popularized the demand for public free education and contributed to the rise of democratic socialism in the UK.

University Of Michigan Strike Showed The Power Of Student Organizing

January 7, 2021 Kalena Thomhave and Matt Sehrsweeney, Waging Nonviolence.  , , ,
As the winter university semester is set to begin, the coronavirus is surging. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, like many universities reliant on tuition dollars, tried to reopen in September with a “public health-informed” semester, as the university called it. That meant a mix of in-person and remote classes and dormitories operating at about 70 percent capacity. Throughout the summer, the graduate workers union at the University of Michigan, the Graduate Employees Organization, or GEO, and Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers, had also been preparing for the fall semester by organizing against an unsafe campus opening in the face of a global pandemic.

Victories For Palestine Continued On US Campuses In 2020

December 31, 2020 Nada Elia, Mondoweiss. , , ,
Despite the challenges of online/remote learning, campus activism has not stopped over the past year. National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is currently planning their 2021 conference, celebrating 10 years of this annual reunion of SJP chapters from around the nation. And many student chapters have passed significant resolutions around some major issues, from censorship, to the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, to divestment and, most recently, the training of campus police by the Israeli military. As we wrap up 2020, here is a representative sample of campus activism since the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year, pointing to what can be expected in 2021.

Latin American Academics Endorse Boycott Of Complicit Israeli Academic Institutions

December 16, 2020 Latin American BDS Coordination, BDS Movement. , , ,
In their statement, the signatories commit not to participate in any type of academic exchange or cooperation with or accept funding from complicit Israeli institutions or the State of Israel. In addition, they call on Latin American universities to suspend cooperation with complicit Israeli institutions, until Israel respects the UN- sanctioned political and human rights of the Palestinian people. The boycott of complicit Israeli academic institutions was initiated in 2004 and later became a key part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel's occupation and apartheid regime. It was launched in response to the institutional support of all Israeli universities...

Columbia University Students Are Preparing To Launch A Tuition Strike

December 10, 2020 Indigo Olivier, In These Times. , , ,
At the end of Novem­ber, mem­bers of the Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty-Barnard Col­lege chap­ter of Young Demo­c­ra­t­ic Social­ists of Amer­i­ca (YDSA) launched a tuition strike cam­paign against ​“exor­bi­tant tuition rates” which, they say, ​“con­sti­tute a sig­nif­i­cant source of finan­cial hard­ship” dur­ing the pan­dem­ic. Stu­dent demands are wide-rang­ing and include a 10% reduc­tion in the cost of atten­dance, 10% increase in finan­cial aid, and an amal­ga­ma­tion of demands from dis­parate stu­dent cam­paigns, many of which were set in motion long before the pan­dem­ic began.

Lecturers Show Solidarity With Students Following ‘Racial Profiling’

November 18, 2020 Damon Wilkinson, Manchester Evening News. , , ,
University of Manchester, UK - Teaching staff held a show of solidarity with their students following a 'racial profiling' row at the University of Manchester. Lecturers also voiced their support for students protesting at the university's handling of the coronavirus crisis. A group of staff read out a statement at the Fallowfield Campus on Tuesday afternoon telling students: 'We are with you. We are here for you'. And they told black students and students of colour 'who may be feeling particularly hurt and excluded from the university at the moment' that 'you do belong here'.

Manchester’s Student Revolt

November 15, 2020 Sarah Cundy, Tribune Magazine. , , ,
Students ‌at University of Manchester ‌have‌ ‌been‌ ‌treated‌ ‌with‌ ‌contempt‌ ‌by‌ ‌management.‌ ‌Like‌ ‌those ‌across‌ ‌the‌ ‌country,‌ ‌we‌ ‌were‌ ‌lured‌ ‌back‌ ‌to‌ campus ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌promise‌ ‌of‌ ‌normality‌ ‌– a‌ ‌promise‌ that the ‌lecturers’ union, the UCU‌, ‌as well as ‌SAGE‌ ‌warned‌ ‌was‌ ‌inconceivable. We have been used as scapegoats for government failings, and forced to pay rents that 74% of us cannot meet – since students usually work to make ends meet. All this while Nancy Rothwell, our Vice-Chancellor who chairs the Russell Group, championed the use of chartered flights to coax international students into an environment that she must know is unsafe.

Students Push To Remove Police

November 9, 2020 Claudio Rivera, Stephanie Knezz and Shawn Smith, Truthout. , , ,
Student movements have always raised our current conception of justice and equity. From the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests, to the anti-apartheid movement and calls to abolish the police, student protests on college campuses have a context and history linked to substantial change in U.S. policies and practices. This is a rite of passage from which we all benefit. So, it is perplexing that Northwestern University (NU) President Morton Schapiro fails to recognize this as NU students demand a different and better sense of campus safety in their demand to abolish the police...

Graduate Workers Condemn Saturday Police Escalation

November 4, 2020 Isabelle Sarraf, The Daily Northwestern. , , ,
In a Sunday statement, Northwestern University Graduate Workers condemned the police escalation — including the pepper-spraying and shoving student protestors — at Saturday’s NU Community Not Cops protest. At least two participating NUGW members were pepper-sprayed, the group wrote, during the 20th straight day of demonstrations demanding that NU divest from law enforcement. “Last night proved once again that it is heavily armed, militarized police who create and escalate violence,” NUGW wrote.

UK Universities Reject Israel Lobby’s Anti-Semitism Definition

October 28, 2020 Asa Winstanley, Electronic Intifada. , , ,
Only a minority of UK universities have adopted the misleading and politically motivated definition of anti-Semitism promoted by Israel and its lobby. Despite repeated British government threats, fewer than 22 percent of higher education establishments have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “working definition” of anti-Semitism. The IHRA definition has been repeatedly condemned by free speech defenders, Palestinians, Jewish activists, Palestine solidarity, Black and Asian groups.

Israel Lobby Spreads More Lies About Palestine Groups At NYU

October 24, 2020 Nora Barrows-Friedman, Electronic Intifada. , , ,
New York University has agreed to settle with the US Department of Education over allegations that the university had not appropriately responded to claims of anti-Semitism. Two attorneys filed the complaint last year on behalf of a student who alleged that she faced “two years of extreme anti-Semitism on the NYU campus which has created an intolerable and unlawful hostile atmosphere for Jewish students.” Echoing previous attempts by Israel advocates to silence Palestinian rights activists on campuses, the complaint accused Students for Justice in Palestine of creating the “hostile” climate due to the group’s criticism of Israel and its state ideology Zionism.
«12345678910»
assetto corsa mods

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.