Higher Education

Professors Protest At Community College In RI

January 16, 2019 By Andrew Stewart, Washingtonbabylon.com Educate! Community Colleges, Higher Education, Protests, Rhode Island

For some time now, I have argued that neoliberalism as a system of governance has a talent for co-opting the vocabulary and grammar of Left-leaning projects so to further their own designs for those they govern. This was brought home to me on January 2, 2019 at a picket line held by the faculty of the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) expressing their opposition to J-Term, a project forced on the college by the administration that broke norms of shared governance, involved dubious processing of paperwork in relation to the Curriculum Review Committee, and portends an erosion of an educational institute in Rhode Island that has been a major pillar for working class, African American, and Latinx students for decades.

Jeffrey D. Armstrong: Quit Threatening Peaceful CAL POLY Students!

January 3, 2019 Staff, Codepink.org Resist! Higher Education, Student Activism, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

I implore you to drop the formal warnings received by students who sang in front of the Raytheon table at their fall career fair. The peaceful students repeated an activity they had held in the spring, after being cleared of any wrongdoing. But they are again being threatened with disciplinary action by your administration. For simply singing, for less than fifteen minutes. The peaceful, singing students wished to shed light on the connection between Cal Poly and Raytheon, and between Raytheon and the death of civilians in Yemen and in conflicts around the world. They skillfully put Cal Poly’s educational philosophy “learn by doing” into practice, and exercised their right to free speech.

Academic Institutions Must Defend Free Speech

December 27, 2018 Staff, Theinternationalcommittee.org Create! Free Speech, Freedom of Speech, Higher Education

We, the undersigned, oppose the coordinated campaign to deny academics their free speech rights due to their defense of Palestinian rights and criticism of the policies and practices of the state of Israel. Temple University in Philadelphia, USA and the University of Sydney, Australia have been under great pressure to fire, respectively, Marc Lamont Hill and Tim Anderson, both senior academics at their institutions, for these reasons. Steven Salaita and Norman Finkelstein have already had their careers destroyed by such attacks. Hatem Bazian, Ahlam Muhtaseb, William Robinson, Rabab Abdulhadi and others have also been threatened.

How Graduate Unions Are Winning—And Scaring The Hell Out Of Bosses—In The Trump Era

December 3, 2018 Daniel Moattar, Inthesetimes.com Create! Class Struggle, Higher Education, Students, Unions

In a 1,035 to 720 vote, Columbia University’s graduate student union has agreed to a bargaining framework with the university’s administration, a milestone victory in the union’s nearly five-year campaign for recognition. The vote outcome, announced earlier this week, follows Columbia’s November 19 announcement that it would bargain with the union, ending long-standing efforts to halt graduate unionization on campus and in the courts. Columbia’s decision is the latest—and one of the most notable—in a string of concessions by university administrators at private institutions across the country. It’s a wave of labor action that belongs to the Trump era: The NLRB’s Columbia University ruling, extending bargaining rights to graduate workers at private universities...

HBCU Scandals Don’t Die, They Multiply

November 12, 2018 Dominica Dunbar, Blackagendareport.com Educate! HBCUs, Higher Education

HBCU scandals don’t die, they multiply like vultures stalking a starving child. Black misleaders prey on Black students and faculty for their own advancement. Pretending they represent autonomous Black institutions, independent values, and cooperative development, they are, on the contrary, an embarrassment in how they wield respectability politics to discipline Black youth for purported future success. These college leaders openly preside over bankrupt educational standards, sexual impropriety, theft of student’s financial aid, repression and misdirection of student activists in pursuit of personal wealth. The heat is on.

University Of Michigan Faces Criticism After Reprimanding Pro-BDS Professor

October 26, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! BDS, Higher Education, Michigan, Solidarity

The University of Michigan has faced an eruption of protests in recent days after reprimanding a professor, who refused to write a recommendation letter for a student wanting to study in Israel. The professor had cited the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement for the refusal. John Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor of American culture, had been reprimanded by the university for refusing to write the letter of recommendation earlier this month. Since then, he has received support and messages of solidarity from students of the university, according to Middle East Eye. Students hand-delivered a letter to the office of Mark Schlissel, the president of the university, condemning the institution for its action against the professor.

Disrupt And Protest These Bank Recruitment Events

October 12, 2018 Staff, Nobayoubridge.global Resist! Banks, Higher Education, Pipelines, Protests

In the next few months several of the banks that are financing the Bayou Bridge Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) are hosting recruitment events at college campuses. The banks use these events to recruit students to internship programs and for jobs in the finance industry. They speak glowingly about what it means to work for their bank, but leave out the part about how they are financing violent companies like ETP and destructive projects like the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Water Protectors resisting the Bayou Bridge Pipeline have been beaten, tased and charged with felonies. Stand in solidarity with the frontlines by disrupting and demonstrating at these campus recruitment events and telling students the truth about the banks that are bankrolling the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

Second Recommendation Letter Withdrawn By Michigan University Instructor, Citing BDS

October 11, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Resist! BDS, Higher Education

A University of Michigan instructor went back on her commitment to provide a letter of recommendation for a student after finding out the student was going to Israel for a study abroad program. This news went unreported unlike the first incident of a similar nature, as claimed by Washington Post. In this second incident, Jake Secker, a 20-year-old junior from Great Neck, N.Y., majoring in Economics and minoring in Entrepreneurship, sought a reference from a teaching assistant, known at Michigan as a graduate student instructor, or GSI. Lucy Peterson, the GSI, initially agreed to give a recommendation letter but when Secker told her that he was applying to Tel Aviv University, Peterson withdrew her commitment.

City Colleges Of Chicago Workers Hit Picket Lines To Force Contract Talks

October 10, 2018 Kate McGee, Wbez.org Resist! Chicago, Class Struggle, Higher Education, Workers Rights and Jobs

Three unions that represent faculty and staff at City Colleges of Chicago say the college’s bargaining team will not come to the table to negotiate contracts. The unions said they plan to picket all City Colleges of Chicago board meetings until contract agreements are reached. In a statement, a college spokesperson disputed that accusation, saying the system has held more than 40 meetings with seven collective bargaining units over the past year. “City Colleges has been responding and will continue to respond to contract proposals.” Administrators also said they value the unions and that they “are working to reach mutually beneficial contract agreements.” The unions represent hundreds of employees, including professors, clerical staff, and security guards.

Protest Targets Johns Hopkins’ Multi-Million Dollar ICE Contract

September 24, 2018 Jaisal Noor, Therealnews.com Resist! Abolish ICE, Higher Education, ICE, Immigration, Protests, Undocumented

Dozens of students, faculty, community members, and their children demonstrated at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University on September 21, demanding the university end its relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Protesters call for Hopkins to terminate millions of dollars in contracts with the controversial agency. AIMEE POHL: We demand Johns Hopkins University drop all of its contracts with the abusive and racist Immigration and Customs Enforcement administration.

Nation’s Top Student Loan Official Resigns

August 29, 2018 Ken Sweet, Apnews.com Educate! Education, Higher Education, Student Loans

NEW YORK (AP) — The government’s top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House’s open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter , which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues.

The Education Impasse In The USA

August 22, 2018 Creston Davis, Counterpunch.org Create! Education, Higher Education

As another school year starts, let’s take a few moments to reflect, however briefly, on the state of education in the United States. In times when Republicans and mainstream Democrats can’t seem to agree on much of anything, one issue oddly seems to unite them. That issue is education, specifically higher education. From both political fronts, there’s a mounting critique towards the university, public and private. For starters, the average college degree (combining private and public) is about $35,000 per year. To put this in perspective, if the tuition trends keep up at the rate they’ve been going since 1982, a third grader today should expect to pay more than $306,000 for a private college and over $135,000 for in-state university.

Demonstrators Hold ‘Die-In’ To Protest Sackler Family’s Ties To Harvard Art Museums

July 23, 2018 By Isabelle Agee-Jacobson and Caroline S. Engelmayer, Thecrimson.com Resist! Harvard, Higher Education, Profit, Protests, Ruling Class

Shouting “people over profits” and throwing pill bottles on the floor, more than 30 demonstrators held a “die-in” in Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum Friday to protest its connections to a family they said spurred on the opioid crisis and profited from addiction nationwide. Led by photographer Nan Goldin—whose works are displayed in the museum—protesters demanded Harvard refuse future funding from the Sacklers. They also urged the Sackler family to invest in the overdose reversal drug naloxone, safe injection facilities, and medication that can combat addiction. They charged that the family, which helps lead the multi-billion dollar drug company Purdue Pharmaceuticals, knew the pain relief drug OxyContin was highly addictive but downplayed its dangers when marketing it to doctors.

Back When College Was Debt-Free

June 12, 2018 By Josh Hoxie, Inequality.org Create! Debt, Higher Education, Student Debt, Tuition

As May gives way to June, the last college grad ceremonies are wrapping up and the last parties are coming to a close. Now the job hunt for recent grads begins in earnest — with the looming specter of student loan payments drawing ever closer. Today’s average student debt is around $37,000. But in America’s largest state, it wasn’t that long ago that any student could get a world-class, debt-free education — regardless of their economic background. That state was California, and Gail Leondar-Wright was one of those students. Gail came from a middle-class family — her dad was an engineer and her mom a stay-at-home parent. She attended UC Berkeley from 1976 to 1980, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater. At the time, the elite public school was tuition-free and required a mere $600 per year in fees, or just under $1,400 in today’s dollars.

After 12 Weeks, University Still On Strike

May 31, 2018 By G. Dunkel, Workers.org Resist! Canada, Class Struggle, Education, Higher Education, Strikes

Over 3,000 contract instructors at York University in Toronto, Canada, have been walking picket lines since early March. Their strike affects nearly 50,000 students. Up to half of all courses offered are taught by contract instructors, the Canadian term for adjuncts. The university administration made a decision to continue as many courses as possible despite the walkout. But being short just one credit can keep a student from graduating. The Canadian Union of Public Employees 3903, which represents the striking contract instructors and teaching assistants, has charged the York administration with being unwilling to bargain. York’s administration insists on binding arbitration — submitting disputes to a third party that makes a final decision — which the union has rejected. Overwhelming majorities of the union have also voted down contract proposals, which York insisted had to be voted on.

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