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Higher Education

University Of Michigan Moves To Eliminate Due Process For Students

October 5, 2024 Ryan McCarty, Left Voice. , , , , ,
Over the last two years, the University of Michigan (UM) administration has been fiercely repressing student and worker voices on campus with a combination of police and administrative attacks. The University has conducted large-scale arrests of student protestors demanding divestment from financial ties to the Israeli military, sent campus police to the homes of graduate student union organizers as an intimidation tactic, and violently attacked the community encampment calling for an end to the university’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. In less physically violent but no less aggressive moves, UM  has attempted to discipline the activist Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) union for their 2023 strike and their substantial fights for a living wage, the dismantling of the large campus police apparatus, and divestment from Israel  by changing hiring practices for graduate student workers.

University Students Rally Behind Expelled Encampment Leader

September 29, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. , , , , ,
Cleveland - Over 100 pro-Palestine activists rallied and marched to the office of Case Western Reserve University on Sept. 18 in protest of the expulsion of Yousef Khalaf, a leader of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. CWRU students erected the encampment on April 29 and kept it up until May 10. After Khalaf appealed the discriminatory expulsion and related discipline, a hearing was held in August. There, Jewish students and community members challenged the university narrative equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Nevertheless, the CWRU administration upheld its original decision. The one victory was that all of Khalaf’s tuition and housing payments were refunded.

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Hijacking Our Universities

September 21, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. , , ,
Elite universities in the United States — which conduct important climate research — are raking in millions from fossil fuel interests, potentially creating conflicts of interest. This is according to a collection of new reports compiled by student organizers and released by the student-led Campus Climate Network, as The Guardian reported. “Universities globally are often caught in a web of financial and research dependencies with the fossil fuel sector. These ties not only conflict with the ethics of academic independence but also hinder the progress of genuine climate research,” Campus Climate Network said on its website. One institution, Princeton University, seems to have actually owned an oil company — Petrotiger, named after its mascot — earning it millions of dollars, reported The Guardian.

Necessary Discomfort: The September 18 Career Fair Disruption

September 20, 2024 Nick Wilson, The Cornell Daily Sun. , , , , ,
On Wednesday, students disrupted the ILR School’s Human Capital and HR Career Fair, which featured recruiters from weapons manufacturers Boeing and L3Harris. Students organized with the Coalition for Mutual Liberation successfully shut the event down using pots, pans and noisemakers in Statler Hall until both employers left the building. They also delivered an indictment to Boeing and L3Harris recruiters finding both companies guilty of aiding and abetting human rights violations, war crimes and genocide. This action has significantly altered incentive structures at our university. For the administration, it has been made clear that inviting arms manufacturers to our campus after 70 percent of students voted to sever ties with them will also invite the risk of a negative student response.

MIT Divests From Israeli Arms Firm Funded Program

September 15, 2024 Al Mayadeen. , , , , , , , ,
The MISTI-"Israel" Lockheed Martin fund has been shut down after continuous pressure from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) staff and faculty, the MIT Coalition for Palestine announced on Friday, marking a major divestment win for the university's Scientists Against Genocide (SAGE) movement. "Under pressure from students and scientists of conscience at this Institute, the MIT administration has discontinued MISTI-Israel's Lockheed Martin Seed Fund and will not renew its contract," the organization said in a statement. "This was a major target of our divestment action. The program ends after months of protest against it last fall, including letter deliveries, sit-ins, and public information campaigns," it highlighted.

Young People Will Save The World; We’re The Last Generation That Can

September 14, 2024 Keara Sosa, Counter Punch. , , ,
The past 20 years have been critical in the fight for bold and sustainable climate solutions. The next five years will be even more vital — and young people like me are fighting hard to make sure our leaders get it right. Research shows we have about five years left to avert global warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, the tipping point when even more severe climate disruptions could exacerbate hunger, conflict and drought worldwide. Climate change — long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil — impacts our livelihoods and our lives. It harms our health and well-being and threatens our access to vital resources, from water to food to housing.

WFSE Local 1488 Workers At University Of Washington Rally

September 14, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , ,
Seattle, WA – On Tuesday, September 10, over 100 members of WFSE Local 1488 walked out ahead of their current contract expiring in a few weeks. The union, representing food service, custodial, maintenance and other workers at the University of Washington, has been bargaining since the beginning of June for a strong contract, with university administration stalling. Workers rallied in front of the administration building on Red Square, as well as at a picket line in front of the University of Washington Medical Center. The walkouts at the University of Washington were part of a larger, coordinated walkout by WFSE members across the state of Washington, with thousands walking out in total.

Big Oil And Gas Infiltrate Higher Education To Slow Climate Action

September 6, 2024 Geoff Dembicki, DeSmog. , , , ,
A former Exxon executive sits on a university’s board of trustees. Fossil fuel representatives develop undergraduate courses. Schools lease out their land for fracking. Industry-funded studies end up influencing federal energy policy. These aren’t just isolated examples of oil and gas companies partnering with academic institutions, according to a new study published in the journal WIREs Climate Change by researchers with six universities, but an international effort by the industry spanning decades with the goal of obstructing and slowing down climate action. The authors came to that conclusion by conducting a first-ever review of dozens of existing academic and civil society investigations into fossil fuel infiltration of higher education, looking primarily at institutions in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia.

Student Activists Vow To Continue Pro-Palestine Protests Despite Crackdowns

September 5, 2024 Sarah Prager, Scheer Post. , , , , , ,
Marie Adele Grosso joined the Columbia University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) two years ago when she started at Columbia’s Barnard College. She said the group mainly did cultural awareness work back then, but the activism escalated in the spring when they created the first of the college encampments that became an international movement. College students across the country and the world demanded their institutions divest from companies connected to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. “I am doing what I believe is moral, and I think everyone has the responsibility to be standing up in whatever way they can,” Grosso said.

Chicago Students Start Strong With ‘Hands Off Lebanon’ Demonstration

September 5, 2024 Fight Back News!. , , , , , ,
Chicago, IL – On Thursday, August 29, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) started the week strong with a demonstration on campus, with about 90 students, demanding U.S. hands off Lebanon, an end of U.S. aid to Israel and to stand strong with Palestine. Speakers from other progressive student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIC, and Anakbayan at UIC, also spoke. The rally strengthened the students’ message of funding for education – such as cultural centers and student resources – not for genocide, war and occupation in Palestine.

Universities Strategized All Summer To Suppress Student Activism

September 3, 2024 Carrie Zaremba, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , ,
University administrators across the United States have declared an indefinite state of emergency on college campuses. Schools are rolling out policies in preparation for quashing pro-Palestine student activism this Fall semester, and reshaping regulations and even campuses in the process to suit this new normal. Many of these policies being instituted share a common formula: more militarization, more law enforcement, more criminalization, and more consolidation of institutional power. But where do these policies originate and why are they so similar across all campuses? The answer lies in the fact that they have been provided by the “risk and crisis management” consulting industries, with the tacit support of trustees, Zionist advocacy groups, and federal agencies.

Strike Two: SJP Rutgers- New Brunswick Suspended (Again)

September 2, 2024 Students For Justice In Palestine At Rutgers - New Brunswick, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , , ,
On July 5th, 2024, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) received a letter from the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services notifying us that we have been suspended until July 4th, 2025. Once again, we recognize this as an act of repression and anti-Palestinian racism, and therefore refuse to adhere to the guidelines of the suspension. The Rutgers Administration has deemed us responsible for the following: 1) Disruptive or Disorderly Conduct, 2) Failure to Comply with University or Civil Authority, and 3) Non-Compliance with Other University Policies. Disruptive Or Disorderly Conduct In regards to Rutgers’ first allegation, we understand that the Rutgers Administration is attempting to maintain the regular operations of the University despite its involvement in the current genocide being committed in Gaza.

Pro-Palestine Students March Against Political Neutrality Policy

September 2, 2024 Merlin Van Alstine and Staff, Fight Back! News!. , , , , , , ,
On August 30, 150 University of Minnesota students, staff, faculty and community members rallied and marched from Morrill Hall to McNamara Plaza in response to the Board of Regents vote that happened earlier this week. The Board voted on a resolution that would impose political and institutional neutrality on the university’s endowment fund. This vote was pushed by new University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham. It effectively makes any sort of divestment from Israel, or weapon manufacturers and other entities complicit in war crimes and human rights violations, impossible. It takes away any accountability that administration has to its students, to its staff, or to its faculty.

Cornell Workers Strike For The First Time In Decades

August 30, 2024 José Pérez-Zetunem, Labor Notes. , , , ,
As students moved into campus, Cornell University’s 1,200 dining, custodial, and maintenance workers in Ithaca, New York, walked off the job August 18. “When you’re not getting paid a living wage in a place that certainly has the money to pay, it feels disrespectful,” said Josh Dexter, a cook. “It can burn out the flame for people.” The university emailed professors, administrative staff, and retirees, urging them to pick up scab shifts. Students reported a hectic start of classes and terrible dining hall food. Cornell also brought in scabs from temporary work agencies like Stafkings and Express Employment. Even Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff was spotted working the dining halls.

CUNY Workers And Students Will Write A New Chapter Of Class Struggle

August 29, 2024 Tatiana Cozzarelli, Left Voice. , , , , , ,
Another school year is starting at the City University of New York (CUNY). We’ll arrive on campuses that are dilapidated and falling apart. Broken elevators and escalators plague campuses across the city. Some departments are in a last-minute scramble to hire adjuncts for classes. It’s an affront to us as workers and to our students who deserve a quality education. Even though I’ve spent all week preparing for the semester, adjuncts and many others don’t get paid until two weeks into the semester. I have $30 in my bank account and I have to borrow money from friends again. Some adjuncts are on food stamps.
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