Higher Education

Hundreds Of Students Occupy Columbia University In Solidarity With Gaza

April 18, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Academic Freedom, Columbia University, Higher Education, Israel, New York City (NYC), NYPD, Occupation, Palestine, State Repression, Student Activism

At 4 am on April 17, hundreds of Columbia University students began to set up a “Gaza solidarity encampment” on the main lawn of campus, pledging to stay until the University divests from Israel. This historic occupation was coordinated by various student organizations such as the coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, and Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace. The action was inspired by the historic 1968 occupation of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall by students in protest against racism and the Vietnam War.

Canceling The Valedictorian

April 17, 2024 Max Jones, Scheer Post. Educate! California, Censorship, Higher Education, University of Southern California (USC)

The University of Southern California’s (USC) cancellation of its 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum’s, commencement speech on Monday garnered attention from national and international media. Andrew T. Guzman, the provost, announced the university’s decision to cancel the speech on April 15, citing security reasons. Guzman stated: “Unfortunately, over the past several days, discussion relating to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor. The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement. We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”

Inside The Historic Student Protests For Palestine

March 1, 2024 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. Resist! California, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Stanford, UC Davis

Every day, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues to erase whole families, communities, and neighborhoods off the face of the earth. We are recording this on Thursday, February 22nd, and just three days ago, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that Israel has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since October 7th, around two thirds of them, women and children. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been wounded in that time. As a full scale ethnic cleansing unfolds before our eyes, as the slaughter continues, as Israel’s government vows to continue the slaughter until quote, “total victory is achieved,” and as the US continues to be the number one supporter of this humanitarian calamity, people of conscience around the world continue to take direct action, with increased urgency.

US Higher Education Is Being Gutted, But We Can Fight Back

February 29, 2024 Olivia Wood, Left Voice. Strategize! Austerity, Budget Cuts, Education, Florida, Higher Education

In January 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis overhauled the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida, replacing several members with conservative activists, including Christopher Rufo. New College of Florida was known as a hippie college, a queer college, but Rufo aimed to change all that, saying, “We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty.” He added, “The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.”

Johns Hopkins Graduate Student-Workers Picket, Negotiations Stall

February 28, 2024 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. Resist! Graduate Students, Higher Education, Johns Hopkins, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

One year ago, graduate student-workers at Johns Hopkins University overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the banner of Teachers and Researchers United (TRU-UE), which is affiliated with United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers. While workers had much to celebrate with their historic union election victory, bargaining a first contract with the university administration has been another story. On February 20, fed up with what workers say have been disrespectful and insufficient offers from the university administration, TRU-UE members held practice pickets on campus to show the administration what’s in store if more progress is not made at the bargaining table soon.

Palestine Solidarity Wins At UC Davis

February 24, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. Resist! California, Divestment, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

University campuses have become a major battlefield for the Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S. Students and faculty who support Palestinian liberation have been subjected to doxxing, university discipline, arrest, firings and more. School administrators, even if they are not anti-Zionist, have been removed simply for not being strong enough in backing Israel. But solidarity groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine have persevered and have scored some victories. “From McDonald’s to Sabra to Chevron, none of our student fees that fund ASUCD (Associated Students, University of California, Davis) operations will be used to financially support 30+ companies that are complicit in Zionist violence,” the University of California Davis SJP chapter said on Instagram.

Academics Form National Group To Advocate For Justice In Palestine

February 18, 2024 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Organize! Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Student Activism

Academics have launched a new national network to advocate for Palestine. Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), which was formed in solidarity with Palestinian students, already has 80 affiliate groups across college campuses. “After the genocidal war on Gaza began, groups of academic workers began to organize on campuses nationwide to support and protect students from the immediate onslaught of harassment, discrimination, and punishment,” the group’s facilitator Sherene Seikaly told Mondoweiss. “With 80 affiliate groups on campuses across the country, the Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) national network is committed to the cause of Palestinian liberation through education, advocacy, and action.

Contract Faculty Wrest Neutrality From New York University

February 14, 2024 Jeff Schuhrke, Labor Notes. Organize! Higher Education, New York City (NYC), Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Contingent professors scored a victory January 3 when they got New York University to agree to a union election this semester, and to remain neutral during the process. The election is scheduled for February 27 and 28. If they vote yes, Contract Faculty United (CFU)-UAW Local 7902 will become the largest union in the country of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty at a private university, with 950 members. Nationwide, two-thirds of faculty positions are contingent—meaning they lack the possibility of tenure. Many are adjunct instructors, who are hired on a course-by-course, semester-by-semester basis and typically make low wages and lack benefits. But there is another, lesser-known category of contingent faculty: those who work full-time on long-term contracts. The number of such full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in the US has almost tripled since 1987.

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

February 14, 2024 Olivia Wood, Left Voice. Resist! CUNY, Higher Education, New York City (NYC), Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

As faculty, staff, and graduate student workers at the City University of New York (CUNY) approach one year without a contract, a new strike campaign is forming, fueled by outrage over decades of underfunding, low wages compared to other New York City schools, and fresh cuts to the university’s 25 campuses. Just last month, dozens of faculty were laid off right before the start of the semester — with full or nearly full classes getting cut from the schedule, leaving students in disarray — after the university ordered enhanced cuts at nine CUNY schools. Furthermore, Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed executive budget cuts CUNY funding by $528 million. Most of this decrease comes from the capital budget, which provides for building upkeep and other infrastructure costs, even though only eight percent of CUNY’s buildings are considered to be in a “state of good repair.”

Israel Destroyed My University – Where Is The Outrage?

February 10, 2024 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Genocide, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Wars and Militarism

On Jan. 17, the Israeli military detonated 315 mines to destroy Gaza’s last standing university, al-Israa University, located south of Gaza City. For 70 days prior, the Israelis occupied the university as a military base, posting snipers in its buildings and using it as a detention and interrogation center. According to university authorities, prior to the detonation Israeli soldiers looted the university museum, which contained 3,000 artifacts dating back as far as the Roman era. With al-Israa University’s destruction, Israel has now destroyed or damaged all of Gaza’s 12 universities, and also targeted 280 government schools and 65 UN schools, many of which were sheltering civilians when they were attacked.

Open Letter On The Anti-Palestinian And Islamophobic Environment At Emory University

January 31, 2024 Open Letter, Mondoweiss. Resist! Censorship, Emory University, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Suppression

We are a coalition of community and civil rights organizations, writing on behalf of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and students perceived to be Palestinian or Muslim at Emory University (“the University”) who have been targeted by racist, anti-Palestinian, xenophobic, and Islamophobic harassment and doxing attacks for their support for Palestinian human rights. We write to express our concern about the University’s failure to protect its students from these bigoted doxing and harassment campaigns and the lack of official, public support shown to Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students.

What Do Faculty Owe Future Generations?

January 30, 2024 Sharon Stein, Resilience. Strategize! climate crisis, Higher Education, Multigenerational, Youth

I’m a millennial faculty member. The millennial generation – also known as Generation Y – came of age with 9/11, followed by the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then the 2007/8 financial crisis. While we were growing up, promises of perpetual progress and prosperity abounded. However, as we entered adulthood, we confronted the harmful realities and precarious nature of the prevailing social and economic system. It became clear to many of us that these were not only false promises but they also came at a high cost. Yet when we expressed our disillusionment, some from previous generations suggested our generation was the problem, not the system itself.

Greek Students Hit The Streets For Protests Against Private Universities

January 28, 2024 People's Dispatch. Resist! Greece, Higher Education, Privatization, Youth Activism

For the third consecutive week, Greek student and youth groups and other progressive sections hit the streets, denouncing the conservative New Democracy (ND) government’s bid to open private universities. On Thursday, January 25, massive protest rallies were held in more than 40 cities, including Athens. Tens of thousands of students from coordination committees, and members of the Students’ Struggle Front (MAS), Panspoudastiki KS, Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), parents’ associations, teachers’ unions, and university workers demanded that the government scrap the proposed bill.

Palestine And The Crisis Of Free Speech On College Campuses

January 25, 2024 Mel Buer, The Real News Network. Resist! Censorship, Free Speech, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine

Colleges and universities have long acted as incubators for social movements, and the movement in solidarity with Palestine is no exception. While repression against students and faculty for support of Palestine is nothing new, the upsurge in mobilization and agitation for Palestinian liberation since last fall has been met with a frenzied response from actors within and outside of university administrations. Students and faculty alike have faced retaliation from university administrators and Zionists within and beyond the student body, ranging from revocation of scholarships to expulsions, firings, and even physical assault.

A Strike Is Coming To The Nation’s Largest Public University System

January 22, 2024 Matthew Ford, Jacobin. Resist! Budget Cuts, California, Higher Education, Public Good, Strikes

For over a decade, the administration at California State University (CSU) has been disinvesting in the United States’ largest public university system. The result has been the destruction of the institution’s academic integrity and the undermining of its basic goal: to serve the public good. Thankfully, a formidable opposition is growing among the faculty. This came to a head when, after a recent breakdown in negotiations with CSU management, the California Faculty Association (CFA) pledged to strike at all twenty-three campuses beginning this Monday, January 22. The twenty-nine thousand striking teachers are officially walking out over a bargaining impasse, but the conflict has roots far deeper than the recent breakdown in negotiations.

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