Student Activism

Egypt Risks ‘Student Intifada’ Amid Campus Crackdown

October 16, 2014 Mamoon Alabbasi, www.middleeasteye.net Resist! Egypt, police brutality, Repression, Student Activism

The Egyptian government risks causing a major student uprising against the state if the authorities continue their current policy of cracking down on dissent in university campuses, warned a new report by a Cairo-based NGO. The warning came as the start of the new academic year in Egypt witnessed the arrests of more than 100 university students, amid widespread anti-government protests, and where a private security company using metal detectors has left bottlenecked queues outside universities. The report, released Tuesday by Egypt's Democracy Index of the International Development Centre (IDC), also called on the authorities to release students arrested during protests in the first days of the academic year which began on 11 October.

Mexican Students Hijack Buses, Trucks Amid Escalating Protests

October 14, 2014 Manuel Rueda, www.fusion.net Resist! Education, Mexico, police brutality, Student Activism

CHILPANCINGO, Mexico —Protests against the disappearance of 43 students in southern Mexico intensified on Saturday when a group of masked youths blocked a main highway and hijacked four trucks and four buses. The group, students from the Ayotzinapa rural teacher’s college, blocked the highway connecting the state capital to Mexico City at around 4 p.m. With rocks in hand and faces covered with t-shirts and bandanas, the students forced the trucks and buses to pull over and commandeered the vehicles. The students have been protesting the disappearance of 43 students who vanished on Sept. 26, after they were attacked by police in the city of Iguala.

Philadelphia Students Protest Cancellation Of Teachers Contract

October 9, 2014 Resist! Education, Student Activism, Student Protests

Two days after the Philadelphia School Reform Commission unilaterally canceled its teachers' contract and announced it would impose changes, hundreds of high school students went on "strike" Wednesday to support their teachers. Dozens of students from Science Leadership Academy in Center City and as many as 175 from the High School for Creative and Performing Arts in South Philadelphia boycotted classes. They held peaceful, upbeat demonstrations outside the two magnet schools. Twenty-five students from the Franklin Learning Center in Spring Garden demonstrated outside district headquarters at 440 N. Broad St. "There's a lot of talk about teachers going on strike," said Cy Wolfe, a theater major at CAPA who helped organize what he called the "Philadelphia Student Strike." Co-organizer Leo Levy, 16, a junior at Science Leadership, said the event was held "to show student solidarity with the plight of the teachers and to show how invested in a proper education the student body really is." On Monday, the SRC voted to cast aside the expired Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract and require teachers to begin contributing to the cost of their health insurance premiums on Dec. 15.

Why Did Germany End Tuition? Mass Student Protests

October 9, 2014 David Smith, www.economywatch.com Resist! Education, Germany, Human Rights, Protest, Student Activism

After experimenting with tuition fees, all the federal German states have been persuaded to reverse their decision. In the UK and US, there is no political will to change the policies which are blighting whole generations. The only way forward is to copy German protest movements. “What Germany has done is fabulous and it’s not surprising that people in the US don’t understand it. What I really liked was the reversal of their decision to impose them,” she said. “It’s a great shame that the UK has gone to a system like ours because it’s a disaster to be avoided at all costs. British students coming out with that much debt will be very unhappy in a generation or two, just as we are in the US. I’d love to see a 180 degree turnaround in the UK as well, but I can’t see it happening. The same neoliberal economic assumptions are driving policies in the UK as in the US, even though they are not justified by data.”

Mexican Students Block Highway, Demand Justice For 43 Missing

October 6, 2014 TeleSurTV, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Direct Action, Mexico, police brutality, Student Activism

Hundreds of students of the Teacher Training College of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, are blocking the Mexico-Acapulco highway to demand justice for their 43 colleagues who last week were allegedly kidnapped by local police and gunmen. The highway is a key road, linking Mexico City with Acapulco Port, one of the most frequented destinations for both domestic and international tourists. According to several media reports, the students are now allowing all cars to pass through Palo Blanco tollbooth for free. The students are joined by relatives from the 43 youth who have been missing since Friday September 26, when police agents from Iguala, Guerrero, along with unidentified gunmen shot at several buses being used by the students, and kidnapped 43 of them.

School Board Defies Protest To Pass Curriculum Review

October 6, 2014 Nicky Woolf, www.linkis.com Resist! Education, History, Human Rights, Student Activism

They were there to protest against what they see as egregious overreach by the conservative majority on the Jefferson County school board. They chanted slogans and waved signs saying “Get Koch Industries Out Of Our Schools” and “We Have The Right To Know Our Past!” Several students, Wallen included, addressed the assembled crowd from the back of a pickup truck. “Just because we’re teenagers, doesn’t mean we’re apathetic about education!” said one. While the students addressed the crowd on the green, hundreds more were already queueing to get into the meeting-room itself. As the marchers set off along Golden’s main street waving their banners, others began to file in to the fifth floor meeting room, escorted to the lifts in small groups by security guards.

Students Sue Google For Monitoring Their Emails

October 6, 2014 Todd Wasserman, www.mashable.com Resist! Google, Privacy, Student Activism, Surveillance

In a challenge to one of Google's more controversial practices, a group of students in California are suing Google, claiming that the company's monitoring of Gmail violates federal and state privacy laws. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is currently hearing the complaint from nine students whose emails were subject to Google surveillance because Gmail is a component of Apps for Education. Apps for Education is a suite of free, web-based education tools that has some 30 million users worldwide, most of whom are students under 18 exposed to the software via their schools. A Google rep told Education Week that the company scans and indexes emails from all Apps for Education users. The company uses the data for potential advertising, among other purposes.

What Does Charles Koch Get By Donating To George Mason U.?

October 4, 2014 Samantha Parsons, www.wearepowershift.org Organize! Education, Koch, Student Activism

The Charles Koch Foundation (CKF) is the largest donor to George Mason University, having contributed over $23 million since 2005 and millions more in years prior. Charles Koch has a history of using donations from the Charles Koch Foundation to manipulate educational processes, limiting perspectives that are taught in departments Mr. Koch funds. Florida State University, the second largest recipient of CKF funds, was expected to give CKF veto power over the hiring processes of certain faculty and provide the foundation with undue influence over curriculum and teaching. Recent reporting confirms that despite re-negotiating with the Koch Foundation, FSU still promotes a narrow range of disciplines favored by Charles Koch in the programs he funds. Considering the Kochs have known and significant ties to professors, departments, and the administration at George Mason, it is reasonable to question whether or not corporate interests are similarly undermining the educational processes of our university as well. We ask that George Mason University begin taking steps to increase transparency. This is necessary in order to demonstrate that an education from GMU is not being unduly influenced by private interests

Victory: School Board Backs Down

October 4, 2014 Jack Healy, www.nytimes.com Resist! Colorado, Education, History, Student Activism

GOLDEN, Colo. — Will history be rewritten by the winners? That was the question parents and students were asking in school hallways, in online PTA forums and on boulevards up and down this suburban Colorado school district on Friday, a day after the school board’s conservative majority voted to change how the district reviews parts of its curriculum. After two weeks of student protests and a fierce backlash across Colorado and beyond, the Jefferson County School Board backed away from a proposal to teach students the “benefits of the free enterprise system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights,” while avoiding lessons that condoned “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” But the board did vote 3-to-2 to reorganize its curriculum-review committee to include students, teachers and board-appointed community members.

Students Protest ‘Slut Shaming’ Dress Codes

September 28, 2014 Rory Carroll, www.theguardian.com Resist! Eduction, Student Activism, Student Protests

Previous dress code battles have focused on issues such as the length of boys’ hair or sagging trousers. The current round centres on girls revealing skin or wearing figure-hugging attire such as leggings or yoga pants. Schools have expressed concern such attire could “distract” other pupils and responded by sending students home or obliging them to wear oversized, baggy “shame suits”. Since such punishment predominantly affects girls some commentatorsthink it could violate Title IX, the federal law that ensures non-discrimination in educational environments. There were laws against indecent exposure but some schools went further by decreeing what was and was not good taste, said Robson. “Just because someone wears something that we consider bad taste doesn’t mean the state should mandate.”

Denver Students Walk Out Over Conservative Curriculum

September 26, 2014 Carimah Townes, www.thinkprogress.org Resist! Education, Student Activism, Student Protests

Hundreds of students throughout suburban Denver protested a conservative school policy proposal by walking out of classrooms Tuesday. Following a policy trend that’s gaining traction nationwide, the Jefferson County School Board in Colorado plan would restrict history education to subject matter that “promote[s] citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.” According to the curricula proposal, students would only be taught lessons depicting American heritage in a positive light, and effectively ban any material that could lead to dissent. Under the proposed policy, a review committee would regularly read instructional text and course syllabi to ensure that educational materials do not stray from subject matter that complies with the policy. But students involved in the walkout contend that censored coursework actually contradicts American history and ideals. Many of them brought signs about the patriotic nature of protest, and waved American flags as they walked.

People Protest Plan To Privatize All Public Schools

September 26, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Education, Privatization, Student Activism, Student protest

York students, educators and families are fighting against the plan by politicians to completely privatize York City public schools. Those involved with the rally included the employee unions, the York NAACP, and York Concerned Clergy. The Rev. Aaron Willford, a former member of the city school board, told YDR.com "The main message is to say no to those who (want) to charterize schools," adding that children shouldn't be "guinea pigs."York protest full charter is not a choice They held a rally protesting privatization on Sept. 17, 2014 and again on Sept. 24, 2014. YDR.com reports: "Some at the rally questioned the track records of the two operators being considered and decried the idea of bringing in for-profit companies to run schools. . . . Nikiyah Perry, a senior at William Penn Senior High School, said 'They say charters are here to give you choice, but if you take away the public school option what choice do you have?'

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