Student Activism

Jadavpur University Student Boycott Enters Third Week

September 26, 2014 BBC, www.bbc.com Resist! Education, India, Student Activism

Students at Calcutta's Jadavpur University say they will continue a boycott despite a government vow to set up a panel to investigate a sexual assault on a female student. What began as anger over last month's attack has snowballed into fury over the authorities' response. Protests reached a peak at the weekend when up to 25,000 marched through Calcutta's streets. Students say they will not return to class until the vice-chancellor quits. Dozens of students were injured when Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty called in police last Tuesday night to quell a protest on campus. The classrooms at Jadavpur university are empty. There are students walking about but they are all boycotting their lessons. Some are tattooing the word "shame" on their arms.

Mexico: Mass Student Strike Over Curriculum Changes

September 26, 2014 Revolution News, www.revolution-news.com Resist! Education, Mexico, Student Activism

About 15,000 Students or more from the National Polytechnic Institute marched on the Interior Circuit northbound to the Zacatenco unit, to address the Directorate General of IPN. On Thursday, the Unity Professional Interdisciplinary Engineering and Social and Administrative Sciences ( UPIICSA ) joined the strike along with the College of Engineering and Architecture (ESIA ). From an early hour, students from different campuses CECYT concentrated outside various schools to join the mobilization. These are the demands by the College of Engineering and Architecture Zacatenco: 1)Repeal of the 2014 curriculum and immediate implementation of Curriculum 2004 for all new students, regardless of the extraordinary changes that the administrative part of the ESIA-UZ have to perform without the school term care have to extended during the month of December.

Fifty Years Later: Who Really Won The Battle Of Berkeley?

September 26, 2014 Barbara Garson, www.commondreams.org Educate! Education, History, Student Activism

In the fall of 1964 students returned to campus—some from a Freedom Summer in Mississippi or a stint with Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Organizing Committee—to learn that we were no longer allowed to leaflet at the university entrance. The reason they gave us was trash—too much litter. But like our leaflets, that flimsy excuse was quickly dropped. When all the religious, political, and social clubs who used the space joined to complain, we were soon assured that the ban would apply only to leaflets that "advocated off-campus actions." The cat was out of the bag. "After the most exhilarating, exhausting, and educational school year imaginable, all bans were lifted. That victory sent us out into the world confident that we could perfect the planet or at least our own country."

Student Threatened Over ‘Blood Bucket’ Video

September 26, 2014 Nora Barrows-Friedman, www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

Dozens of faculty members at Ohio University have come out in support of the student senate president who took a bold stand for justice in Palestine on 2 September and who has faced death threats and threats of rape since she videotaped herself pouring a bucket of fake blood over her head to protest Israel’s abuse of Palestinians. Megan Marzec has been at the center of a targeted campaign by anti-Palestinian individuals, Zionist groups and Israel-aligned media calling for her resignation. The Ohio University administration has both criticized her action and refused to publicly condemn the threats against her. “We are appalled by the death threats and other forms of intimidation that she has faced in response [to the video]. We are also disappointed in OU administrators and community members who have criticized her act but have not publicly defended her against this violent response,” the faculty letter states.

Students Demand Response From China On ‘Fake Democracy’

September 23, 2014 DW, www.dw.de Resist! China, Democracy, Hong Kong, Protest, Student Activism

"How can a few people decide Hong Kong's future? Why not seven million of Hong Kong's people?" Alex Chow, the general secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, cried out before several thousands protesters in Hong Kong on Monday. Last month, China's top legislative body, the National People's Congress, announced that a new "broadly representative committee" would nominate candidates for Hong Kong's next chief executive in the 2017 election. The move was seen as a reversal of China's promise that the elections in three years would be the first since the handover to be decided by universal suffrage. In response to the policy change by Beijing, students from a number of universities in Hong Kong are staging a series of mass protests throughout the week in what has been billed by pro-democracy activists as a "new era of civil disobedience."

Kochs, ALEC Threaten Campus Democracy At Universities

September 18, 2014 Roshan Bliss, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Corporatization, Education, Koch, Student Activism

The process unfolding at Florida State University looks troublingly similar to much of American politics today: decision makers support outcomes or agendas favoring the rich and well-connected despite broad public opposition, well-publicized conflicts of interests, and with disregard to legitimate requests for redress of grievances voiced by those affected in processes that seem rigged from the start. And it's not just in Florida. "We believe that FSU is one example in a national crisis," the FSU Progress Coalition students wrote earlier this month. The FSU situation is reflective of a broader national trend in recent years that has seen powerful politicians appointed by questionable processes to head prestigious universities - despite lacking the qualifications normally required of university presidents and clear conflicts of interests. FSU's connections with the Koch brothers' influence is also part and parcel of rise in "charitable" contributions that they have been using to gain control over ideas and curricula in US colleges and universities. The FSU Progress Coalition students' research documents that "the Charles Koch Foundation is already funding over 300 universities in the United States today and the numbers continue to increase."

After 12 Hour Blockade Newark Students: ‘We Believe That We Will Win’

September 10, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Education, Student Activism, Student protest

The Newark Students Union took their demands for full local control of their schools by walking out and protesting on September 9, 2014. The students walked out marching down the street, stopping traffic, in an ongoing battle since the district was put under state control years ago and Governor Christie appointed Cami Anderson as superintendent. The students held teach-ins and a rally in Military Park in Newark. Students from Science Park High School, Arts High School and Central High School gathered to participate in courses on the history of student activism, art-making for activists and a workshop on student rights. "We are building a movement to take back democratic local control of our schools," Kristin Towkaniuk, president of the Newark Students Union to Eye Witness News. "Our action...will be an escalation demonstrating the community's unrest over Chris Christie's efforts to privatize our public schools."

From Ferguson To Miami, A Generation Demands Justice

September 2, 2014 Student Nation, www.thenation.com Organize! Ferguson, Student Activism, Youth

Last spring, The Nation launched its biweekly student movement dispatch. As part of the StudentNation blog, each dispatch hosts first-person updates on youth organizing. For recent dispatches, check out July 25 and August 12. For an archive of earlier editions, see the New Year’s dispatch. Contact studentmovement@thenation.com with tips. Edited by James Cersonsky (@cersonsky). 1. Getting Organized In the wake of Michael Brown’s death, young people in St. Louis have participated in marches, delivered food and supplies to organizers and residents, conducted trainings—and acts—of civil disobedience and pushed demands in coordination with the Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Coalition. The Justice League, a collaboration of Show Me 15, the St. Louis fast food worker union, and Young Activists United St. Louis, which organizes students and youth, is led by people of color with the goal of combating and redressing police violence. As we prepare for Saturday’s appreciation day, whose goal is to elevate the leadership of youth in Ferguson, we are working on curriculum materials with an emphasis on individual rights and the historical threads that made Ferguson happen. —Rasheen Aldridge and Tito Gardner

Students Sit-In At UOI To Rehire Salaita

August 24, 2014 Ali Abunimah, http://electronicintifada.net Resist! Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

Students sit-in to demand reinstatement of professor fired for criticizing Israel. Their full statement, posted on Facebook, includes the following calls: The immediate reinstatement of Dr. Salaita as a tenured faculty member in the Department of American Indian Studies. Full and fair compensation to Dr. Salaita for time missed during which he would otherwise have been working. Immediate increased transparency in the faculty hiring process – as a public university, UIUC has the responsibility to make public all intended faculty changes as well as take public comment in regards to any change. The students also call for specific mechanisms to guarantee more transparent and inclusive governance and oversight and “a full revision of the UIUC Resolution on Diversity Values Statement ensuring that political beliefs are explicitly protected by the university.”

Chicago Students Demand Elected School Board

August 19, 2014 Jon Seidel, www.suntimes.com Resist! Chicago, Education, Student Activism, Unions

Dozens of Chicago Public School students rallied and marched downtown Monday to demand an elected board of education and student-prioritized funding. More than 200 students have participated in the Chicago Students Union since it was formed in 2013 in response to school closings in the city. But Ross Floyd, a senior at Jones College Prep, said the city’s school board refuses to listen to them. “They continue to move forward with devastating cuts to our schools that hurt each and every student’s education. The reason this happens is because the board of education is only accountable to one man, [Mayor] Rahm Emanuel, and that is not right,” Floyd said. CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement the district shares the students’ desire to make sure everyone has access to a high-quality education. “With school starting soon, we hope their passion will inspire other students to return to classrooms ready to focus on their education,” McCaffrey said. Before their planned march to the headquarters of the Chicago Public Schools, the students held a news conference across the street from Daley Plaza. They were joined there by Will Guzzardi, the Democrat who won the March primary for the 39th Illinois House District.

Protesters Occupy University Of Birmingham After Pair Banned

July 29, 2014 Matthew Cannon, www.birminghammail.co.uk Resist! Activism, Living Wage, Protesters Arrested, Student Activism

A group of protesters are occupying part of the University of Birmingham today in response to the institution’s decision to ban two pupils last week. The protesters acting under the name of Defend Education Birmingham say the demonstration is needed to defend the “democratic right to dissent on campus”at all English universities. Last week, one month before they were due to graduate, Simon Furse and Kelly Rogers were suspended from their course until March next year for their part in an eight day protest at the ceremonial Senate Chamber in the Aston Webb building. The pair were demanding the living wage be paid to all staff at the Edgbaston-based facility. University chiefs also handed former guild vice president of education Hattie Craig a six-month suspended sentence after the completion of a lengthy nine month disciplinary procedure. Today’s activists have released a list of demands they want to see met before they will leave the grounds.

20 Students Arrested During Sweatshop Protest

July 28, 2014 USAS, www.northfacedeathtraps.com Resist! Human Rights, Protesters Arrested, Student Activism, Sweatshops

Earlier today, 20 students and community members were arrested at an REI location in Rockville, MD, while protesting REI’s refusal to cut ties with serial human rights abuser The North Face. USAS has been demanding REI cut ties with TNF/VF Corporation for several months, but the company’s leadership has refused to even speak with student leaders. Recreational Equipment, Inc does big business with notorious human rights abuser The North Face. Together, they let nothing stand in the way of maximum profits – not even a human life. As a result, since 2005 more than 1,800 garment workers have died in preventable factory disasters. Together with Bangladeshi workers, students and REI members have decided they’ve had enough. United Students Against Sweatshops is calling on REI to cut ties with their corporate cronies at North Face/VF Corporation, until they take responsibility for the safety of their workers and sign a contract to end deathtraps — the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. After months of campaigning by USAS and its union allies, more than 150 companies, including American Eagle, H&M, and Adidas, have signed the Accord. However, VF Corporation, the largest branded apparel manufacturer in the world, has refused to sign. Join us in taking on this corporate co-op to fight for worker safety in Bangladesh!

Lawyers Petition To Rescind John Yoo’s Endowed Chair

July 27, 2014 Sarah Rockwood, www.dailycal.org Resist! College, Education, Student Activism, Student protest, Torture, War crimes

UC Berkeley students, alumni and a group of lawyers in the Bay Area initiated an online petition last week to rescind UC Berkeley School of Law professor John Yoo’s recent faculty chair endowment. Students and anti-torture groups protested Yoo’s role in drafting the legal documents in 2002, which advised on the use of controversial interrogation techniques while he was deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. The San Francisco chapter of national anti-war group World Can’t Wait led a demonstration in 2012 against his employment at UC Berkeley.

Students For Justice In Palestine Win Major Victory At Northeastern

July 13, 2014 Nora Barrows-Fr., , www.electronicintifada.net Resist! BDS, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism, Student protest

After seven weeks of sustained media attention and organizing by student activists,Northeastern University today announced that it has lifted the suspension of Northeastern Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Not only will the group will be fully reinstated on 1 September, but they will have access to more funding for educational events than was available before the 7 March suspension. Northeastern SJP will be able to plan for those events immediately. The group was suspended in an unprecedented sanction by the administration after students distributed mock eviction leaflets on campus, a popular direct action many Palestine solidarity groups undertake during the annual Israeli Apartheid Week to raise awareness about Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes.

The Limitations And Possibilities Of Student-Labor Coalitions

July 9, 2014 Sarah Jaffe, www.inthesetimes.com Strategize! Education, Labor, Student Activism, Unions

In April, New York University found itself the subject of uncomfortable scrutiny when Michael Powell reported in the New York Times that Daniel E. Straus, owner of the HealthBridge and CareOne nursing home companies in New Jersey and Connecticut and a board member at NYU law school, had subpoenaed the emails, text messages and personal writings of two NYU law students, Luke Herrine and Leo Gertner. The two were part of a growing movement of NYU undergraduates and law students calling attention to working conditions at Straus's facilities, and they had been helping to circulate a petition to the law school dean asking for a meeting to discuss Straus's presence on the board. The next day, with somewhat less fanfare, a one-line memo was sent to NYU law students by their dean, informing them that Straus would no longer be on the school's board. The Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice, which Straus has funded since 2009, will close at the end of the year. (Although the timeline of the closure decision is unclear, Herrine, one of the subpoenaed students, believes it was due to the controversy.)

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