Joe Berry's COCAL Updates 7Mar12

Yes, these are a week late. There's another set of updates from Joe waiting in the email box for formatting, link embedding and perhaps an image or so to perk it up. I'm experimenting with layout and organization too. Email joeberry@igc.org, to subscribe to regular updates in brief and links by email. More about Joe Berry, Updates, COCAL, publications, links.

 

Joe Berry at COCAL VI

Updates in brief and links

[EAST COAST / WEST COAST]

Cal State U system planning major online campus over union opposition, but has dropped idea of partnering with private Western Governors' U to do it.  

Many Boston U gain governance voting rights, but a few who had them are disenfranchised 

Adjunct teacher let go at Boston College  after questioning Catholic Church policy. Students protesting. (Can NFM and unions speak out on this?) 

[THE REST OF US]

Colorado legislature considers adjunct legislation 

U of South Carolina Occupy movement to demonstrate on tuition and adjunct issues, among others.

Columbia College Chicago plans more cuts as union struggle continues, IHE

Thousands rally for public education and CFT's Millionaire's Tax at CA Capitol, and here.

Summary article on some grad unionization efforts nationally

More faculty at Oklahoma state colleges, but it only means more adjuncts. 

[ADJUNCT PROJECT] 

A blog post from protoscholar on The Adjunct Project, which now has over 1300 entries in its data base. Add yours to the growing crowd-sourced research project started by an adjunct, Josh Boldt, and emerged out of the NFM summit.

Another blog post, this one from Greg Bales features stories from the ongoing Adjunct Project. [be sure to send in yours] 

[NON-ACAD] 

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right   (NYT)

Reoccupy: the (new) story of Republic Windows workers and their recent quick victory 

Recent study shows higher social class increases chance of unethical behavior [or our bosses really are more sleazy then we are]  Also check out the rest of the Too Much website. A great resource run by the former publications director of NEA, Sam Pizzigatti. 

Another investigation shows abuse of our contingent fellow-workers in warehouses in S CA.

New study of our contingent fellow workers in car washes who are fighting to organize

Jack Metzgar [one of my mentors personally] writes in "Education, Jobs and Wages," at Working Class Studies, about why going to college might not the be the best personal or societal anti-poverty strategy, but organizing unions and raising wages are. [Metzgar taught for years at Roosevelt U in Chicago, led the labor ed program there for a time, was pres. of the local AAUP chapter, and was always very supportive of adjunct organizing and unionization, so he is not anti-education, just realistic and pro-working class.] 

[REMINDERS]

• To Authors and Readers to Support and Submit to Workplace. "We have moved to a new site.  Please bookmark and circulate. Thank you for your extremely important, continued scholar-activism and support." Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor is now at the Institute for Critical Education Studies, Faculty of Education. University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. Tel, 604-822-2830

• Don Eron's Pitch for Your Vote for AAUP 2nd VP [I personally urge your vote for him, if you are an AAUP member.] Ed note: previously blogged but repeated because it includes Joe's endorsement.

• Barbara Wolf, film-maker of Degrees of Shame and A Simple Matter of Justice about contingent faculty, sends us this: "I wanted you to know that I removed the glitched version of "Degrees of Shame" from Vimeo and have uploaded an unglitched version. It can be found here: the old link is no longer usable. People are free to use this new clean version in any way that advances the struggle."  Ed note: we'll be blogging this again separately 

Email joeberry@igc.org, to subscribe to regular updates in brief and links by email. More about Joe Berry, Updates, COCAL, publications, links.