So much going on or about to that I have been covering on Facebook ~ our page and others ~ or @NewFacMajority, plus working up into posts. There is more on CCCC 2012, upcoming conferences, assembling the team (or posse) for an NFM panel for MLA 2013 (no it's not too early to be working on that), more Virtual Meet & Greet, our counterparts in other countries, another set Joe's Updates to edit and format (which can takes longer than most posts) and more. Almost too much to think about let alone get to.
So with all that, when this came in, I couldn't resist. That's part of the story. The other part is the hour and the day's coherence fading fast. Embedding a video clip and writing a few paragraphs will use it all. Hooray for the rescue! Tomorrow is another day.
No, this not the polished, exquisitely edited footage we'll be seeing in the final cut of 'Junct: the Trashing of Higher Education. Rougher than rough cut but still exciting and enough to show you some of Chris LaBree's and Debra Leigh Scott's Left Forum session, hear from participants (Brianne, Nathan and Monica) and give you a sense of what to expect.
As Chris explains, a friend shot some footage with a small mobile "flip cam," like what I'd been hoping someone would show up with at the Summit. The above clip below is only about 14 minutes of speakers talking about their causes.
The continuing adventures of intrepid filmmakers, Chris the Nomad and Debra the Homeless Adjunct, as they traverse the wilds of campuses, conferences and other treacherous corners of the uncharted adjunctiverse...
Storified by · Vanessa, Mon, Mar 19 2012 01:24:16
Video will be posted sometime this week: #LeftForum #OccupyColleges #Junct http://t.co/3yRk7rld
There may be other NFM members presenting in addition to Debra Leigh Scott and Joe Berry. If so, please let me know. Looking for panels to follow? A number of the Education track panels should be interest. The Left Forum page also has search for tracking down topics and speakers. For those not in attendance, I'll be following as best I can on twitter, hoping for both good turn out reporting back and presentations being available post-conference.
The panel will investigate some of the many ways we are pushing back against the corporate colonization of academic culture. Fighting to raise awareness of the issues through documentaries and art-making will be discussed by the writers and filmmakers on the panel. Working to return professional stature, governance and economic justice to the migrant adjunct faculty within traditional academic institutions will be discussed by members of NFM. Creating new models of higher education - like the free university movement, open sourceware opportunities and peer-to-peer educating - will be examined for its benefits and game-changing possibilities.
For-profit universities have been in the news a lot recently, chiefly for sleazy and sometimes illegal practices. Since they now enroll more than 10% of college students in the U.S., since their rapid growth parallels the commercialization of traditional universities, and since their competition is hastening that process, they should be understood as one thread in the fabric of gonzo capitalism, not a marginal aberration.
The Spring 2012 issue of Radical Teacher is about the commercializing of higher education. Susan O'Malley and Richard Ohmann edited the issue and Joe Berry, who has taught at a for-profit and is involved in organizing for-profit faculty, wrote for the issue. Confirmed speakers will be Joe Berry, Richard Ohmann with Susan O'Malley chairing the panel.
Peter Fettner recommends two panels hosted by Dissent Magazine on debt serfdom (Friday night, Schimmel, Opening Plenary) and organizing precarious labor (Session 2, E307, Sat 12:00pm - 01:50pm; co-hosted by Verso Books).
Work in the 21st century has been described as unstable, decentralized, precarious. How can workers organize under conditions of "flexible" employment, or gain leverage against an ever-changing boss? What will organizing look like in the face of massive shifts in risk to the backs of workers? All kinds of workers face these conditions, from home care workers, whose recent victories in New York State have challenged the impossibility of rallying those particularly vulnerable to hidden exploitation, to the "knowledge workers" who make up the Freelancers Union. These panelists will discuss the changing face of organizing in the face of the changing nature of work.
A Rite of Spring Stravinsky would not recognize, conferences are how academics celebrate its coming. No excursions to Ft Lauderdale or other beaches.
March opened with NEA Higher Education Conference and AWP 2012, both in Chicago. Only the former participated in Occupy Chi / National Day of Action for Education. L.A. followed with ACE 2012 annual meeting for higher ed administrators, university presidents and their ilk. Edu-geeks frolicked at SXSWedu in Austin, regular SXSW continues through March 19. For the weekend the determined (perhaps demented) conference goer has CCCC in St Louis and Left Forum in NYC.