@NatM4Equity endorses #NAWD…gets FB page—@MMStrikesback writes @NEIU BoT—#WeAreNNMC petitions

…"again" on letter writing (here) and petitioning about NNMC (here and here). National Mobilization for Equity (NME) already has a page plus blog, recently added Twitter, even more recently endorsed National Adjunct Walkout Day and is now on Facebook. Still, a whole post in a title that will still fit in a tweet with characters left over for a link should qualify as a social media sub-genre or at least a hat trick So what do I do for the rest of the post?...besides make it a short one. With pictures. PS be sure to catch and sign the petitions as you scroll down...all the way down

Cover and profile photos for National Mobilization for Equity on Facebook

Here's the endorsement from the NME Action page:

Open letter, call to action & #petition from @fightfortheftr

…aka Fight for the Future (#FFTF) that is, on some but not all levels, as relevant for #adjunct & all other activist voices as for those in Ferguson MO. Although FFTF's immediate action call is about police militarization, a primary purpose of the organization is to keep the internet accessible to all as a public forum for free speech. 

As counterpoint, reminder and perhaps cautionary tale, @DearSplenda / Jackie Shine's "media history and #Ferguson" Storify reacts to media driven, "View of #Ferguson Thrust Michael Brown Shooting to National Attention" (NYT, David Carr, 8/17/14). The surrounding and expanding story is not about us but does hold important lessons: it's also up to us to hold onto that forum and our voices.

Dear Fight for the Future supporter,

For the past several nights I’ve been glued to the Internet watching livestreams and social media coming out of Ferguson, MO. It’s been heart wrenching, but has also reminded me why I care so much about Internet freedom: it allows for free speech and discussion like never before.

I’m sure you’ve seen the videos and photos: cops firing tear gas and concussion grenades into residential neighborhoods, threatening and arresting journalists at gunpoint, and brutally suppressing protesters standing with their hands in the air chanting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”[1][2]

The images are frightening. But even more frightening is the reality that this type of crackdown could become commonplace, thanks to millions of dollars of Federal funding that incentivize police forces to resemble an invading army. It has to stop.

Technology should be used to amplify people’s voices, not silence them. As an organization that advocates for tech in the public interest, we felt we have a real role to play to make this stop. 

Right now Congress is considering legislation that would demilitarize local police forces. Click here to tell your lawmakers to cut funding for the weapons of war used to suppress free speech.

Texas @MoveOn…@AFLCIO…@AnaMFores vs @ALEC + a few petitions more

…so what is ALEC doing in Texas? Annual meeting...even they have them too, so it stands to reason that Texas MoveOn takes aim at ALEC, Texas AFL-CIO takes on ALEC too, as well every labor and activist/progressive group in the state...but not without Adjunct Justice.

...and petitions (because...)

❝@AnaMFores' People's #Petition: #AdjunctJustice demands Better Pay for #Adjunct Faculty

…how it all started…When I first began my petition, Vanessa Vaile was the first to pick up on it and post it. I can't find that link offhand, but I do have one of her first few emails that began our friendship and collaboration, dating back to April 2012. It seems only yesterday, but a lot has happened since then, in our movement, and in our lives. I think I will save that for another blog, though...

I remember when I began my petition for Adjunct Justice, demanding better pay for adjuncts; it was a day of desperation, as my college had given me an ultimatum: either teach Writing Composition classes with 35 students each or do not teach these particular classes at all. It was my choice. 

I gave them an unequivocal no. 

I would be remiss in my duties as an effective educator were I to teach students under such untenable circumstances. How can we teach that many students at the same time, and have them learn anything of value? 

That semester I taught only two classes, thus beginning my quiet revolution against what I saw not only as the exploitation of adjunct faculty but also the diminution of student learning. 

These past two years I have persisted, so the petition has gone forward little by little. We now have over 8300 signatures. I have met online friends and colleagues, groups of grassroots activists who have helped me nurture it and bring it forward. I have become friends with higher ed academics all across the United States: adjunct, tenured, and untenured alike.  

❝@DomesticWorkers: #takeaction to protect kids & families at the #border

Many petitions, especially for the #childrefugees at the border, land in my mailboxes. Lately, I'm making an effort to sign more of them than usual. And the ones for the children? I sign all of them. 

Plus I've been following, supporting and sharing +Ana Maria Fores Tamayo's unrelenting efforts on their behalf. This morning I broached the idea of collecting these petitions on a single to facilitate signing to the adj-l list. Cooperation does make a difference. 

If no one steps up, then I'll do it on my own. Here's a start with today's petition from the National Domestic Workers Alliance:

The University of Alabama has a choice to make

…a message from our caroling friends @usuas…'tis the season…

Right now our USAS group is caroling outside of our President's office in hopes of catching her attention with our rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock."

In Honor of #LaborDay

…A message from Ana Maria Fores Tamayo, 

Friends,

Tuesday, August 28, at 4:39 pm, two days into the fall semester, my college fired me without due process, claiming they were "rearranging my classes." My indentured servitude was not enough: they wanted me to bow down to their every whim. I would not. 

DOL Doesn’t have a Clue: Handbook Description of Higher Ed Teaching a Work of Fiction

Accordingly, Matt Williams writes,  

I have created a petition addressed to U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis requesting that the DOL revise and update their characterization of the profession. Please take a moment to add your name to the petition.

Setting background for his petition, Matt explains, reposting from his akronadjunct blog,

How can our own government get it so incredibly wrong? The U.S. Department of Labor publishes occupational outlook data in its Occupational Outlook Handbook. This publication (available online at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/) reports median and average salaries for various occupations along with details about types and amount of education typically required to enter professions, typical working conditions, total number of jobs, growth or contraction outlook, etc.


The DOL OOH (pronounced “doooh!”…the L is silent) identifies the median salary for college professors (i.e., postsecondary teachers) to be $62,050. The median wage is the wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics survey.

About doubling student loan interest rates

New Faculty Majority board member Ross Borden reminded us recently about the July 1 deadline for setting Stafford loan rates. Unless Congress acts before July 1, the fixed rate for all new subsidized Stafford loans will be doubled, from 3.4% to 6.8%. The House has already voted to keep the present rate, but by cutting funds to implement the Affordable Care Act. The Senate is divided between Republic and Democratic plans.

Student loan debt is not just a student issue but an adjunct / contingent faculty issue as well. NFM is discussing an official letter writing or fax campaign, perhaps coordinated with other higher education advocacy groups or another campaign for maximum effect.

In the meantime, we can each take action as individuals and urge others to join us.

• Join "tweetout" using the hashtag #dontdoublemyrate. Send and RT messages, petitions, updates, links. Tag your Senators, relevant committee members and @whitehouse so they get copies. Check here for an idea of tweet volume to date. Student associations are also participating.

• Sign Progressive Secretary letter, "Tell Washington to Keep Low Student Loan Interest Rates"

This letter supports the more than 130,000 students who delivered letters to Congressional leaders asking them to stop student loan interest rates from doubling from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. The letter will be sent to the Senate and to the President.

• Sign Change.org petition, "Tell Congress: Act before July 1st, don't let student loan interest rates double."

I'll be adding more to the list between now and July 1 ~ send me yours to include ~ and I'll keep you updated on our campaign too. 

Joe Berry's COCAL Updates, 29April12

.. More this time because it's a twofer plus, e.g. two updates in one plus extra petitions for new Petitions Feature. Are you shopping an adjunct or higher ed petition? Email petition link to vanessa.vaile@newfacultymajority.info to add to petitions in Updates. To subscribe to regular Updates, email joeberry@igc.org.  More about Joe Berry.  Updates are also archived at chicagococal.org. FollowCOCAL International on Facebook 

Updates in brief and links

Petitions

• Ana’s Adjunct Pay Petition
• Petition OR State U admin to recognize grad employees' bargaining unit 
• Support forgiveness of student loans
• Tell Vice President Biden: Don't Blame Faculty for the High Cost of College; Most Are "Working Poor!"

AAUP

SSTF vs REAL Student Success

Here is a forward from the CPFA discussion group via Pamela Hanford, CPFA Director of Publications and editor of CPFA's Community College Journal.  Clearly this is part and parcel of the same process that standardizes curricula, turns teachers into facilitators and imposes the for-profit model on public education... oh, and kills the spirit too in both teachers teaching to the model as well as students conforming to it.  It works both ways: learning conditions are teaching conditions too. 


Keep the COMMUNITY in College. Read Nick Vasallo's letter below, watch the video, sign the petition, and share! Visit and like REAL Student Success on Facebook.

Professors' #OWS Petition Taking Off

"Professors support Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Movements Everywhere" and more petitions... don't sign just one! If you know of others, send us the links.

Target: The 1%

Sponsored by: Marc Blecher, Steve Crowley, Chris Howell, Steve Volk; Oberlin College

We, the undersigned college and university professors, stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movements in New York City, around the country, and around the world. We do so in the knowledge that the dramatic increases in poverty, joblessness and economic insecurity in our society are directly related to the extraordinary rise in inequality, particularly the wealth captured by the 1% of our population, which has deeply corrupted our political system. We stand united with the 99% to take back our economy and government from the 1%.

See also: 

EWU Notes & Updates

EWU's United Adjuncts will demonstrate again by the Michigan Avenue entrance and want to get a big crowd. We'll keep you posted. If you would like to support United Adjuncts by attending this demonstration, please contact ewuadjuncts@gmail.com.     In the meantime, UAFA (United Adjunct Faculty Association) urges all adjuncts with abrogated summer contracts to apply for unemployment compensation as soon as possible.  Bring the letter informing you that the University considered you no longer employed by the University to the unemployment office as proof that you have been laid off. More unemployment information is available on the NFM Unemployment Initiative web page United Adjuncts are organizing with the Illinois NEA. Nevertheless, those concerned adjunct issues nationally have suggested that the AFT Convention now in session issue a statement censuring EWU for its labor practices ~ and discussed at length. Indeed, where is it written in stone that one higher ed union cannot go on public record disapproving of how an institution being organized by another higher ed union? If cross-union support is not S.O.P., it should be. The AAUP issued a statement (although I have not heard of further action such as official AAUP censure).

Petition to Rescind U of Akron DNA Sampling Rule

Surely you've caught the buzz over U Akron's DNA and NFM VP Matt Williams' dramatic reaction that brought the administrative regulation out of the shadows and put it square in the public eye.

The story moved out of academic and college presses and blogs in short order, jumping into non-academic social and mainstream media, even crossing the Atlantic.

Surely that's worth its own story but not just yet. First, let's add our names to the online petition that Matt created.

The petition calls on The University of Akron to rescind the offending provision of University Rule 3359-11-22 that DNA sampling of applicants for employment.

Please repost on any other blogs, lists, or websites. We want to reach 10K signatures by the end of the week.

Rescind University of Akron DNA Sampling Rule