Universal Freedoms

from "Jailed for Words: Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo" in the current NYR blog:

"Charter 08, a document that Liu helped write—and that was published in English for the first time in the January 15, 2009, issue of The New York Review—was soon signed by ten thousand Chinese. It demanded that

We should make freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision."

The Key Word is Stick

Writing in the Wild on the future of higher ed (quo vadis ~ whither U?) as currently featured in movies, summits, days of action, weeks of TV talking heads, uncountable (and interminable) forums, blogs, roundtables, webinars, workshops and so on.

"Every year, it seems, we move just a tiny little bit closer to imposing the terrible ideas to colleges and universities that have been so disastrous in our public schools. We’ve spent three decades or so pretending that standarized tests, in particular, are the best way to improve education. The focus on so-called assessment allows us to ignore the radical class inequities that continue to undermine public education. It’s much easier to test than to redistribute money."

Read on: The Key Word is Stick, writinginthewild.com

Reading the University Classics, Part 2

This is either an admittedly indirect follow up or counterpoint to yesterday's October 7th actions kicking off a "global wave of action for education." I haven't decided which yet. Perhaps I'll have a clearer notion after post-7 rss feed reader skimming. Until then... history. Student actions are part of the history of the institution's history. Long preceding last century's 60s student actions, there was another set student and youth actions the century before.

Ortega y Gasset was the previous and 1st entry in this series. Did you know that Thorstein Veblen wrote about the university too?

"From the distance of more than half a century, Karl Jaspers's 1946 treatise, The Idea of the University, reads both like a farewell to the 19th-century German university and a lucid anticipation of several of today's academic problems.

Jaspers wrote his book at the end of World War II. The Nazis had suspended him from his position as professor of philosophy. One of his reasons for writing this treatise was to lay the groundwork for a thoroughly democratic restructuring of higher education in Germany. However, Jaspers also insists that the university is a genuinely transnational institution and that his elaborations concern higher education everywhere."

Read the rest of Reading the University Classics, Part 2 - Advice - The Chronicle of Higher Education by Kai Hammermeister

CHE Editor's Note: This is the second in a monthly series intended to introduce new generations of faculty members and administrators to a core set of classic books about higher education and its institutions.

October 7th Action, Press Release

... #oct7, #oct7th, #pubed, #publiced

 

 

All Out for #October7th! Final Press Release via Defend Public Education by wcstrong on 10/6/10

Word Document Located Here: http://wiki.defendeducation.org/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=22

Contacts: See Attached Sheet, visit http://www.defendeducation.org/?page_id=1073 for local listings
Email: fall_action@defendeducation.org

Website: http://www.defendeducation.org

On Thursday, October 7th, students and workers will participate in the second National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. This is part of a growing movement coming out of California last fall, and on the back of March 4th, the first national day of action for public education. As students are returning to classes for the beginning of another tumultuous school year expected to be wrought with more massive cuts, it is clear to many that the struggle to defend public education has only begun.

from Stand Together Now

Students at the University of New Orleans (UNO) took action on September 1st to call into question the policies of the university. On September 24th, students at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shutdown a Board of Trustees meeting after the trustees refused to answer the questions regarding minority under-representation and the proposal that the UI system adopt a tuition freeze. On October 7th, students throughout the country will follow the lead of these students and take action to defend public education. They will be joined in international solidarity by students from outside the United States.

Students are also joined by teachers and communities throughout the US. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), a higher education faculty union, has encouraged their members to join in actions October 7th and distributed to their membership a list of several different actions over the past week as part of "Higher Education is a Public Good" week.

Students are also faced with massive program cuts and racist attacks on Ethnic Studies programs. Organizers throughout the country conducted a week of actions since October 1st, culminating with unified actions for public education and ethnic studies on October 7th.

As public funds that once made the US the best education system in the world disappear, private investors seek deform public education for their purposes, adjusting education to meet the market. The private sector wants to take over education and leave working people with nothing but a shell of the public education system, profiting along the way.
This is not changing – we must take action to make change. The October 7th National Ad-Hoc Organizing Committee to Defend Public Education calls on students, teachers, youth, faculty, staff, workers, and parents to participate in October 7th – the National Day of Actions and Strikes to Defend Public Education, and call for an end to the privatization of education.

Links and Contacts:

• http://www.defendeducation.org/?page_id=1073
• Information on Ethnic Studies Week or One Nation for Public Education: http://www.defendeducation.org/?page_id=979
• AAUP Higher Education is a Public Good Week Information: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/GR/onenation.htm
• National Press Contacts for October 2nd One Nation for Public Education: Wes Strong – 860-916-2761 – fall_actions@defendeducaiton.org; Larry Hales – 720-979-9491 – hcrazycat@yahoo.com
• Local Press Contacts for October 7th National Day of Action to Defend Public Education, (List in Development):

East Coast 

• Midwest, South, Maine): Marie Follytar, mariefollayttar@yahoo.com, 1 207.899.9498
• New York: Larry Hales, 720-979-9491 hcrazycat@yahoo.com
• Washington DC: Linsay McCluskey, mccluskey.lindsay@gmail.com 508-446-6133; Hayden Smith, haydensmith225@gmail.com, 703 489 5401
• University of Minnesota: Stephanie Taylor, 605.261.9178 or Tracy Molm 612.432.4766
• Ohio State - Will Klatt, will.b.klatt@gmail.com, 614-915-8896
• University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign: Ben Rothschild, 847-363-6317, rothsch2@gmail.com
• University of Oklahoma: Matthew Bruenig, 817-437-1223
• Tahereh – Georgia: 678-755-3686

West Coast

• Eric Gardner, UCLA: gardner.ec@gmail.com, 919-218-4446
• Debora Santos, LA: d.santos85@yahoo.com, 619-201-2334
• Crystal Sudano – San Diego, crystaljointforce@yahoo.com, 619-922-2355

Reclaiming the University: video & so much more

The Community College Summit is over, and yes, follow-up + comments, commentary, response statements, links, transcripts (if available) are on the blogging agenda. However, today, the day after the Summit, overrepresented by administration, pols and corporate interests but underrepresented by faculty, is Oct 6, the day before tomorrow... and

Tomorrow is Oct 7th, the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. So it's back to U... and defending it. Students and faculty working together... Admin, for-profit mouthpieces and corporate reps will be conspicuous by their absence.

UMN March tuition hikes and furlough protest

From the U Minn faculty blog FERPE (Faculty for the Renewal of Public Education) post, Reclaiming the University video:

"Did you miss the FRPE/EAC event, "Reclaiming the University: Fulfilling Our Promise to Students and the Public," on September 30? Luckily, a student volunteered to videotape the event and has posted the files on the web, both as a streaming video and as a direct download."

While you are there, put FERPE on your rss reader and don't overlook their Reclaim the U! statement of purpose in the sidebar to the right of the main message area.

Now back to October 7th, Bob Samuels a posts for the occasion, "October 7th: Get Out The Vote And Support Higher Education" today ("say no to privatization and yes to public education"). I 

"On October 7th, people throughout the country will be demonstrating to support public education. This date also marks one of the last days people can register to vote for the November election, and so many groups are calling for joint activities to support officials who will defend public education."

FERPE will be out tomorrow. So will others from "sea to shining sea," from California to New York State. What about you?

Check out the October 7th twitter page at http://twitter.com/forpublicedoct7. Post your action updates to twitter and use any of the following tags to have your post syndicated on the national website: #oct7, #oct7th, #october7th, #pubed. (@NewFacMajority has been using#Oct7 but will now add others)