The #GatesEffect…@Chronicle special

…on How the World's Largest Foundation Is Remaking Higher Education. Wherever you stand on venture philanthropy (or philanthropiracy) and Gates Foundation's influence in higher ed, on community colleges in particular, and shaping U.S. education policy in general, information ~ all perspectives and positions ~ is the indispensable mind tool for our HE defense kits. We apologize in advance for any pay walls you might encounter along the way. 

See also:

• When Billionaires Become Educational Experts: "Venture philanthropists" push for the privatization of public education, Kevin K. Kumashiro in May-June 2012 issue of Academe
• Got Dough? Public School Reform in the Age of Venture Philanthropy, Joanne Barkan, Truth-Out via Dissent Magazine

Bastille Day!

…July 14 seems an auspicious date to plan, lay the groundwork and, if not start a revolution, then at the very least, initiate change (expressing the same in a more genteel and less threatening manner). Storm a Bastille today...personal, academic, professional, career or societal.

More than a national holiday, Bastille Day marks a deeply symbolic historical moment of solidarity and revolt against injustice, Bastille Day is commemorated world-wide, especially in Francophone countries (ironic considering French colonial history). Even in south Louisiana where conservative attitudes, social and political, are deeply ingrained, Bastille Day is a big deal. Had it fallen during the school year, it would have been a school holiday. Now I'm thinking it would make a dandy holiday for the academic precariat.

March4 with Bob Samuels and Twitter

UCLA Fights Back!: Demands for #March4 (Bob Samuels in HuffPo)

"A UCLA coalition of students, faculty, community members, and unions has worked together to come up with a set of demands to present to the administration and the media for March 4th."

The first set of issues deals with fighting the privatization of the university. Another group addresses budget transparency, shared governance, and democratic participation. Samuels explains,

"It is important to stress that when students and workers say they are fighting the privatization of the university, they are resisting six inter-related trends:

1) the shifting of costs from the public to the individual; thus while the state reduces funding, the individual students are being asked to make up for the differences through higher fees;

2) the university is being run more like a private profit-centered business than a not-for-profit public institution; in this structure, costs are socialized, while profits are privatized through the rise of an administrative class;

3) the move from a peer review system for public workers to a private model of free agent contract negotiations;

4) The move to individualized, online learning;

5) The student focus on earning individual grades over social learning and collaboration; and

6) the move to have private donors and private corporations fund the research mission."

March 4th sources are picking up. In addition to blogs, mainstream media and several March 4 groups with Facebook presences supplementing their blogs and Ning platforms, Twitter searches may be be the best and most efficient way to search fast breaking updates. Just search the hashtag #march4. Nor is all the action in California.