CUNY Conference: Global Resistance in the Neoliberal University

As the Professional Staff Congress builds resistance at CUNY to the university of the Trump era (world-wide neofascism, more oppressive every day), we organize under the motto of the anti-slavery militant Henry Highland Garnet. This union conference aims to build international teacher solidarity. Speakers from teacher struggles in South Africa, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Turkey will join their stories to ours and work with us on common problems and radical possibilities. How can we resist adjunctification, privatization, the explosion of student debt, “austerity blues,” race and gender oppression, police repression, the growing drum beat of war and militarization? What Read More …

REPOST: UC, CSU faculty send open letter to Trump on climate change

By Robert Sanders via Berkely News (January 31, 2017) Amid rumors that President Donald Trump will soon pull out of the Paris climate agreement that former President Barack Obama signed last year, more than 2,300 faculty from California universities have signed an open letter to the Trump administration calling for sustained action on climate change and urging the president to honor the country’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as set forth in the agreement.[…] Read the full letter below: An Open Letter to President Donald Trump and His Administration We the undersigned are calling on you, in the most urgent terms Read More …

NFEW: A Lesson on How to Survive Trumpism

A Lesson on How to Survive Trumpism—From the McCarthy Era Trump’s regime will not resurrect full-blown McCarthyism, but it may take lessons in political repression from it. By Ellen Schrecker Senator Joseph McCarthy (left) with Roy Cohn during a Washington, DC, hearing in April 1954. (AP Photo) I haven’t been counting recently, but it seems as if almost every moderate, liberal, or left-wing pundit and politician who surveys the political future alludes to the prospect of a new McCarthyism. Will a fiercely reactionary Trump administration revive the political repression of the 1940s and ’50s? Will it take as its model a widespread Read More …

Repost: Why Our Universities Must Provide Sanctuary to Undocumented Immigrants

by Alecia Richards | On November 16, students at more than 80 universities, colleges and high schools nationwide staged walk-outs, sit-ins and rallies urging their administrations to protect immigrants at risk of deportation by the incoming Donald Trump administration. The nationwide protests, which took place under the banner of the hashtag #SanctuaryCampus, called on universities to join the ranks of cities that limit their cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  [Read full article]

Michael Berube’s letter to Penn State’s President

Dear President Barron, I am writing in response to your recent letter regarding the outcome of the presidential election. I applaud your reminder that we are “All In,” affirming “the value of a diverse and inclusive university.” We are, indeed, all in. But I am alarmed by your characterization of the election’s outcome: “I know that many of you are disappointed and disheartened with the outcome, while others see this as an opportunity to strengthen our great nation.” No doubt many Trump voters see the election in this way, and as a member of the Penn State community, I will Read More …