Folksinger and 60s veteran Jane Sapp, speaking last October to a
campus audience of environmental activists, recently said that the
current generation on campus is now faced with attacks from "all
the people our generation pissed off," referring to the 60s generation.
All the gains that were made in the 60s are now threatened by groups
like the National Association of Scholars and politicians like
George Pataki of New York, Pete Wilson of California. These
groups are attempting to rewrite history, with books such as
Thomas Pauken's "The Thirty Years' War," which attempts to discredit
activists who stopped the Vietnam War. Promoting these books
are the Young Americas Foundation in Herndon Virginia, and the
Intercollegiate Studies Institute, on a 23-acre mansion in
Greenville, Delaware. Both groups now have budgets in excess of
$3 million, according to public tax filings obtained from the IRS.
The conference below is part of a longer-term strategy to reunite
many of the participants in the New Left in order to preserve
the heroic legacy of their political involvment. The majority
of faculty members with significant organizing experience
gained that experience during the struggles of the 60s.
Rich Cowan
Center for Campus Organizing
rcowan@lesley.edu, 617-354-9363
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Resisting Attacks
on Higher Education and Social Justice:
A Faculty Conference
Saturday, September 28, 1996, 9am-5:30pm
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Room 10-250
77 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge
Cosponsored by the Center for Campus Organizing and Teachers for a
Democratic Culture
The Event
The Center for Campus Organizing, Teachers for a Democratic Culture, and the
Thistle Newspaper at MIT invite you to Boston on Saturday, September 28 to
discuss ways to resist agendas that would cut back higher education, reshape
the academy, and censor topics from discussion that do not fit the vision of
the corporate and religious right.
This will be a participatory event involving faculty from CUNY, Harvard,
Bennington, Goddard, Yale, Adelphi, Univ. of Mass, BU, Manchester College,
Univ. of Vermont, and dozens of other schools.
Agenda
8:45am Registration with coffee, bagels, donuts, outside Room 10-250
9:30am Welcome Address by Julie Andrzejewski, St. Cloud State University
9:45am Opening Talk: Dave Dellinger, member of "Chicago Seven", author of
"From Yale to Jale", nonviolent peace and justice activist for over 50 years
10:00am Panel: Higher Education Under Siege
John K. Wilson, Teachers for a Democratic Culture, author of The Myth
of Political Correctness, "The Right and Higher Education"
Anthony Chavez, Former Dir., Univ. of Vermont Office of Multicultural
Affairs. "The Assault on Multicultural Programs"
Steve Sluchansky, General Director of Organizing and Services,
Washington Office of AAUP, "Attacks on The Tenure System"
11:00am Coffee
11:15am Panel: Strategies for Fighting Back
facilitator: Rich Cowan, Center for Campus Organizing
Jonathan King, Prof. of Molecular Biology, MIT, "Linking the
Issues: Access to Higher Education, the Military Budget and
Corporate Welfare"
Bart Meyers, Concerned Faculty of CUNY in New York City,
"Attack on Public Higher Education: CUNY, A Case Study"
Diane Dujon, Director of Assessment at U/Mass Boston member, SEIU 509
bargaining comm., "Forging ties between academics and labor"
12:30pm Lunch ($6 buffet, with optional discussion topics)
2:00pm What Can Academics Do? Participants Split up Into Three Roundtable
Discussions. Each discussion will be introduced by three 7-minute
presentations
Expanding Access and Increasing Diversity, Room 5-134
facilitator: Michelle Persard, CCO, with initial presenters:
-Andre Bell, Bentley C VP for Enrollment (invited)
"Challenges to Affirmative Action: Berkeley/ Bentley"?
-Prof. Zelda Gamson, Dir. New England Resource Ctr. for Higher Educ.
"The Class System in Higher Education, and what we can do about it"
Countering Campus Cutbacks and Religious Right Agendas, Room 5-233
-Representative of Federation of University Employees, Yale Univ.
"The Struggle at Yale"
-Mark Lyons, sit-in organizer, San Diego State University
"Student-Faculty Cooperation"
possibly add emily martin, princeton university...
Linking Education with Social Justice Issues, Room 5-234
facilitator: David Pai, CCO Social Justice and Military Spending
campaign
-Vera Kistiakowsky, MIT Professor of Physics, "Potential Savings from
cutting the military budget."
-Mary Jo Hetzel or Betty Reid Mandell, Survival News "Organizing Low
Income Students and Faculty at Campuses Who Serve Them"
3:45pm Coffee Break
4:00 Report-Back Plenary Begins, Room 10-250
4:05pm Expanding Access and Increasing Diversity
4:25pm Countering Campus Cutbacks and Religious Right Agendas
4:45pm Budget Priorities and Social Justice
5:10 Closing Speaker, TBA
Sunday Organizing meeting from 10am to 4:30pm in Room 5-134 for faculty,
students, and staff interested in planning teach-ins during the
last week in October on federal budget priorities. If interested
in the schedule and agenda, please contact David Pai at
(617) 354-9363 or cco@igc.apc.org.
Housing, Directions, Questions
Housing: For hotel accomodations, try the Sheraton (Tel. 617-547-4800 or 236-
2000) or the Mariott (617-494-6600). For all preregistrants seeking housing,
the conference committee will try to match participants with Boston area
faculty and staff members.
Directions: The main entrance to MIT is located at 77 Mass. Ave, Cambridge,
within 1/2 mile of the Kendall or Central Square MBTA stations. Follow the
long corridor about 300 feet and signs will point up one flight to 10-250.
Questions: You may call the CCO office at (617) 354-9363 from 10am to 6pm
weekdays before the conference, or the Thistle office in the afternoon on
Sept. 27 at (617) 253-0399.
Literature: Please bring at least 50 copies of any documents to be offered at
no charge. Flyers for conferences on similar topics, if provided in advance
w/funds to make 250 copies, may be stuffed into the conference packet for free.
Conference Committee: Prof. Julie Andrzejewski, Prof. of Human Relations, St.
Cloud State University, Prof. Jonathan King, Prof. of Biology, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, John K. Wilson, University of Chicago, editor of
Democratic Culture
Co-Sponsored by the Thistle alternative newspaper at MIT and the
Academic Committee for Workplace Justice, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
Registration Form
___YES, I'll be attending the conference. Enclosed is my $10 advance
registration fee, payable to "Center for Campus Organizing." (For
registration after September 25 or at the door, a $20 donation is requested.)
___THOUGH I can't attend, I want to support this work. Enclosed is a
contribution of $___________ . For contributions above $25, you'll receive
a year's subscription of the newsletter of your choice (check one):
o Infusion (Center for Campus Organizing)
o Democratic Culture (Teachers for a Democratic Culture)
Name ________________________ Phone (s)________________________
School__________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________
City______________________________ State_____ Zip_____________
Department______________________________________________________
Campus Organization_____________________________________________
(optional) Please include a 1-page description of what your organization
is doing to resist attacks on higher education and social justice. Feel
free to talk about your strategy, and to include a 1-page press clipping
if relevant. The summaries will be collated and made available at the
beginning of the conference.
Campuses where faculty have promised to participate
Brandeis U
Harvard U
Manchester College (IN)
MIT
Northeastern U
Queens College, CUNY
St. Cloud State U (MN)
Stockton State College
SUNY Stony Brook
U of Chicago
U of Mass. Amherst
U of Mass. Boston
U of Vermont
Yale U
Center for Campus Organizing * Box 748, Cambridge, MA 02142
(617) 354-9363 cco@igc.org * Rich Cowan, rcowan@lesley.edu