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★ ★ EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT ★ ★
Learning from Resistance: Lessons for Present and the Future
An AAUP event
December 5th, 12:00pm-2:00pm
209 Havermayer and via zoom (registration details TBA)
What can we learn from previous and other sites when universities, students, and intellectuals have been central to the struggle against authoritarian repression? What long-term and short-term strategies (from litigation to mass mobilizations to cultural resistance) have been developed, alongside or in conjunction with other social movements and institutions? How did they sustain effective resistance activity and adapt to changing policies and practices of repression? Do present historical circumstances, such as the fact of social media and AI, or the changed nature of the neoliberal university, demand different tactics and strategies? Focusing on the university as a key locus of authoritarian and anti-authoritarian struggles, this AAUP event will consider the university as a target of repression and as a possible engine of resistance.
Panels and Speakers
The US: Turns of Resistance
Frank Guridy, Professor of History, Columbia University – on Columbia ‘68
Leah Watson, Senior Staff Attorney ACLU's Racial Justice Program – on litigating against the attacks on DEI
Ellen Schrecker, Professor, Yeshiva University, author of The Right to Learn – on McCarthyism then and now, or the dangers of not resisting repression
Learning from Struggles Elsewhere
Zackie Achmat, founder of the Treat Action Campaign – lessons from South Africa
Branka Arsić, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia, with Vesna Kuiken, Lecturer in English, SUNY Albany – lessons from the ‘Blockade’ movement in Serbia
Maria José Contreras, performance artist and scholar -- lessons from Chile
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought, The Center for Constitutional Governance, INCITE, and Institute for African Studies, Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender
★ ★ AAUP MEMBERSHIP SURVEY RESULTS ★ ★
The survey shared with AAUP members in August aimed to get a snapshot of sentiment and recent experience, and to discern areas in which members saw the possibility and need for Association activity. The response rate was less than 30% than our registered membership, so the conclusions drawn must be provisional. Results are summarized below.
QUESTION 1: Issues of utmost concern among members
Respondents were asked to rank issues in terms of their priority. These are the top 4 issues that emerged:
#1: Policies on academic freedom and free speech: 57.4% rated this their top priority, and a total of 85.3% rated this in their top 3 priorities
#2: Review and reform of Board of Trustees: 14% rated this their top priority, and a total of 45% rated this in their top 3 priorities
#3: Changes to governance structures including University Senate: 8.5% ranked this their top priority, and a total of 45% rated this in their top 3 priorities
#4: Policies on personnel decisions (especially layoffs and terminations for all categories of faculty): 8.5% ranked this their top priority, and a total of 42.6% rated this in their top 3 priorities
Some respondents could not decide on a priority ranking and some noted other issues, including: policies related to renewable/untenured/casual labor; unionization; the need for faculty mediators in times of crisis (to avoid police intervention); and rampant Islamophobia at Columbia.
QUESTION 2: possible policies or actions that should be prioritized by the CU-AAUP
#1: Legal actions, especially in concert with other universities, learned associations, or advocacy groups - 86.7% supported this
#2: Enhanced outreach and engagement with the public and with legislators on the mission, value and need for defense of universities and university-government collaboration on science and basic research - 72.7% supported such activity
#3: Campus protest actions across uptown and downtown schools that do not negatively impact students or health service delivery – 60.2% support such activity.
Closely followed by:
#4 Coalition work with other campuses (57%)
#5 Enhanced faculty-to-faculty communication through integrated listserves and newsletters across schools (54%)
QUESTION 3: experiences of our community
73.5% of respondents said that they “their speech and/or pedagogical practice in the classroom has been altered or affected in the past eighteen months”
67.3% of respondents said that they or someone they knew had “cancelled international travel plans, including to academic conferences, out of fear of additional security or of being detained at the border”
63.7% said they or someone they knew in their unit had been “subject to negative social media profiling as a result of their teaching, research or public speech”
Nearly 40% said they or someone they knew in their unit had been “subject to review, disciplinary procedures, or been the object of formally registered complaints on the basis of their teaching and/or research”
Nearly 30% said they or someone they knew had been “subject to visa denial, enhanced interrogation upon re-entry to the US, or other immigration related matters”
Relevant News & Links:
In compliance with Trump deal, Law School asks international applicants their reasons for studying in the US (Spectator)
Texas A&M system approves policy to restrict faculty from advocating “race and gender ideology” (Texas Tribune)
Federal judge sides with UC employees in free speech lawsuit against Trump administration (CalMatters)
Upcoming University Senate Events:
(1) IN PERSON SENATE PLENARY: Please register to attend the next in-person Senate plenary in Miller Theater this Friday, 11/21, at 12:30 pm. (Please note the earlier start time.) Registration is open here. Materials will follow. If you experience any trouble registering, please arrive at the event and speak with the Senate staff checking people in.
(2) CUIMC Senate Members Town Hall: this Wednesday 11/19 from 6-7:30pm (which appears to be VP&S focused as we have learned that not all uptown Senators were apprised or invited)
As part of the CUIMC Office of Well-Being’s community engagement efforts and in response to feedback from recent listening circles with our community, all faculty, staff, students, and trainees are invited to attend this CUIMC Senate Members Town Hall. This event offers an opportunity to connect directly with some members of the University Senate and engage in open dialogue about how we can foster a more inclusive, transparent, and supportive campus environment. Questions can be submitted in advance on the registration page. Light refreshments will be provided.
650 W 168th Street, Alumni Auditorium | Registration