Category Archives: Protests

British Columbia: SFU rally protests lack of university funding

Burnaby Now: SFU rally protests lack of university funding

More than 1,000 people converged at a rally at SFU this week to protest underfunding of universities in B.C.

Nigeria: Cops Kill Students Amidst Protesting Colleagues

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Cops Kill Students Amidst Protesting Colleagues

For over four months, six tertiary institutions, owned by the Borno state government have remained closed.

The closure was due to demands by both the academic and non-academic staff of the schools that government enhance their benefits by implementing the Consolidated Salary Structure of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions (CONTIS) approved by the federal government.

DC: A Degree of Agitation In UDC Transformation

Washington Post: A Degree of Agitation In UDC Transformation

Students Resist Changes in Structure, Tuition

The University of the District of Columbia plans to end its open-door policy for four-year students and raise their tuition sharply at the city’s only public college, a rapid transformation that has riled students accustomed to a school open to anyone who wants to enroll.

Campus protests of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, are growing

Inside Higher Ed: Campus protests of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, are growing — including in the United States. Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Rochester is claiming victory in the first “occupation” of a building at an American campus over the issue (although university officials say that the students signed up for permission to protest in a building Friday until midnight and so were there with authorization). The university and the SDS also have different versions of what both sides agreed to in order to end the protest late Friday. The SDS started its protest demanding that the university sell endowment holdings in companies that produce weapons or otherwise “profit from war”; that the university organize a day of fund raising for Gaza; that the university provide “necessary academic aid” such as computers and books to university programs in Gaza; and that a minimum of five scholarships be set up for Palestinian students. A blog by an SDS member involved in the protest says that Rochester committed to donate surplus goods to students in Gaza, to help create a Palestinian fund drive, to look for ways to provide scholarships to students from Gaza, and to “help organize a forum to expose or make transparent the investments of the university towards Israel.” University officials said that they had agreed to the following: helping the SDS find ways to donate goods to students in Gaza, helping the SDS find ways to raise money for Gaza, working to identify schools in Gaza where students might apply to attend the university, and organizing a forum to explain to students how the university makes its investments. Rochester officials stressed that they would help any student group trying to provide assistance for groups that could benefit, and that there are currently scholarships for foreign students available, but that the university doesn’t receive many applications from Palestinians. At the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland, 40 students occupying a building agreed to leave, and claimed that the university had agreed to honor a boycott of Israel by canceling a contract with an Israeli water company. A university statement said that it was indeed canceling the contract, but that Strathclyde had already committed to stopping the purchase of bottled water on a large scale (for sustainability reasons) and that this made it appropriate to end the relationship with the Israeli company. The university also pledged to set up some scholarships for Palestinian students.

UGANDA: Students protest ‘discriminatory’ fees

World University News: UGANDA: Students protest ‘discriminatory’ fees
Writer: Kayiira Kizito
Date: 25 January 2009

Late last year, Kenyan students enrolled at Makerere University, Uganda’s most famous institution, protested against ‘discriminatory’ foreign student fees and other charges. As with many other universities around the world, Makerere charges differential rates for domestic and international students with those from East Africa pay around 1.5 times the local rate.

Israel Boycott Movement Comes to U.S.

Inside Higher Ed: Israel Boycott Movement Comes to U.S.

The movement to boycott Israeli academic institutions has largely been centered in Britain (where in 2007 the University and College Union dropped the call). In response to the conflict in Gaza, calls for academic boycotts have crossed the Atlantic, surfacing first in Ontario, and now in the United States.

The U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel, launched last week, enumerates five goals. These include: “Refraining from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions that do not vocally oppose Israeli state policies against Palestine,” “promoting divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions,” and “supporting Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.”

CAUT releases open letter protesting Canada’s refusal to allow Dr. William Ayers entry into Canada

CAUT releases open letter protesting Canada’s refusal to allow Dr. William Ayers entry into Canada

(Ottawa, January 21, 2009) The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has written an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper protesting the refusal by Canada to allow Dr. William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois-Chicago, entry into Canada.

Professor Ayers had been invited by the Centre for Urban Schooling at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto to give a public lecture at the University. He was also scheduled to meet with Toronto District School Board principals and senior staff, with youth community workers at a school in Regent Park, and to be interviewed on CBC. He was refused entry to Canada on Sunday, January 18.

“It is wrong for the Government of Canada to decide which scholars universities can invite to their campuses,” the letter says. “Too often, in recent years, this has been practice of the Bush Administration in the United States – a practice we and our American counterpart – the American Association of University Professors – have denounced… It is with shame that we now find our government is behaving in the same manner.”

CAUT is calling for a public investigation into Professor Ayers’ denial of entry into Canada, and wants the Prime Minister to advise the University of Toronto that should it invite Professor Ayers again, the government will allow him to enter Canada.

CAUT’s letter to Prime Minister Harper is available here [html] and here [pdf].

California: Antioch teachers hold peaceful protests

ContraCosta Times: Antioch teachers hold peaceful protests

Dozens of Antioch Unified School District teachers clad in blue to show union support gathered before and after school Friday in protest of the district’s positions in ongoing contract negotiations.

Israel — the case for a union boycott

Green Left Weekly: Israel — the case for a union boycott

The horror of what is unfolding in Gaza is forcing more people to come out to support Palestine. People are coming out onto the streets in tens or hundreds of thousands all over the world.

Florida: Bill Ayers talk at FSU drawing protests

Tallahassee Democrat: Bill Ayers talk at FSU drawing protests

He was Sarah Palin’s favorite punching bag.

Now Bill Ayers, a 1960s anti-war activist and co-founder of the early 1970s protest organization the Weather Underground, is raising the hackles of some conservatives in Tallahassee.

The Gaza War… on North American Campuses

Inside Higher Ed: The Gaza War… on North American Campuses

The military conflict that’s likely to spark campus protests in the coming weeks doesn’t involve U.S. forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. Rather, Israeli attacks on Hamas forces in Gaza have stirred sleeping campuses, and rallies and petition drives may gain momentum as more colleges resume full operations. The efforts, involving students and professors, supporters of Palestinians and Israelis, raise sensitive issues about whether academics are too quick or too slow to question Israel, what methods are appropriate for expressing opposition to another government’s actions, and why Israel’s actions are more likely to generate protests than outrages committed by other countries.

MLA Contemplates Taking a Stand in Support of Scholars of Palestine

The Chronicle News Blog: MLA Contemplates Taking a Stand in Support of Scholars of Palestine

The Modern Language Association’s executive council is considering whether the organization should vote on a resolution expressing solidarity with scholars of Palestinian literature and culture.

The MLA’s Delegate Assembly overwhelmingly passed the resolution at the group’s annual meeting last week, following a debate in which it rejected an alternative measure that would have expressed support for both Israeli and Palestinian scholars and called for the organization to remain neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mass demonstrations in Ireland to counter attacks on education

World Socialist Website: Mass demonstrations in Ireland to counter attacks on education

Between 40,000 and 70,000 people protested in Dublin on December 6 against spending cuts in education in what is believed to have been the largest demonstration in the capital since protests against the Iraq war. The protest formed part of a growing number of demonstrations against recent government policy announcements.

Indonesia: Students protest law that lures foreign universities

Jakarta Post: Protests mar passage of education entity bill

Thu, 12/18/2008 7:38 AM

EDUCATION FOR SALE: Students from various universities stage a boisterous rally outside the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday in protest at an education bill that will turn universities into legal business entities. Despite the protests, the House passed the bill later in the day. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)EDUCATION FOR SALE: Students from various universities stage a boisterous rally outside the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday in protest at an education bill that will turn universities into legal business entities. Despite the protests, the House passed the bill later in the day. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)

Critics and education experts are up in arms after the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill on educational legal entities, which detractors say will lead to the commercialization of education in the country.

UC Santa Cruz tree-sit demonstration ends peacefully

Santa Cruz Sentinel: UC Santa Cruz tree-sit demonstration ends peacefully

SANTA CRUZ — The 13-month-old tree-sit demonstration at UC Santa Cruz ended peacefully Saturday morning after protesters voluntarily abandoned redwood platforms above Science Hill just days after mediation designed to dissolve the demonstration ended without resolution.

New York: New School Sit-In Ends

Inside Higher Ed: New School Sit-In Ends

December 22

Early Friday morning, student protesters at the New School vacated the dining hall they had occupied for more than 30 hours after President Bob Kerrey agreed to an updated list of demands. Kerrey and other top administrators do not, however, plan to resign, as the protesters had initially sought. Instead, among a handful of concessions, the university agreed to give students representation in the selection of a new provost and to establish a “socially responsible investing” committee for its endowment.

New York: Protest at the New School Turns Unruly

New York Times: Protest at the New School Turns Unruly

Updated, Dec. 19 | Protests at The New School, where a student uprising over the leadership of the university’s president, Bob Kerrey, led to clashes with the police and at least one arrest on Thursday morning, took another wild turn later on Thursday evening.

Protest at the New School Seeks Kerrey’s Ouster

New York Times: Protest at the New School Seeks Kerrey’s Ouster

Published: December 18, 2008

About 75 students barricaded themselves in a dining hall at the New School on Wednesday night, holding what they called an occupation to protest the leadership of the institution’s embattled president, Bob Kerrey.

Protest at the New School Turns Unruly

The New York Times: Protest at the New School Turns Unruly

Security guards and police officers collided with students at the New School on Thursday morning in a shouting and shoving confrontation, after an overnight sit-in at a university cafeteria organized to protest the leadership of Bob Kerrey, the university’s president, among other issues. The sit-in has continued into the afternoon.

UC Santa Cruz tree-sit demonstration ends peacefully

Santa Cruz Sentinel: UC Santa Cruz tree-sit demonstration ends peacefully

SANTA CRUZ — The 13-month-old tree-sit demonstration at UC Santa Cruz ended peacefully Saturday morning after protesters voluntarily abandoned redwood platforms above Science Hill just days after mediation designed to dissolve the demonstration ended without resolution.