Mercury-News: Berkeley tree sitter injured after fall from oak
A tree sitter who was using a suspended traverse line to leave the oak grove near Memorial Stadium Sunday night fell at least 30 feet to the ground, breaking an arm and a leg, a tree-sit supporter said Monday morning.
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Inside Higher Ed: Striking Students
A hunger strike at Columbia University is nearing the end of its first week, while some students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are planning to attend Thursday and Friday teach-ins about issues such as college cost instead of attending class. In both cases, it’s unclear if and when negotiations or meetings would provide a quick end to the actions.
Five students — two from Barnard College and three from Columbia — began fasting on Wednesday in protest of the university’s response to recent hate incidents and the university’s plans to expand into neighboring Manhattanville, among other issues. One Barnard student was hospitalized over the weekend and ended her hunger strike, but a Barnard political science professor has told his class that he would begin to fast, according to Jamie Chen, a student who is helping support the effort.
Santa Cruz Sentinel: Tree sitters remain perched at UCSC
About five tree sitters spent their third day nested in redwood trees above the UC Santa Cruz parking lot where a protest had turned violent earlier in the week but on Friday was teeming with students, art and food.
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Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Pomona College immigration debate ends prematurely
CLAREMONT – An immigration debate at Pomona College ended prematurely Thursday night when a group of students critical of the event began chanting protest slogans, drowning out the two speakers and fueling shouting matches between audience members.
Anti-immigration activist Marvin Stewart debated Jacob Hornberger, an open-borders advocate, for about an hour, often eliciting strong responses from the audience of nearly 600.
The Boston Globe: French students protest reforms
PARIS –French university students angry over a law making their schools more market-friendly have shut down classes at several campuses across France and are mobilizing to join nationwide protests later this month over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reforms.
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Posted in International, Protests
International Herald Tribune: University students angry over reforms disrupt classes
French university students angry over a law making their schools more market-friendly have shut down classes at several campuses across France and are mobilizing to join nationwide protests later this month over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reforms.
For the past week, students have disrupted classes, at least sporadically, at about 10 campuses, from Montpellier and Toulouse in the south to Rennes in the west and the Tolbiac campus of the University of Paris, according to the Education Ministry.
The reforms, passed by lawmakers in August, will make all state-run French universities independent within five years, granting them the right to control their own budgets, raise tuition and accept private donations. Proponents believe the law will make French graduates more competitive in the global marketplace by improving facilities and reducing university dropout rates.
NY 1 News: Columbia Students, Faculty Rally Against Hate Crimes
A group of students and faculty at Columbia University’s Teachers College joined together today to stand up against hate, following several incidents in the past month of anti-Semitism and racism at the school.
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Star Tribune: St. Thomas rally: Standing up to hate
Black students at St. Thomas say their peers aren’t as inclusive as they would like. The reaction among many: that should change.
Four racist and threatening notes left for three black female students at the University of St. Thomas did more than just bring condemnation from the campus community. It also sparked a broader discussion about the feelings of isolation experienced by minority students on the campus.
On Thursday, hundreds of students, faculty and staff members met in support of the three women — sophomores Aquanette Early, Danielle Matthias and Malaika Smith — who received the notes in John Paul II Hall, an all-women’s dorm that is generally open only to residents and guests.
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The Chronicle: Animal-Rights Militants Vandalize UCLA Researcher’s House
A house owned by a researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles was vandalized last week by the Animal Liberation Front, in yet another militant act against a UCLA faculty member who performs research on primates and other animals.
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FSUNews.com: Students protest for second amendment rights
This week Florida State University students are taking part in a protest of state laws that prohibit students from carrying guns on campus as a part of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC). Students participating in the rally are wearing empty holsters on their belts all week.
AP: Smoking Ban Linked to Bathroom Vandalism
Vandals suspected of stealing toilet paper and trashing men’s bathrooms at Frederick Community College have given school administrators an ultimatum: lift the campus smoking ban and the vandalism will stop.
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Inside Higher Ed: David Horowitz, the conservative activist, and his allies have been giving speeches denouncing radical Islam on campuses all week as part of “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” — viewed by many critics as a cover for spreading fear about Muslims. At Emory University, Horowitz was largely unable to give his speech, and police had to escort him from the stage as protesters shouted “Heil Hitler,” among other things, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (last item). A detailed account and an online discussion of the incident appear in The Emory Wheel. On Horowitz’s Web site, the Emory protesters are being described as “leftist brown shirts.”
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The New York Times: Noose on Door at Columbia Prompts Campus Protest
A day after a noose was found hanging on a black professor’s office door at Columbia University’s Teachers College, protesting students chanted “no diversity, no university” and confronted university officials at two emotional meetings. The police said that their hate crimes unit had mounted a full investigation, including testing the rope for DNA.
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The Chronicle News Blog: Wake Forest U. Study Gives Green Light to Taser Use
Taser stun guns are safe and cause few serious injuries, according to a study by researchers at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The study examined nearly 1,000 so-called Tasings by law-enforcement agencies and found that 99.7 percent resulted in minor injuries — scrapes and bruises — or none at all, according to a statement released today by Wake Forest. Three subjects among the 1,000 required hospital stays, two of whom had fallen and hit their heads after being Tased, the statement said. Two subjects died, but neither death was related to the Taser, it said.
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The Chronicle: College Students Around the Country Stage a Walkout in Support of the ‘Jena 6’
Students at more than 100 colleges walked out of class and held rallies and marches on Monday to show support for six African-American high-school students in Jena, La., who have been charged with violent crimes amid racial tensions in the small town.
Many students traveled to Louisiana two weeks ago to join a protest in support of the so-called Jena Six, and the activists planned yesterday’s events to draw more attention to the case — and to raise awareness about, in one student’s words, the “criminal-injustice system.”
Inside Higher Ed: Jena 6 walkout
Students at campuses nationwide walked out of classes Monday as part of continuing protests on behalf of the Jena 6, a group of young African American high school students facing charges for attacking a white student after a series of incidents, including one involving the placement of a noose on a tree outside school, that black students say were ignored. In September, thousands of students traveled to Jena, La., for a massive protest. Among the campuses where students walked out: Arizona State University, California State University at Long Beach, the State University of New York at Binghamton, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Louisville and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Chronicle Video: Students Rally in Support of ‘Jena 6’
Washington — Students from Howard, George Washington, and Georgetown Universities gathered on the National Mall yesterday to support six African-American high-school students in Jena, La., who have been charged with violent crimes amid racial tensions in the town. The university students were among undergraduates at more than 100 colleges who protested on Monday.
AP: Judge Tells Tree-Sitters to Come Down
A judge has ordered a group of tree-sitting protesters occupying a University of California oak grove to relinquish their perches or trade them for a jail cell.
CAUT Boycott: Consider boycott of Israeli universities
Britain’s University and College Union has moved to implement an academic boycott of Israeli universities, and some university presidents in this country have already issued pronouncements condemning such a boycott. However, this is a serious issue deserving proper consideration by the academic community.
It is important to remember, first of all, that boycotts are not about individuals. They are tactics used to change a specific policy — in this case, the illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the stifling consequences the occupation has had on Palestinians, including academics and students.
Since 2000, Israeli policies have prevented countless Palestinians from exercising their right to education. Travel restrictions make it impossible to attend a university unless you live within walking distance. Roadblocks, checkpoints and curfews disrupt schedules and make it impossible to plan the academic year and hold examinations.
Now foreign aid is being withheld and tax revenues as well since Israel refuses to transfer taxes collected from occupied Palestinians. As a result, universities cannot get funds and many students cannot afford tuition fees. Professors have gone unpaid for many months and Israel is denying visas to foreign academics who wish to teach in Palestinian universities, including Palestinians who have lived and taught there for many years, but who hold a foreign passport.
Yet in 40 years of occupation, no Israeli university has stood up for the rights of Palestinian universities.
Some of the undersigned participated in a boycott of Soviet universities designed to pressure the Soviet government into allowing Jewish academics to emigrate to Israel and other countries. Now a boycott of Israeli universities to pressure the Israeli government into allowing the Palestinians their right to education needs to be considered.
Raja T. Abboud
Professor Emeritus
University of British Columbia
The Lung Centre
Vancouver General Hospital
Richard Bevis
Emeritus Professor of English
University of British Columbia
I. Ekeland
Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Economics
University of British Columbia
V. Raoul
Professor Emerita
French & Women’s Studies
University of British Columbia
E. Wayne Ross
Curriculum Studies
University of British Columbia
E. Seaton
Graduate Studies
York University
R. Ward
Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of British Columbia
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Opinion: Academics Who Want to Promote Peace Have Better Options Than Boycotts
The Chronicle: OPINION: DIALOGUE, NOT BOYCOTTS
Through a program of dialogue, Palestinian and Israeli teachers change their understanding of each other.
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Posted in Commentary, International, Protests, Unions