[Corporations] NOTICE: Democratizing Education Convention - Oct 20-23

[Ben Manski]

~ please forward ~

Register now for the
DEMOCRATIZING
EDUCATION
CONVENTION

http://www.DemocratizingEducation.org/

Who: Undergrads, Grads, Faculty, Staff, & Community

What: Plan nationally coordinated actions in defense of higher 
education. Develop proposals for unity and a possible union of grads, 
undergrads, faculty, staff and community members. Learn and teach about 
organizing strategies and tactics, higher education problems and 
solutions, and the work of other members of the campus community.

Why: Skyrocketing tuition. Massive cuts in public spending on education. 
Corporatization of research and services. Renewed attacks on academic 
freedom. Union-busting and sweatshop working conditions. Elimination of 
affirmative action, ethnic studies, and liberal arts programs. U.S. 
Students dying overseas for an education. Higher education is in crisis!

Where: The politically vibrant and historic University of Wisconsin at 
Madison campus

When: Thursday eve, October 20th through Sunday, October 23th, 2005 
(10/20 to 10/23/2005)

With panel and workshop presentations by U.S., Canadian, and Mexican 
organizers:

Felice Yeskel, Mishy Leiblum, Evan Thornton, Jed Murr, Ben Manski,
Pabitra Benjamin, Jennifer Knox, Annie Habel, John K. Wilson, Tony
Palmeri, Xavier Hansen, Danya Hooker; Laura Stengrim, Jen Pae,
Suri Kempe, Todd Alan Price, Kabzuag Vaj, Mohammed Abed,
Satya Rhodes-Conway, Uri Strauss, John Peck, Grace Hong, Julie
Coon, Tom DeGloma, Martha Webber, Patrick Barrett, TAA AFT 3220,
Michael Thornton, Take BackUMass, L’Asse, UNAM General Strike
Committee*, Carl Williams, Philadelphia Student Union, and more!
(* indicates invited presenters)

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fellow Campus Organizers, Autumn, 2005

We write to you as members of an emerging network of campus organizers 
who believe that it is time to better coordinate our energy and 
organizing efforts to fight for an accessible, diverse and fair public 
higher education system.

We note that our campuses are home to a wide array of progressive 
organizations, yet these groups and unions tend to focus on specific 
issues (such as sweatshops, the environment, Palestine, civil liberties, 
antiracism, the war, labor) and are often composed of single campus 
constituencies (i.e. exclusively undergrads, graduate students, faculty, 
blue collar staff, etc.). Even amidst a real rise in campus 
mobilizations across the nation, higher education is rapidly undergoing 
changes that run counter to the interests of the majority of Americans. 
These trends include the skyrocketing cost of tuition and fees, a new 
wave of campus union busting, massive cuts in public spending on 
education, the corporatization of campus research and services, the 
elimination of affirmative action and ethnic studies programs, and the 
corporatization of campus governance, to name but a few. Unfortunately, 
at present, we lack a national grassroots organization that makes the 
realization of accessible, public, diverse, and democratic higher 
education its primary focus.

At a recent retreat in Ottawa, Ontario, campus organizers from six 
public universities and colleges in the U.S. discussed the idea of 
building some form of national higher education alliance or coalition 
uniting students, faculty, and staff. This union would not compete with 
existing groups, but would compliment them with its capacity to use 
coordinated direct action tactics. In order to begin shaping this sort 
of a national higher education union in cooperation with a wider 
community of campus organizers, we are writing to invite you to an 
organizing convention at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the 
weekend of Oct. 20-23, 2005.

At this convention, we will also begin coordinating a nationwide direct 
action for the spring of 2006, which will allow us to coordinate our 
messages and energies immediately. Two proposals we expect to see raised 
at the convention are the coordination of a series of educational 
teach-ins combined with “Tent State University” direct actions, and the 
initiation of a process for a coordinated national higher education 
industrial strike. Other associated direct actions will likely be 
proposed. We encourage you to develop proposals as well; much of the 
convention will be devoted to discussing, deciding on, and planning 
these coordinated actions.

If you are interested in attending the convention and/or in working on 
these projects, please fill out the attached convention registration at 
the bottom of this email. More information, as well as an online 
registration form, is posted on our website at:

http://www.DemocratizingEducation.org/

Once again, we stress that these projects will only succeed with 
widespread participation. We hope that you will visit the Democratizing 
Education website, register for the October convention, and contact us 
to join in fighting for a future of democratic, diverse and accessible 
system of American higher education.

In Solidarity,

Mohammed Abed
Graduate Student, UW-Madison
Al-Awda, Alternative Palestinian Agenda

Tony Barnes
Graduate Student, UW-Madison
Teaching Assistants Association AFT 3220

Dr. Patrick Barrett
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Director, Havens Center for the Study of Social Change and Social Research

Pabitra Benjamin
Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution
Action Wisconsin

Ginny Bormann
Academic Staff, UW-Madison
AFSCME 2412

John Bruning
Undergraduate, UW-Madison
Student Labor Action Coalition
Associated Student of Madison

Julie Coon
Undergraduate, UMissouri-Kansas City
Tent State University
UMKC Women’s Center

Anthony Chattley
Graduate Student, Bloustein School for Public Policy, NJ
Tent State University
Air Force Veteran

Dan Clawson
Faculty, Dept. of Sociology, UMass-Amherst
President, UMass-Amherst Faculty Union

Andrew Culp
Undergraduate, UMissouri-Kansas City
Tent State University
Associated Students for the U of M

Tom DeGloma
Graduate Student, Rutgers University
Tent State University

Holly Denning
Academic Staff, Sociology Instructor
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Mary Duran
Undergraduate, UMass-Amherst
Associated Students of Massachusetts

Meleia Cullman Egger
Graduate Student, Michigan State University
Students for Peace and Justice

Tyler Endsley
Undergraduate, UMissouri-Kansas City
Tent State University
Campus Greens

Darren Griffis
Graduate Student, UnMass-Amherst
Vice President, Grad. Empl. Org, UAW 2322

Leah Grupp-Williams
Undergradate, Macalester College
Student Labor Action Coalition

Charlie Hoyt
Undergraduate, UW-Madison
Student Labor Action Coalition

Adam Jung
Undergraduate, UMissouri-Kansas City
Tent State University
Campus Greens

Ryan Kaplan
Undergraduate, UC-Santa Cruz
Tent State University

Ashley Karlin
Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon Univ.

Christine Kelly
Associate Professor, William Paterson Univ.
Dept. Political Science & Director,
American Democracy Project

Ashok Kumar
Undergraduate, UW-Madison
Associated Students of Madison
Student Labor Action Cltn

Mishy Leiblum
Undergraduate, UMass-Amherst
Take Back UMass
Free Higher Education Campaign

Stephanie Luce
Associate Professor, Labor Center,
University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Brian Lutenegger
Graduate Student, University of Michigan

Ben Manski
Law, Class of 2005, UW-Madison
Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution

Jed Murr
Graduate Student, UMass-Amherst
Grad. Employee Org., UAW Local 2322

Jeff Napolitano
Undergraduate, UMass-Amherst
Take Back UMass
Student Government Association

Tony Palmeri
Professor, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
TAUWP/AFT-Wisconsin

Will Parrish
Graduate Student, UC-Santa Cruz
Research and Advocacy Associate,
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Pavel Payano
Undergraduate, UMass-Amherst
President, Student Government Association

Dr. John Peck
Executive Director, Family Farm Defenders

James Ploeser
Undergraduate, UW-Madison
Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance

Lena Posner
Undergraduate, Rutgers University
Tent State University

Todd Price
Professor, National Louis University

Austin Emmiett Purnell
Wesleyan University
NAACP & Progressive Student Alliance

Fletch Schubert
Undergraduate, UMissouri Kansas City

Mike Sellers
Undergraduate, SUNY Albany
Mayoral Candidate, Cobleskill, NY

Lily Shank
Undergraduate, University of Minnesota
Global Studies Dept.
General College Truth Movement

Claire Stoscheck
Undergraduate, Macalester College
Defend Need Blind Admissions at Macalester
Mac Students for Fair Trade

Uri Strauss
Graduate Student, UMass-Amherst
President, Graduate Student Senate

Jen Walling
Law Student, UIllinois Urbana-Champaign
Student Senator
Campus Greens

Dave Wilcox
Undergraduate, College of DuPage, Illinois
Campus Greens

Nicole Wong
Undergraduate, UC-Santa Cruz
Tent State University

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.DemocratizingEducation.org/

Thursday, October 20th

Evening Reception

Friday, October 21st

9:00am Registration Begins
9:30am Workshop Block 1
11:00am Break
11:30am Workshop Block 2
1:00pm Lunch Break
2:30pm Workshop Block 3
4:00pm Break
4:30pm Women’s Caucus, Allies Meeting
6:00pm Dinner Break
7:00pm Panel Session: The Crisis in Financing and Access: The Broader 
Economic Picture, Free Higher Ed Campaign, & Affirmative Action Under 
Attack
9:00pm Party at Area Coops

Saturday, October 22nd

9:00am Workshop Block 4
10:30am Break
11:00am People of Color Caucus, Allies Meeting
12:30pm Lunch Break
2:00pm Panel Session: Education Strikes & Industrial Action: The Quebec 
Student Strike, Campus, Industrial Strikes, & Graduate Employee Strikes
3:30pm Break
4:00pm Panel Session: Corporatization of Higher Education: Attacks on 
Academic Freedom, Structural Corporatization, & Corporate Racism
5:30pm Break
6:00pm Action Proposal Plenary
8:00pm Out on the town
11:00pm Deadline for final revised action proposals

Sunday, October 23rd

9:00am LGBT Caucus, Allies Meeting
10:30am Break
10:45am Plenary: Presentation of Action Proposals
11:15am Paper Balloting on Action Proposals
11:30am Panel Session: Education Unionism: Student Unionism, Campus 
Unionism, & K-12 Organizing
1:00pm Lunch Break
2:00pm Working Group Meetings
4:00pm Closing Plenary

MAJOR PANELS

The Crisis in Financing and Access
Education Strikes & Industrial Action
Corporatization of Higher Education
Education Unionism

ISSUE WORKSHOPS

The Quebec Strike
Democratization Against Corporatization
Campus Climate and Campus Equality
Campus Labor
Campus Coalition Politics
Campus Media
Election Reform & Education Reform
Immigration & Higher Education
K-12 and Higher Ed
Social and Community Responsibility
Globalization and Education
The Attack on Academia
Free Higher Education
Education and the War
Tent State University & Popular Education
Katrina, Poverty, Race, and Higher Ed

SKILLS WORKSHOPS

Recruitment and retention of organizers
Effective multi-racial organizing
Cleaning House: Transforming Your Organization, Union, or Senate
Strategic Direct Action on Campus
Unionizing Students

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Please Register Now:

Name:

Campus:

Affiliations:

Address:

Email1: Email2:

Cell Ph: Home Ph: Work Ph:

[ ] I’ll be traveling with ____ other people from my campus/area.

[ ] I’d like to stay in a hotel/motel. Please send me information about 
my options.

[ ] I’d like to stay with a Madisonian. Please find me a free place to 
stay.

[ ] I have the following special needs:

Registration fees will be $15-50, sliding scale - checks made out to 
“Liberty Tree”. Note that we are trying to raise money for travel 
support; please consider contributing for this purpose. If you need 
financial support, please let us know. Note that grant priority will be 
given on the basis of need, and with an eye toward gender and radical 
diversity.

See you in MadTown!

Please send your completed registration form to:

Democratizing Education Convention, P.O. Box 260217, Madison, Wisconsin, 
53726-0217

The Democratizing Education Convention is a project of the Democratizing 
Education Network,
with support from the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic 
Revolution.

http://www.DemocratizingEducation.org/