During the week of April 16, 2012, members of the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education will hold actions calling for investment in public higher education.
Similar actions were held March 1, 2012, as part of Occupy Education. AAUP chapters, conferences, and members participated by organizing actions on their campuses.
Below are tools and ideas for planning actions and examples of actions from chapters around the country.
Why?
Recent years have witnessed a widespread defunding of higher education, and a greater share of what funding there is allocated to noninstructional expenses such as facilities and administrator salaries. More and more faculty jobs are part-time, insecure positions; more and more students are shut out as tuition and fees rise and the necessary support systems are not there.
If the deterioration of higher education—especially public higher education—is to be slowed, stopped, and reversed, faculty must speak out. We must join others in insisting, as the Occupy Education call to action put it, that “We refuse to accept the dismantling of our schools and universities, while the banks and corporations make record profits. We refuse to accept educational re-segregation, massive tuition increases, outrageous student debt, and increasing privatization and corporatization.”
Tools
Here are some sample flyers for Day of Action events. They are all in Microsoft Word (.doc) format, so feel free to edit them and customize them for your campus.
CFHE Flyer 1
CFHE Flyer 2
Sample Posters
(Click on the logo above to download a high resolution copy of it)
Teach-in how-to guide (originally put together for February events)
Class Action artwork to use in posters or flyers
Ways to Participate:
If you have a large group or can work on this with other groups on campus…
- Organize a rally, teach-in, or other public event.
- Organize a petition drive on an issue relevant to your campus (stopping tuition hikes, paying all workers a decent wage, or something else). Gather a lot of signatures; send a delegation to deliver them to your administration on your target date.
- Host an open forum at which students and faculty are invited to share their concerns. Invite faculty in leadership positions, local legislators, and/or administrators to be members of a panel hearing the testimony and concerns. Invite campus and local media.
If you only have a handful of individuals…
- Hand out fliers and hang one on your office door.
- If relevant to your class, take a few minutes to teach about what is going on on your campus (Tuition raises? Increasing number of contingent faculty? Faculty salary freezes, furloughs? Increasing class sizes? High expenditures on facilities, union busting, or other noninstructional activities?)
- Write brief (one- to two-paragraph) letters to your local newspaper highlighting what you are seeing on your campus or how local higher ed is affected by the current budget climate.
If you prefer an academic event…
- Organize a teach-in or panel discussion on the topic of “How can we ensure quality higher education for all,” “Should public higher education be free,” “The divide between haves and have-nots at this university,” “Where does our state’s [or university’s] money really go,” or another relevant topic. Invite knowledgeable faculty and students to speak. Work on turning out participants: hand out flyers, let people know several times by e-mail, personally invite your colleagues and students. If your chapter or conference can afford it, provide food and publicize that fact to draw people there. Invite campus and local media, legislators, and administrators. Appoint someone to introduce themselves to any legislators or reporters (including students) in attendance and to follow up with that person in case they have questions.
- Host a viewing of a movie. Serve snacks, have a discussion afterward.
If you like to bake . . .
- Hold a bake sale to raise money for a specific campus need—to keep tuition down, adjunct faculty relief fund. Have simple talking points ready to present orally & on a flyer as you sell. Deliver the money to your president’s office. Invite student reporters to come along.
Past Actions
Here is some information we received from chapters about their activities for the March 1 Day of Action. Have we missed yours? Let Gwen Bradley (gbradley@aaup.org) know.
University of Delaware: A panel composed of labor, student, faculty, and community activists; faculty participation in other community events.
Indiana University: A coalition of faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates organized a panel and discussion on student debt.
Stetson University: Posters, signs, and flyers in support of students.
University of Rhode Island: Participated in Occupy URI events and placed ads in the student newspaper in support of Occupy.
Lincoln University: Sponsored a letter-writing campaign for faculty, staff, and students. Also involved in a “lobby day” at the Capitol (Jefferson City, MO) on Feb 28.
Delaware State University: Hosted a College Roundtable discussion.
California, multiple campuses: Many joint events with faculty, staff, and students in University of Califirnia system, California State System, and community colleges.
University of Mary Washington: Organized a teach-in.
Bowie State: Organized a campus discussion of the purpose and future of higher education.
Marymount Manhattan: Planned a resolution on student debt.
Saint Catherine University: Put up flyers and submitted an editorial to the local papers (Minneapolis StarTribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press) and the student newspaper.
Hofstra University: Organized a campaign to protest the administration's plan to increase class sizes, which included passing out flyers to students and every faculty member, and putting them up around campus.
University of Akron: AAUP Chapter passed out fliers opposing state budget cuts to higher education and higher costs for students.