Protesters Disrupt UNC Board of Governors Meeting

Other videos shot by participants here.  From Chapel Hill, NC:


   

Students Take Action to Save Dusable High School Library

Get the full story here:

DuSable High School students have organized a sit-in to get CPS to bring back their librarian. 

BRONZEVILLE — At least 200 students from DuSable High School walked out of class Friday as part of a demonstration to bring back their beloved librarian and stop the library from closing.

Students Walk Out on Common Core in New Mexico

The way to end the testing madness?  Don't participate!  Refuse the test! 

Out the door with Common Core.

From New Mexico:

Hundreds of students protesting a Common Core-oriented standardized test walked out of high schools across New Mexico on Monday.

The students, many carrying signs that read, "More teaching, less testing" and "Out the door with Common Core," ignored warnings from administrators who said they could face disciplinary measures and would not graduate if they continued the walkout.

Julie Guevara, a 16-year-old student in Albuquerque said students were tired of the constant testing and believed it was undermining their overall education.
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"We hope the governor hears us and does something about this," she said. "We're not going away."

The office of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, a Common Core supporter, did not respond right away to a request for comment, the Associated Press reported.

The walkouts and demonstrations against Common Core started last week in Santa Fe, and students from several schools in Las Cruces also joined the movement by walking out of class on Monday. They were organized by a left-of-center group called ProgressNow/NM.

The largest demonstration was one at Albuquerque High School, where several hundred of its 1,800 students walked out, the Daily Caller reported.

The students are supposed to be taking the first day of standardized tests created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).

PARCC is a consortium of 11 states and the District of Columbia that have banded together to offer similar tests all designed to adhere to Common Core.

Support for PARCC appears to be slipping. At its peak, the Daily Caller added, "23 states containing more than half the country’s population were a part of PARCC; now, more than half have pulled out."

Across the country, opposition to Common Core and its testing regime is growing. . . .

Newark's Top High School Students Occupy Cami Anderson's Offices

from Bob Braun:

A small group of Newark high school students Tuesday night seized the office of state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson in a protest timed to coincide with her imminent re-appointment to another year, her fifth,  as head of the state’s largest school district. The action, which is continuing through the night, stands in stark contrast to the failure of Anderson’s older–and, theoretically, more powerful–critics to do anything to dislodge her from her post.

The operation was executed with an efficiency that has eluded Anderson’s control of the district. The dozen students and a few adult advisers pulled off the occupation of the suite of offices on the eighth floor while a public school board meeting droned on two floors above on the tenth floor. The students had attended the meeting and some spoke, hinting broadly they were about to do something, and then left in a group–but they weren’t going home to do their homework.

Newark students sprint down long eighth-floor hallway to get to Anderson's offices ahead of security officersNewark students sprint down long eighth-floor hallway to get to Anderson’s offices ahead of security officers.

The dozen or so students crammed into an elevator and pushed the 8th floor button, then sprinted to Anderson’s office, expecting all the while to be met with resistance from security officers. Instead, the office site was wide open and empty except for a puzzled janitor who, while mopping the floors, cautioned the students not to slip on the wet tiles. “Be careful,” he said, not quite sure of the intent of the visitors.

The students–many of them from the city’s vaunted Science Park High School–set to work establishing what amounted to a communications center where they broadcast their demands that Anderson resign immediately–for, among other reasons, her failure for a year  to attend board meetings, including the one the students had just left.

Read the rest here.

Support Colorado Student Walkout March 14

Support Colorado students standing up for their education:

Join Portland Students to Stop High Stakes Testing

From The Oregonian:

on February 06, 2013 at 10:10 AM, updated February 06, 2013 at 5:08 PM

About 30 students gathered outside the Portland Public Schools district office to kick off a campaign urging students to opt out of state standardized tests.

A group of students from the Portland Student Union and the Portland Public Schools Student Union are asking students to boycott the annual Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exams, which are required by state law.

The students are calling the tests unfair measures of teacher and student performance, as well as a waste of resources, echoing a longtime but still rancorous debate over the place of standardized testing in school systems.

Those disagreements have recently ratcheted up after teachers in Seattle refused to administer a district-mandated test meant to evaluate student progress. That particular test is separate from Washington's state standardized tests.

Oregon's OAKS tests are required by state law, but students are allowed exemptions when parents cite religious or disability-related reasons. Portland schools officials said they knew of no parents who opted out last year, and only four had done so the year before.

Outside of the district office on Monday, Cleveland High School junior Bria Justus said she felt that state test scores shouldn't be able to label people or schools as "In Need of Improvement." The OAKS tests help inform school and district ratings, and can even lower a school's rating to the bottom rung if they don't get enough students to participate in state tests.

"I don't think that one test should justify what happens in the classroom, and what I'm learning and what I can comprehend," said Justus.

Deja Brooks, a Wilson High School junior, said she felt the emphasis on the test was taking away from class time. Instead of focusing on important papers in her English class, she said, they would have to take the state writing test or do a writing sample in preparation for the tests.

Both said they plan to opt out of at least one test this year. For high schoolers, the test is administered during junior year.

The tests have recently taken on more importance for students, as passing certain subjects has become a graduation requirement. If a student doesn't take or pass the test, they can still use some alternative assessment, such as SAT or ACT scores, or a locally-graded work sample.

The students organizing the boycott have encouraged using those alternative assessments, but some educators have worried that struggling students who haven't done well on those standardized tests may be put at a disadvantage. Portland offers the ACT exam to all students for free, and Lincoln High School senior Alexia Garcia says they are hoping to start a fund to help students take those alternative assessments if they cannot afford the fees.

Portland schools spokesman Matt Shelby admits officials can't force a student to take a test, but says the state tests are a district and state requirement.

"We have a responsibility to proctor the test, we have a responsibility to require the test and we're going to go continue to do so," he said.

 -- Nicole Dungca 

Will Our Students Save Education?

Global Actions Against Commercialism in Education

"Global Wave of Action for Education"

[October – November 2010]

During one of the last international chat meetings [March 7th] of the „International Student Movement“, which was attended by activists in Sierra Leone, the U.S. of A., Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, the Netherlands, the Philippines and Kosovo, we decided to call for a „Global Wave of Action for Education“.
The participants suggest that this „wave“ kicks off with co-ordinated protests in some regions of the world - such as occupations in schools across Italy, which are expected to begin in the middle of October. October 7th will also see a huge day of action in the U.S.A..

Do read on here.

Protest Duncan Appearance June 25 at DeAnza College

From IndyBay.org:

Title: Protest Of Union Buster and Privatizer US Education Secretary Arnie Duncan At DeAnza START DATE: Friday June 25 TIME: 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Location Details: Library Quad at Foothill College 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills (El Monte Road and Interstate 280) Event Type: Protest Union Buster and Privatizer Arne Duncan who is Obama's US Secretary Of Education will be giving an address at DeAnza College on Friday June 25 at 5:00 PM and a protest will be held. Duncan welcomed the destruction of public education in New Orleans, supported the firing of the teachers in a Rhode Island labor dispute and is conspiring with corporate USA to destroy public education. 6/25 Protest Of Union Buster and Privatizer US Education Secretary Arnie Duncan At DeAnza College A CALL TO PROTEST SECRETARY OF EDUCATION ARNE DUNCAN’S SPEECH AT DeANZA COLLEGE---JUNE 25 STOP (AND REVERSE) THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION!!! Protest Picket of Privatizer Arne Duncan Friday June 25th, 5:00 PM in the Library Quad at De Anza College De Anza College | 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd. | Cupertino, CA 95014 http://www.deanza.edu/map/ United Public Workers for Action Founded January 2009 San Francisco, California http://www.UPWA.info Press Release The United Public Workers for Action will carry out demonstrations protesting the appearance of United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s participation at DeAnza Community Colleges’ graduation ceremonies on June 25. Duncan will deliver the keynote address. The action at Foothill College, Friday, June 25, will begin at 5 pm. Duncan is the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools. Foothill College is located at 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills (El Monte Road and Interstate 280); while DeAnza is located at 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Cupertino. This press release is a call to join us at Foothill and DeAnza Colleges to make our voices heard. The intent of the UPWA actions is to show public outrage at the Obama Administrations’ privatization of Public Education policies; policies which are severely impacting state and local Public Education. Duncan, who is credited with raising test scores and educational standards in Chicago, actually facilitated the further privatization of Public Education in Chicago. This was achieved through the expansion of charter schools and the weakening of the public teacher’s union. The UPWA feels it is ironic and tragic that the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District is allowing a certified enemy of Public Education to give the keynote addresses at Foothill College and DeAnza College, at a moment when Public Education in California is facing a historic attack; an attack, which if not halted by public response, will destroy Public Education. Since becoming Secretary of Education, Duncan has been the chief architect of the Obama Administrations’ “Race to the Top” education policy. Presented as a means to improve Public Education in the United States, that policy is the continuation of the three decade-long assault on Public Education which began with the Reagan Administrations’ “A Nation at Risk” policy. The intent of that policy has been to: 1) promote the expansion of privately-managed charter schools; 2) deepen the access to public educational resources for corporate-interests; 3) smash teacher unions, thus weakening the political power of those unions, and cutting the cost of teachers; and, 4) eliminate multicultural, revisionist, internationalist, and critical perspectives from the school curricula. The 2008 collapse of the financial system, amplified by chronic over-lapping federal, state and local budgetary crises, has provided a “win-dow of opportunity” to intensify this assault. The intent of Obama’s education policy was made clear in a statement he made, in February, 2010, after the Central Falls, Rhode Island school district fired 93 unionized teachers, alleging that they were responsible for “failing” standardized test scores. In what could be considered Obama’s PATCO Moment, he stated: “…if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if it doesn’t show signs of improve-ment, then there’s got to be a sense of accountability,…” Just like Reagan opened the door for the attack on unions when he fired 13,000 air controllers in 1981, unionized teachers now are increasingly vulnerable. UPWA BACKGROUND AND CONTACT INFORMATION: The UPWA is an organizing committee and network, formed in 2009 by San Francisco Bay Area union members and activists committed to bring public workers in the state together to challenge the current economic/budget crisis in California. The objective of the organizers is to develop a unified-statewide coalition and present an alter- native political agenda to confront the economic/budget crisis in California in the defense of public workers and the recipients of public services. To inform public workers and the recipients of public services the UPWA will provide educational forums on the root causes of the crisis and its political implications, and the organization’s political alternative agenda. http://www.upwa.info Other endorsements to follow

A New American Student Movement Comes to Life, in Puerto Rico

From the NYTimes:

MIAMI — Thousands of students at the University of Puerto Rico who went on strike two months ago to oppose severe budget cuts declared victory on Thursday after reaching an agreement with administrators.

As part of a deal brokered by a court-appointed mediator, students would end their strike — one of the largest and longest such walkouts in Puerto Rican history — in exchange for a number of concessions. Most notably, the university’s Board of Regents has agreed to cancel a special fee that would have effectively doubled the cost to attend the university’s 11 public campuses.

The deal also includes a promise that there will be no sanctions against strike organizers, who clashed at times with the police at the main Río Piedras campus outside San Juan.

The accord must still be approved by a general assembly of university students, which is expected Monday. Christopher Powers, a literature professor at the Mayagüez campus, said it was “nearly a complete victory for the students,” noting that they failed to get a promise that there would be no large tuition increase next year. Professor Powers said planned cuts later this year to the salaries and benefits of professors could set off another round of conflict.

“The fact that a student movement was able to force the administration and the government to sit down at the negotiating table and concede to nearly all their demands is a very important precedent,” Professor Powers said. “It will serve as an inspiration.”

The "Enough Is Enough" Generation Shuts Down Entire UPR System: Parents and Professors Provide Support

The eleven campuses of the University of Puerto Rico have been shut down by students who are calling for an end to the austerity measures that threaten to cripple the gem of higher education in the Caribbean region.  Meanwhile, riot police gather outside the gates. 

From Democracy Now:

The President Asks for Our Help: We Ask the President to Stop Treating Us Like Idiots

Arne Duncan's federalized system of bribes called Race to the Top has all sorts of incentives for state education departments. It has incentives to develop constant data surveillance systems for both students and teachers, with tests to decide who gets to graduate, who gets rehired, who gets to move to the next grade, and which schools get needed cash. There are incentives, too, for the creation of unlimited numbers of the segregated corporate charter school test camps based on the Wall Street Model of Public Oversight, i. e. NONE. And, indeed, there are incentives for states and localities to dump their curriculum and standards into the trash in favor of a single nationalized curriculum and testing system based on the deep thinking of the MBAs, economists, and lawyers hired by the Business Roundtable to oversee the project.

Having entered and lost the first round of this Race to Serve the Oligarchs, many states and localities are balking at the thought of entering Round 2 of Judgment by the Plutocrats. By now all the states have figured out what Arne and Bill and Eli want--it's just a matter of who can craft the most morally irresponsible, pedagogically-suspect, and profession-damaging mode of getting there. In ed deform nomenclature, that's called Bold Planning.

Some states have pulled out of Arne's bribe game entirely, including Kansas, Indiana, Texas, and Alaska. Ohio is so desperate for local participation that it is using its own pathetic bribes to get LEAs to sign up for Round 2, with "the state . . . sweetening the pot . . . by guaranteeing a minimum of $100,000 to districts and $25,000 to charter schools - over four years." Could there be anything sadder!

So while Duncan, Gates, and Broad use bribes and extortion to circumvent the legislative process that was intended to make federal education policy, the nation's schools are on the brink of a nervous breakdown while losing up to 300,000 teachers in the coming Fall--that is, if developments in Greece do not trigger another worldwide economic Panic between now and then.

Meanwhile, the President, now running neck and neck in the polls with Ron Paul, tells us that he needs our help to save the Dems from a crushing defeat this coming November. Well, we need something from the President: we need him to stop treating us like idiots and to do something about education that would distinguish his approach from the past generations of failed reforms that preceded him and that are now being repackaged for, yet, another generation of failure. More corporate control and corporate welfare, test-and-punish child abuse, and anti-teacher policies are not the answers to the problem of renewing and strengthening the American public education system. So, Mr. President, let me respectfully remind you that when you get on the side of the people (the parents, students, and teachers) instead of the side of the billionaires, then the people will get on your side. Not until then. Only then. In the meantime, your Party be damned. It's just that simple.

And here are the People asking for the President's help--the children who, indeed, are looking for something a little more than the same "shitty deal" for education that Eli Broad, Walmart, and Bill Gates have in mind. From the New York Times:

It was a silent call to arms: an easy-to-overlook message urging New Jersey students to take a stand against the budget cuts that threaten class sizes and choices as well as after-school activities. But some 18,000 students accepted the invitation posted last month on Facebook, the social media site better known for publicizing parties and sporting events. And on Tuesday many of them — and many others — walked out of class in one of the largest grass-roots demonstrations to hit New Jersey in years.

The protest disrupted classroom routines and standardized testing in some of the state’s biggest and best-known school districts, offering a real-life civics lesson that unfolded on lawns, sidewalks, parking lots and football fields.

The mass walkouts were inspired by Michelle Ryan Lauto, an 18-year-old aspiring actress and a college freshman, and came a week after voters rejected 58 percent of school district budgets put to a vote across the state (not all districts have a direct budget vote).

“All I did was make a Facebook page,” said Ms. Lauto, who graduated last year from Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan, N.J. “Anyone who has an opinion could do that and have their opinion heard. I would love to see kids in high school step up and start their own protests and change things in their own way.”

At Columbia High School in Maplewood, that looked like 200 students marching around the building waving signs reading “We are the future” and “We love our teachers.”

In West Orange, a district that is considering laying off 84 employees, reducing busing, cutting back on music and art, and dropping sports teams, it was high school students rallying in the football stands.

At Montclair High School, it meant nearly half of the 1,900 students gathered outside the school in the morning, with some chanting, “No more budget cuts.”

In the largest showing, thousands of high school students in Newark marched past honking cars stuck in midday traffic to fill the steps of City Hall under the watchful gaze of dozens of police officers.

With their protests, the students sought to send a message to Gov. Christopher J. Christie, a Republican whose reductions in state aid to education had led many districts to cut staff and programs and to ask for larger-than-usual property tax increases. Mr. Christie, who has taken on the state’s largest teachers’ union in his efforts to close an $11 billion deficit, has proposed reducing direct aid to nearly 600 districts by an amount equal to up to 5 percent of each district’s operating budget.

“It feels like he is taking money from us, and we’re already poor,” said Johanna Pagan, 16, a sophomore at West Side High School in Newark, who feared her school would lose teachers and extracurricular programs because of the governor’s cuts. “The schools here have bad reputations, and we need aid and we need programs to develop.” . . . .

Support the Courage of New Jersery High School Students As They March to Save Public Education

Tens of thousands of high school students are marching and protesting this morning to save their schools from the axe wielded by New Jersey's conservative governor. As Christie works to slash the most important public service in the state, he "has refused to renew the so-called millionaires’ income tax, which applies to incomes over $400,000."

From the Star-Ledger:

Thousands of New Jersey high school students are expected to walk out of classes today to protest education cuts proposed by Gov. Chris Christie.

"A lot of things are being cut, like clubs and after school activities," said Kathi Lloyd, a senior at Newark's University High School. "A lot of kids come to school for the clubs and if they cut those, school is really boring for them."

Lloyd, 17, joined thousands of fellow New Jersey students on Facebook, where the protest was first organized. According to the site, more than 16,000 students plan to leave school between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Students from seven high schools in Newark are expected to walk out at 1 p.m. and march to the school board building at 2 Cedar St. to protest cuts in after school programs and layoffs. Students from around the state are expected to participate in similar marches throughout the day.

The protests were initiated by Michelle Ryan Lauto, an 18-year-old college student who spent her high school years in Bergen County. Lauto, said she set up a Facebook event page about a month ago encouraging the walkouts.

By Monday evening, more than 16,000 people said they’d be participating — a number that was rising by hundreds every few hours.

“It’s insane,” she said of the interest. “I mean, I’m very excited.” Lauto has family members who will be affected by the cuts but said her aim was to show that students were genuinely concerned for the welfare of their schools.

“I think there’s this general stereotype about high schoolers being very apathetic,” she said. “We’re the ones that are going to be affected by this. So we have to show we don’t like what’s being done.”

AP Reports Millions Rallying to Save Public Education

Students, teachers rally to protest education cuts

03/04/10 at 11:48 AM

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Millions of students, teachers and parents are expected to rally throughout California and many other states to protest deep cuts in funding for schools and universities.

Demonstrations, marches, teach-ins and walkouts are planned nationwide Thursday in what is being called the “March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education.”

Events are being held at most of California’s public colleges and universities to protest budget cuts that have led to canceled classes, faculty furloughs and steep fee hikes.

Students, teachers and school employees are converging in Sacramento to persuade lawmakers to restore funding to public schools.

Regional rallies are planned in civic plazas in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities.

March 4 May Be Watershed Event

Last November the vulture capitalists in charge of the public university system of California levied a 32 percent tuition increase, thus eradicating the possibilities of many working class students to go to a good college. For despite recent increases to Pell Grants, such grants now cover just a third of college costs, whereas they covered 75 percent of costs 30 years ago.

Notwithstanding the recent noose hangings and racist partying at the Compton Cookout by a new generation of California crackers, engaged students, workers, academics, and K12 teachers will be in the streets and in the politicians' offices on March 4 to protest the corporate takeover of American public education.

An update posted at HuffPo:

University of California students are gearing up for Thursday, Mar. 4, the state's designated Student Day of Action to protest higher education budget cuts. But with the events of last week, including a spate of racial incidents at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, the day has come to hold a greater significance.

According to the blog StudentActivism.net, Mar. 4 has become a countrywide phenomenon -- 100 events are scheduled in 28 states to protest the condition of higher education in America The UC Regent Live(blog) has a full schedule of tomorrow's events across in California, including film screenings, marches and rallies.

(see a MAP of events)

Yesterday, hundreds of UC students traveled to Sacramento to protest the myriad issues afflicting the state school system and what they view as a flimsy response from the system's administration in response. At UC Berkeley, two hundred students, clad completely in black, gathered for nearly three hours to bring attention to the racial tension on their campus and others in the system. In Sacramento, two Berkeley students were arrested while lobbying Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Yuba City) to sign a letter pledging more support to schools.

UC System President Mark Yudof, who has responded effusively on his Facebook and Twitter accounts to recent events, met with state leaders yesterday. According to his Twitter, he met with Department of Finance Ana Matosantos to discuss the system's budgetary needs and was "very encouraged."

Will Students and Workers Save the Universities? Giving Thanks for the Disobedient

A piece by Marc Bousquet from Brainstorm:

Yesterday [November 18] the University of California Regents walked into a room packed with gasoline and nonchalantly lit their cigars -- handing down tuition increases that will hike 2010 rates 44 percent over 2008, turning higher ed into a gated community for the offspring of California's "Real Housewives" class. Their bet is the usual bet made by the comfortable: Someone else will get scorched.

Why wouldn't they feel safe? We live in an upside-down world where bankers -- not the capitalists, just their paid lackeys -- get bonuses larger than the deficits of entire states, and the money pimps at The Wall Street Journal are saying, yeah, take it, citizens, take it, ha-ha! And say thank you, too!

The misery of tens of millions in every sector of the public -- in education, health, income security, could be swept away if we forced more bankers and executives to live like teachers and nurses for a year or two.

California Is Burning

That pent-up misery is volatile, though, and starting to flow around the feet of the bankers. More and more of us are waking up to one thought: It's the capitalism, stupid!

For over a year now, students, faculty, and parents across the globe have been turning out by the hundreds of thousands to protest American-style "reforms." You know: junk curricula, volunteer teaching, the return of indentured servitude, corporate domination of research, ruthless administrator control. The New York Times serving up Stanley Fish ("Do your job, punk!") as the face of higher ed.

Today, American students, staff, and faculty are protesting American-style education. Led by staff strikes and student occupations, a pillar of fire is racing across the California desert toward the huge air-conditioned mausoleums of the trustee class.

No question, it's not yet an inferno.

But last month's occupations featuring a few dozen are now occupations of a few hundred: 500 students have set up barricades at UC Santa Cruz; hundreds more marched chanting through hallways at San Francisco State, taking over an administrative building.

At least a thousand students and faculty will face off against riot police and join staff picketing the Regents in Los Angeles.

Yesterday 14 students were arrested for chanting and singing "We Shall Overcome" during the regents' theater piece ("we're having a meeting here and trying to pretend that the outcome is in doubt!")

At 6 a.m. this morning, two or three dozen students stormed UCLA's Campbell Hall, chaining the doors.

Give Thanks for the Disobedient

This has actually been a season of swift victories for faculty and students -- wherever we've seen truly organized and militant faculty, as with AAUP-Oakland in Michigan in October, or grad students, as at Illinois this week, the administration has quickly caved.

Of course the administrators caved -- the real power is where it's always been, with the mass of us, if we can just keep ourselves together long enough to say "no" in one breath.

The California situation is bigger and more complex.

And the faculty with the loudest voices, those in the tenure stream at the UC campuses, aren't unionized: Most of them and many of their students have little experience with solidarity with other education groups, much less other labor sectors.

They're doing their best, but they can't help themselves. So far it seems they want to save their idea of Berkeley and other public research universities -- and just don't care all that much about Cal State-Fullerton, third-grade teachers in Modesto, or the nontenurable faculty they work with every day.

Because, honestly, if they did care about other educators and workers, they'd have been out in the streets long ago! And not too many of them are in the streets right now.

The biggest problem with this California movement is that the folks who are actually in the streets -- staff, especially, but grad students, contingent faculty, and undergraduates -- are letting the tenured do the talking for them.

I mean, these are decent folks doing the talking. Don't get me wrong. Still, why not shut up and hand the mike to the militant, articulate, intellectual staff, for a change?

As higher ed becomes a mass experience -- as more and more workers in all sectors become highly educated, whether they learn in schools or on the job -- it is harder and harder to pretend that higher ed is just about the reproduction of the Bush family's privilege. Today, higher ed is a field of working-class struggle, and one of the reasons it's still hard to see that is the hierarchical, undemocratic tendency represented by handing the mike to Judith Butler. Again, no offense to Butler and other mike holders. (After all, I'm holding one right now, aren't I?)

This could be a moment where the tenured might -- just might -- have unexpected humility thrust on them and achieve enough overnight wisdom to subordinate their Stanley-Fish-sized egos and take leadership from pipefitters, nurses, and food-service workers.

We'll see.

In the meanwhile, I'll be giving thanks for the disobedient, those chaining themselves to doors and shutting down the absurdity of business-as-usual while thugs in suits hand over our future to yet another movie actor.