Office Hours Higher Ed

Faculty Lounge Episode: CSU Strike and Faculty for Justice in Palestine

Welcome to Office Hours, a podcast about campus politics in the end times. We’re back after a brief hiatus for winter break! Today’s episode is a Faculty Lounge episode, where we are checking in on some current news in higher ed. We’ll be discussing the brand new faculty strike in the Cal State system and pro-Palestine faculty and staff organizing. Links relevant to the discussion:    ‘They can afford fair compensation’: faculty at largest US public college system strike for equitable salaries | California | The Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/04/california-state-university-faculty-strike]   Cal State faculty just got a 5% raise. Here's why they're upset [https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-09/ahead-of-faculty-strike-csu-raises-pay-by-5-and-closes-contract-negotiations]   Cal State tuition to increase 34% over next five years - CalMatters [https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/09/cal-state-tuition-2/]   Strike - California Faculty Association [https://www.calfac.org/strike/#:~:text=CSU%20Management%20Walks%20Out%20of,strike%20January%2022%20to%2026].   Howard Bunsis Fall 2023 Assembly Presentation on CSU Budget [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7VFTfdXtKY]   Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine | Announcement statement of Palestinian solidarity chapter formation | The Daily Pennsylvanian [https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/01/penn-faculty-justice-palestine-movement]   Palestinian Artist Samia Halaby Slams Indiana University for Canceling Exhibit over Her Support for Gaza | Democracy Now! [https://www.democracynow.org/2024/1/18/censorship_palestinian_solidarity#:~:text=Palestinian%20Artist%20Samia%20Halaby%20Slams,Democracy%20Now!]

Organizing In A Climate of Fear: Pro-Palestine Campus Organizers Speak Out

For today’s podcast we’re sharing interviews with two student activists involved in Palestine solidarity organizing on their campuses. Instead of our usual format where we bring all of our guests together for a discussion, today we’re bringing you two interviews back to back. Our guests focus on the ongoing repression that activists are facing at their universities. As our listeners may know, anti-Palestinian repression on campuses is intensifying. At the time of this recording Rutgers has just suspended its SJP chapter and the DOE is launching an investigation into organizing on multiple campuses.    Guests: Our first guest is Jannine Masoud, a law student at Rutgers University, member of the National Lawyers Guild, and Palestine solidarity activist for over a decade. Our second guest is going by “X”, and is a law student and student organizer at UCLA School of Law.  Also, a note on our interview with X: due to the intense climate of harassment and doxxing of pro-Palestine organizers, X has asked that their voice be distorted in order to protect their identity. So if you’re wondering why the audio sounds a little strange - that’s why.   Faculty, staff, and student listeners: support your campus SJP or Palestine solidarity group! Pressure your union to sign on to labor calls for a ceasefire now. Demand that administrators protect students from harassment. Demand that your union protect academic workers from retaliation. If you are a faculty member (which they define to include any campus worker who supports student learning), consider joining the newly formed Faculty for Justice in Palestine.    Relevant links: Palestinian Freedom, Antisemitism Accusations, and Civil Rights Law - LPE Project [https://lpeproject.org/blog/palestinian-freedom-antisemitism-accusations-and-civil-rights-law/] Rutgers-New Brunswick suspends pro-Palestine student group – NBC10 Philadelphia [https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/rutgers-new-brunswick-suspends-pro-palestine-student-group/3720870/] Penn president resigns after antisemitism criticism | AP News [https://apnews.com/article/new-york-governor-antisemitism-colleges-israel-gaza-ae1294d644b3305cc51e8d9bb7252766] SJP Statement 12_13_23.pdf [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pS9xFt-_JGVFqOJLPfOYYWo5ETVzLKey/view?usp=sharing] Rutgers Faculty For Justice in Palestine Releases Statement [https://dailytargum.com/article/2023/12/letter-to-the-editor-rutgers-faculty-for-justice-in-palestine-releases]

Fighting For a Free Palestine On Our Campuses: Faculty Lounge Episode

In this episode, David and Laura recap the unprecedented wave of pro-Palestine organizing happening on U.S. college campuses over the past few weeks. We also discuss the repression these movements are facing from campus administrators and pro-Israel organizations (who have a long history of targeting campus anti-Zionist organizing). We talk about the role of universities in social movements, where this movement might be headed, and what we'd like to see happen in the coming weeks. We also reflect on the tendency of the pundit class to dismiss youth organizing and infantilize young people who are leading the way in the fight for Palestinian liberation. Some articles mentioned in our discussion: Appalling: Columbia University suspends JVP and SJP student chapters [https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/11/10/cu-appalling/] The Shift: Brandeis becomes first school to ban Students for Justice in Palestine on campus – Mondoweiss [https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/the-shift-brandeis-becomes-first-school-to-ban-students-for-justice-in-palestine-on-campus/] 20 arrested during protest at Brown University | WPRI.com [https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/providence/police-make-arrests-during-protest-at-brown-university/] CUNY stands with Palestine liberation, despite what the chancellor says – Mondoweiss [https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/cuny-stands-with-palestine-liberation-despite-what-the-chancellor-says/] CUNY faculty and staff: We reject the Palestine Exception to free speech at CUNY – Mondoweiss [https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/cuny-faculty-and-staff-we-reject-the-palestine-exception-to-free-speech-at-cuny/] Student Protests for Gaza Targeted by Pro-Israel Groups for Alleged Civil Rights Violations [https://theintercept.com/2023/11/16/israel-palestine-gaza-student-protests/] Israel’s War on American Student Activists | The Nation [https://www.thenation.com/article/world/israel-spying-american-student-activists/] Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida v. Raymond Rodrigues | American Civil Liberties Union [https://www.aclu.org/cases/students-for-justice-in-palestine-at-the-university-of-florida-v-raymond-rodrigues] Columbia University Apartheid Divest: Who we are [https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2023/11/14/columbia-university-apartheid-divest-who-we-are/] Cops, Colleges, and Counterinsurgency: An Interview with Dylan Rodriguez [https://www.blackagendareport.com/cops-colleges-and-counterinsurgency-interview-dylan-rodriguez]

Students and Faculty Organizing Against the Right in Florida

In this episode we speak with faculty and student organizers from three Florida campuses.   In Florida, Republicans are attacking higher education on several fronts. In late October, Ron DeSantis and the chancellor of Florida’s State University system ordered college presidents to deactivate Students for Justice in Palestine on their campuses. This continues a longer trend, which our guests address, a trend of right wing attacks on trans students and on disciplines that the right sees as too woke, such as ethnic studies and gender studies. These attacks also undermine labor rights for faculty. Despite the intensity of these attacks and the radical right’s gains, our guests see opportunities for mass politicization and cross-coalitional solidarity. Our interviewees provide an overview of the right wing attacks on higher education in Florida over the last year, and put them into a larger national context of higher ed privatization. Then we get into the different campaigns taking place on each campus, and break down some of the challenges of coalition building, overcoming student and faculty apathy, and attempting to fight for a more militant faculty union. Our interviewees: Katie is a Visiting Teaching Faculty at Florida International University and is the Membership Chair of the faculty union, UFF-FIU. She also organizes with Free FIU. Robert Cassanello is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Central Florida, president of the faculty union, UFF-UCF, and the faculty advisor for YDSA at UCF. Allan Frasheri is an undergraduate at the University of Florida, a co-chair of YDSA at UF, and an organizer with Free UF. Links: Florida Is Worth Fighting For: A Report on YDSA Organizing at Florida International University | Reform & Revolution [https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/08/23/florida-is-worth-fighting-for-a-brief-report-on-ydsa-organizing-at-florida-international-university/] FIU community protests HB999 and administration complacency - PantherNOW [https://panthernow.com/2023/04/13/fiu-community-protests-hb999-and-administration-complacency/] https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fiu-faculty-union-to-protest-stop-woke-act-15606486 [https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fiu-faculty-union-to-protest-stop-woke-act-15606486] Find us on social media: Instagram @officehourshighered Twitter @officehoursed

ChatGPT And Us: Faculty Lounge Edition

This week David and Laura are flying solo for a "Faculty Lounge" episode. Our topic: ChatGPT and Us. How do we respond to ChatGPT as academic workers with a radical critique of higher ed? Using recent think pieces by Corey Robin and Steven Salaita as jumping-off points, we reflect on the lack of a collective labor politics in most writing on ChatGPT; the positionality of our working-class students and their alienation from the learning experience; ChatGPT as an extension of the neoliberalization of higher ed; and why we identify with "cheaters." Please note: we are including two groups of links below: one on ChatGPT and one providing links to educational resources on Gaza and Palestine.   Links on ChatGPT: Steven Salaita, "Yet Another Think-Piece on ChatGPT" [https://stevesalaita.com/yet-another-think-piece-on-chatgpt/] Corey Robin, "How ChatGPT Changed My Plans For the Fall" [https://coreyrobin.com/2023/07/30/how-chatgpt-changed-my-plans-for-the-fall/] JILL R. EHNENN AND CAROLYN BETENSKY, "ChatGPT and Academic Labor" [https://academeblog.org/2023/08/22/chat-gpt-and-academic-labor/]   Resources for Teaching on Gaza During an Attempted Genocide: https://teachpalestine.org/- [https://teachpalestine.org/-] a project of the Middle East Children's Alliance. Many useful links for educators such as:     https://teachpalestine.org/resources/videos/- [https://teachpalestine.org/resources/videos/-] docs and films useful for the classroom     https://teachpalestine.org/resources/books-for-educators/ [https://teachpalestine.org/resources/books-for-educators/]- books for educators https://palestinett.org/ [https://palestinett.org/] - "The Palestine Teaching Trunk" - teaching materials designed for high school, but could be used in higher ed as well visualizingpalestine.org/ [http://visualizingpalestine.org/] -interactive posters that use statistics and other data to illustrate aspects of Palestinian life under Israeli rule.   Listeners: Please share your thoughts on ChatGPT with us! You can find us on Instagram @officehourshighered or on Twitter @officehoursed.  Fellow Educators: If you have more resources on teaching Palestine, the history of colonialism in the Middle East, and the history of anti-colonial movements - let us know and we will gladly share them.