Reflections on a CUNY Job Action?
One of my department colleagues, doing a poll yesterday, asked whether or not I would support a faculty job action. I responded that I could not support carte blanche something not specifically identified.
At one point I studied civil disobedience closely and even brought out a collection of essays (Prentice Hall) running through the range of possible responses to specific injustices. And I have also watched the use of civil disobedience closely over the years in oppressive environments, e.g. the Soviet Union. There are practical rules to this game apart from the obvious ones sketched by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others -- that a civil disobedient act be: 1) public, 2. non-violent, 3. done lovingly 4. targeted at a specific injustice, 5) with willingness to accept arrest and punishment. Jack Rawls and others (a bit embarrassed by King's theological reference in #3?) substituted "conscientiously" for "lovingly," which does not exactly do the trick, as one man's conscientious act is another's outrage.
King also suggested the four stages that should lead up to civil disobedience: "1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, 2) Negotiation, 3) Self-Purification and 4) Direct Action." (From King's "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- which it was rumored at the time in inner circles was partially drafted by Andy Young?
Again some of the most sophisticated civil disobedient actions of the last quarter century were carried out in the Soviet Union where most oppressive things could happen to those who antagonized the regime in power. Particularly the possibility for Jews to emigrate was won by such acts done at the right time and in the right way. And remember the Danes' rescue of their Jewish population from the Nazis.
Some bottom line additional principles and policies need to be considered:
1) We must spell out clearly that the victims of CUNY board and Pataki economic reductions of funding of CUNY are students as well as faculty -- and our national long term interest as well. I have tried to do this by posting a number of comments under the rubric of "Cheating Our Students" which point out what all we faculty know -- that the quality of CUNY instruction has been crippled by such things as substituting part-time for full-time teachers, pressuring teaching with ever heavier teaching loads that reduce individual one-on-one teaching, the reduction to virtually nil of the teaching of research and writing to students, the failure to teach students even how to take examinations, the encouragement to cheating, the lack of follow up needed by students (e.g. the two recommendations for super students that I will be writing today which students without the benefit of experienced full-time faculty will not have available when needed), etc. Needless to say, the Benno Schmidt claim to have improved the standards of CUNY by cutting out such basics as remedial courses for senior college students is a massive LIE -- a cover-up for the diminished quality of teaching at CUNY and also racial, ethnic, and class discrimination introduced by excluding or slowing down students from our failing public schools by diverting them to our community colleges. This rant by the guy who sold off the bulk of his Edison stock just before it crashed? Martha Stewart went to jail for less.
2) The targets of any civil disobedient actions must not be the innocent, e.g. our students and those faculty whose income is already far too low who would be further harmed by the provisions of the outrageous Taylor law that never should have been applied to non emergency public employees (i.e. the loss of job and/or of two days pay for each day on strike).
3) There are things yet to be done to publicize the widespread outrage that is being perpetrated on higher education in this country. We are not alone -- nearby are also NYU, Yale, Columbia, the New School where the same abuses are being perpetrated (I receive postings from across the country on the Adjuncts list to which I shall also post this with many other blind copies). We are rapidly falling behind as a productive nation to competitor nations where higher education is first priority stuff -- China, India, and most European and other developed countries. The silence of our media on our CUNY demolition should be directly challenged. Picketing the NY Times might be more effective along these lines than the CUNY board -- at least the newspaper competitors of the Times and TV media might give us a bit of coverage? Karen, where are you?
These are reflections written in haste. Perhaps others can expand with more imaginative ways to get our very valid message out -- U.S. higher education is being crippled by our right wing think tankers -- Manhattan Institute, Heritage foundation, Free Enterprise Institute, Hoover Institution and hundreds of other lesser ones that are attacking it in this country to protect the slashed tax rates of their pay masters!
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net/blognews.asp
At one point I studied civil disobedience closely and even brought out a collection of essays (Prentice Hall) running through the range of possible responses to specific injustices. And I have also watched the use of civil disobedience closely over the years in oppressive environments, e.g. the Soviet Union. There are practical rules to this game apart from the obvious ones sketched by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others -- that a civil disobedient act be: 1) public, 2. non-violent, 3. done lovingly 4. targeted at a specific injustice, 5) with willingness to accept arrest and punishment. Jack Rawls and others (a bit embarrassed by King's theological reference in #3?) substituted "conscientiously" for "lovingly," which does not exactly do the trick, as one man's conscientious act is another's outrage.
King also suggested the four stages that should lead up to civil disobedience: "1) Collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, 2) Negotiation, 3) Self-Purification and 4) Direct Action." (From King's "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- which it was rumored at the time in inner circles was partially drafted by Andy Young?
Again some of the most sophisticated civil disobedient actions of the last quarter century were carried out in the Soviet Union where most oppressive things could happen to those who antagonized the regime in power. Particularly the possibility for Jews to emigrate was won by such acts done at the right time and in the right way. And remember the Danes' rescue of their Jewish population from the Nazis.
Some bottom line additional principles and policies need to be considered:
1) We must spell out clearly that the victims of CUNY board and Pataki economic reductions of funding of CUNY are students as well as faculty -- and our national long term interest as well. I have tried to do this by posting a number of comments under the rubric of "Cheating Our Students" which point out what all we faculty know -- that the quality of CUNY instruction has been crippled by such things as substituting part-time for full-time teachers, pressuring teaching with ever heavier teaching loads that reduce individual one-on-one teaching, the reduction to virtually nil of the teaching of research and writing to students, the failure to teach students even how to take examinations, the encouragement to cheating, the lack of follow up needed by students (e.g. the two recommendations for super students that I will be writing today which students without the benefit of experienced full-time faculty will not have available when needed), etc. Needless to say, the Benno Schmidt claim to have improved the standards of CUNY by cutting out such basics as remedial courses for senior college students is a massive LIE -- a cover-up for the diminished quality of teaching at CUNY and also racial, ethnic, and class discrimination introduced by excluding or slowing down students from our failing public schools by diverting them to our community colleges. This rant by the guy who sold off the bulk of his Edison stock just before it crashed? Martha Stewart went to jail for less.
2) The targets of any civil disobedient actions must not be the innocent, e.g. our students and those faculty whose income is already far too low who would be further harmed by the provisions of the outrageous Taylor law that never should have been applied to non emergency public employees (i.e. the loss of job and/or of two days pay for each day on strike).
3) There are things yet to be done to publicize the widespread outrage that is being perpetrated on higher education in this country. We are not alone -- nearby are also NYU, Yale, Columbia, the New School where the same abuses are being perpetrated (I receive postings from across the country on the Adjuncts list to which I shall also post this with many other blind copies). We are rapidly falling behind as a productive nation to competitor nations where higher education is first priority stuff -- China, India, and most European and other developed countries. The silence of our media on our CUNY demolition should be directly challenged. Picketing the NY Times might be more effective along these lines than the CUNY board -- at least the newspaper competitors of the Times and TV media might give us a bit of coverage? Karen, where are you?
These are reflections written in haste. Perhaps others can expand with more imaginative ways to get our very valid message out -- U.S. higher education is being crippled by our right wing think tankers -- Manhattan Institute, Heritage foundation, Free Enterprise Institute, Hoover Institution and hundreds of other lesser ones that are attacking it in this country to protect the slashed tax rates of their pay masters!
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net/blognews.asp
posted by Ed Kent at 11:09 AM
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