The past year has been full of hateful influences impacting classrooms and academic communities across the country. How do we combat the hate and create progressive social change?
According to Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education and author of “Why Most Republicans Don’t Like Higher Education”, only 36% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said colleges and universities had a positive effect in a national survey released by the Pew Research Center in July, 2017.
A major reason for the declining support of higher education is the content the media has shared since the recession in 2007. More often than not, stories of students who have “wasted” time and money pursuing higher education, now living in their parents’ basement swimming in student loan debt are showcased than the success stories of individuals that have found a job and started a bright future with the help of their college degree. Media coverage of how some colleges have poorly handled controversial “hot-button issues” such as race and gender have also contributed to the decline in support of higher education.
Nell Gluckman’s article “Faculty Members Organize to Fight ‘Fascist’ Interlopers on Campuses” includes excellent examples of the violence portrayed by the media, and how faculty, staff, and students of Purdue University and other campuses are standing up and fighting back.
As someone who is pro-equality, and anti-racism, it is important to look at not only how you feel, but how you act to support those feelings; to support equality among all races on a deeper level of acting versus simple agreement. Laurie Calvert’s article “I Was a Racist Teacher and I Didn’t Even Know It” gives incredible insight on racism from the view of an educator. Calvert quotes, “Anti-racism is more of an action than a feeling. I’m learning to take action to promote equity and to call out injustice. I am learning to lean into doing my part to help this country that I love I become true to our promise of justice for all.”
Please join us for our upcoming Tuesday, September 19th session on “Strategies for Challenging Hate and Creating Progressive Social Change in Academic Communities.” Our esteemed presenters for the September 19th session include Brad Russell, Luke Lavera, and Zoe Weinberg. All Provisions sessions will take place in the Standish Conference Rooms A and B from 12:00-1:15 and are free to attend. Hope to see you there! 🙂
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