As corporate reform tightens its grip on higher education, the future of our institution, like that of others across the country, is in peril. AAUP is hosting a series of speakers who will share their perspectives of this phenomenon, both as witnesses to its outrages and as observers of a wider framework that puts the movement into context. From their presentations, the PSU community will learn how some universities have experienced and coped with this growing threat. If you value the integrity of our university, you won’t want to miss these three renowned guests describing the current move to privatize and corporatize America’s public universities.
Privatization of a Public Good: Steve Hicks
April 9th at 4pm in the Urban Gallery
Steve Hicks is an English Professor at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and former president of the largest independent faculty union in the US. He will lead us in examining the language used by education policymakers at multiple levels, from the national to the local. What are the “reformers” trying to reform? Whose interests do they serve? Hicks’s speech will elucidate the privatization agenda driving current discussions on higher education.
Teaching to Change the World, Peter McLaren
May 7th at 4pm in SMSU 296/8
Peter McLaren is a Professor of Critical Studies and Co-Director of The Paulo Freire Democratic Project at Chapman University. A leading scholar of critical pedagogy, McLaren explores the intersection of education and social justice. Though some styles of teaching and learning may uphold the status quo, McLaren sees the classroom as a potential vehicle for radical change. His talk will attempt to revolutionize our perspectives on education, against the current thrust of corporatization in academia.
The Fight To Save City College of San Francisco, Alisa Messer
October 8th at 4pm in the Urban Gallery
Alisa Messer is an English teacher and past president of AFT 2121, a faculty union fighting to keep the doors of its college open. Three years after accreditors first threatened to shut down San Francisco’s only community college, they haven’t succeeded; a superior court judge even confirmed that the accreditors broke the law. But the college is still in peril. What have we learned about the weapons being used against public higher education? How can students, workers and communities turn the tide? Messer will share this complex story and its lessons for other campuses.
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