Dear Commons Colleagues,

Yesterday, our elected officials in Washington, D.C., showed again that our system of governing is not working.  The Congressional committee charged with coming up with a plan to reduce the national debt failed to reach an agreement.  As the NY Times reported:

“The failure of the supercommittee … prompted wrenching questions about whether Congress can be trusted to do its job: the committee, after all, was supposed to do the hard work that lawmakers had put off in August when they eventually agreed to avert default by raising the nation’s debt limit”

It is hypocrisy that we take on grandiose projects of nation building overseas and encourage democratic and representative government when our own is incapable of meaningful action in times of crisis.

For shame!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

During a peaceful Occupy Movement at the University of California, Davis, campus police came in to tear down tents and proceeded to arrest students who stood in their way. Once students peacefully demanded the release of the arrested, a police officer pepper sprayed the students to open a path for the rest of the officers.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

There was an article in the NY Times a couple of days ago entitled, Homeless Children, Many Unanswered Questions, that examined the education services New York City provides for this under-the-radar population.  The article focused on a NYC Council hearing on the coordination or lack thereof of two City agencies, the Department of Education and the Department of Homeless Services, responsible for these children.  The Council asked basic questions such as:

“How many homeless students are enrolled in school? How many live within walking distance of their schools? And how many students are riding yellow school buses to distant neighborhoods — or taking long journeys on the subway to get to the school they had been attending before being placed in shelters far from home?”

The responses from the Departments’ representatives were not encouraging.  For many basic questions, officials had no answers or outdated data going back to 2008-09.  They could not even agree on a definition of homeless students.

“…officials from the Department of Human Services defined homeless students as those 6 to 17 years old, with no other housing options. By that measure, they said, they serve an average of 6,902 children a month.

But the Department of Education defines homeless children as those who are 3 to 21 years old and in temporary housing. By that measure, their estimate is more than eight times that of homeless services: an estimated 53,503 homeless students who were served last year.”

We need to do better for these children!  It takes a village!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Republican primary has shifted again with Newt Gingrich competing with Herman Cain for the privelege to represent the GOP in next year’s presidential election.  After the right-wing love affairs with Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain faded, it is now Newt Gingrich’s turn to challenge Mitt Romney for the prize.  The affair with Newt will not last long.  He has too much baggage going back to when he was majority whip in the U.S. Congress during the Clinton years.  He also has not always moved through his marriages and love affairs in the most graceful manner.  Regardless here are a couple of his latest positions that are sure to endure him to right-leaning Republicans.

On the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

“All the Occupy movement starts with the premise that we all owe them everything,” Gingrich said at the Thanksgiving Family Forum in Iowa, as noted by Igor Volsky at ThinkProgress. “They take over a public park they didn’t pay for, to go nearby to use bathrooms they didn’t pay for, to beg for food from places they don’t want to pay for, to obstruct those who are going to work to pay the taxes to sustain the bathrooms and to sustain the park, so they can self-righteously explain they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything… [they should] go get a job right after [they] take a bath”

On education reform:

“In poverty stricken school districts, Mr. Gingrich said that schools should enlist students as young as 9 to14 to mop hallways and bathrooms, and pay them a wage. Currently child-labor laws and unions keep poor students from bootstrapping their way into middle class, Mr. Gingrich said…. “You’re totally poor. You’re in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing. I’ve tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”

God help us!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

This will be my last posting on the Occupy Wall Street movement at least for this week. Mike Lupica, Daily News columnist, makes a good point in an article entitled, Occupy Wall Street Protesters Need to Decide Where to Go Next?     He comments that the movement just cannot simply draw attention to itself but has to transform street activism into political activism.   This is similar to the discussion at the Defending Higher Education Conference held last month at the Graduate Center.   Snarling Wall Street, disrupting the subways and marching across the Brooklyn Bridge (again) are important actions but at some point, they need to translate into action in Washington.  Both Republicans and Democrats need to feel concerned about Occupy Wall Street and what it means to their elections and reelections.

Lupica relates the following:

“…the fight isn’t with the people coming out of those downtown subway stations, isn’t with New York City policemen doing their own jobs, it is with a system that has brought us to this moment in America.

I am with a man named Paul from New Jersey at Zuccotti before they all move out of there. He works in information technology but had come over here because he wanted to be a part of this, at the age of 52…

“The next step,” Paul said, “is that we have to get involved in the political process. We can make all the noise we want and march all over the place, but eventually the only way to effect change in a democracy is through the ballot box.”

We should also be concerned that at some point the clashes with police will get more violent.  We have already seen aspects of this in other parts of the country.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Marking its two-month anniversary, there were demonstrations across the country in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In Manhattan, Occupy Wall Street protesters were joined by labor unions and students in a March to Foley Square, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge.  More than 200 people were arrested with some blood being spilled but given the number of protesters the day was mostly peaceful but incredibly tense.  In Los Angeles, more than 20 protesters were arrested after ignoring orders to vacate streets. In Denver, 100 protesters marched by government buildings and intersections, bringing traffic to a standstill.  Among those arrested here in New York were, Jumaane D. Williams, a New York City councilman,  George Gresham, president of 1199/S.E.I.U., United Healthcare Workers East, and Mary Kay Henry, the president of the nationwide Service Employees International Union.

CUNY was well-represented by the Professional Staff Congress, faculty and students.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Today there will be a series of demonstrations, teach-ins and marches to celebrate two months since the protests started in New York City.  These will come two days after the NYPD cleared out Zuccotti Park of tents, sleeping bags, and other equipment that the demonstrators were using.

Meanwhile, as reported in the NY Times City Room blog, Occupy Wall Street actions continue around the country.

An 84 year-old woman (pictured above), a priest and a pregnant woman were pepper-sprayed during a march to Seattle’s Westlake Park in support of evicted protesters in New York. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

In Boston, protesters won a temporary a restraining order prohibiting the city from evicting their encampment. [Boston Globe]

An unrelated shooting on campus did not stop thousands of people from rallying at the University of California, Berkeley. The crowd included hundreds of Occupy protesters recently evicted in Oakland. Robert Reich, a Berkeley professor and former United States labor secretary, told the crowd that “the days of apathy are over.” Students there were expected to join a large protest in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon. [SF Gate]

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Protesters returned to Zuccotti Park yesterday after it was cleared of tents, tarps and sleeping bags.    A  federal judge ruled that the protesters may return to assemble but they cannot re-erect tents or use the park for sleeping.

The NY Times has an editorial on the wisdom and motives of this move on the part Mayor Michael Bloomberg who was quoted as saying that:

“the park’s owner had asked the city to clear the area… [and] that the surprise police action in the middle of the night [Tuesday] was safer for everybody because fewer people were at the park…[and] the protesters would be allowed in the park 24 hours a day but not to sleep.”

Asked what happens when somebody lies down or goes to sleep on a bench in the park, the mayor said the protester would be asked to leave. If that does not work, the demonstrator would be carried out.

The editorial concludes that this sounds like a recipe for conflict.

Also this coming Thursday (11/17) is a day of scheduled actions across the nation for economic justice and in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in New York City, local labor unions and students will be meeting at Foley Square at 5:00 pm.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Early this morning, New York City police officers began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, telling the people there that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested.

At the time of this posting, most Occupy Wall Street protesters had left the park but others had chained themselves to lamp-posts or locked arms.  The police pulled them out one protester at a time and handcuffed them. Most were walked out without incident. The officers had gathered between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges earlier and rode in vans to the one-square-block park. They entered shortly about 1 a.m.

As they did, dozens of protesters  shouted “No retreat, no surrender,” “This is our home” and “Barricade!”

The mayor’s office sent out a message on Twitter at 1:19 a.m. saying: “Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the park is cleared.”

We hope this does not end it any violence.

Here are links to two articles on the police action:  NY Times article —- Huffington Post article.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times had an article on November 4, 2011, on the chances of legacy students (children of alumni) being admitted into elite, Ivy League colleges.   I blogged about this last year.  The issue keeps surfacing as one of social justice in that legacy students get preferential treatment in the admissions process.  The recent NY Times article looked at this from the point of view of the legacy applicant who is under a good deal of pressure to follow in the footsteps of mom or dad and who faces the prospect of being rejected.

The NY Times has started an opinion blog on the issue. Here are differing perspectives.

“the legacy policy passes on a privilege, and predominantly whites enjoy the benefits. Indeed, it hurts minority diversity on campuses”   John Brittain, a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.

“it is foolish to ignore the benefit that appropriate prudently applied legacy admissions can serve in crafting a freshman class.”  Joel Tractenberg,  president emeritus and university professor of Public Service at George Washington University.

One of Yale’s most famous legacy admissions was George W. Bush who was quoted in 2004, as saying:  “colleges should do away with preferences for the children of alumni”.    His daughter, Barbara, graduated Yale in 2004.

Tony