Peoples Movement Assembly Fall 2014

The George Mason University Public Sociology Association and
International Network of Scholar Activists (INoSA)
Invite you to a

People's Movement Assembly
The Changing Landscape of Higher Education:
Austerity, Precarity & Graduate Student Workers
October 18, 2014
George Mason University, Founder’s Hall, Arlington, VA

Program

12:00 Noon - 1:30PM Part 1: The economic and political context of academic work & Visioning alternatives

1:30-3:00 PM Part 2: Developing Networks & Strategies for Change

*Please register to help us ensure everyone has a lunch! Register via our website or send email to: gmusocgrads@gmail.com

The Peoples Movement Assembly is part of the 4th Annual Public Sociology Conference (Re)Visions Of The Future: Public Sociology, Environmental Justice, & the Crisis of Climate Change. At George Mason University. For more information visit our website.

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Background Readings:

• Who is Professor Staff? by Center for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) and New Faculty Majority (NFM) Just in time for fall semester, the second report from the Center for the Future of Higher Education is now out. Entitled, Who is Professor "Staff" and How Can This Person Teach So Many Classes? the report critiques the trends in higher education employment that have rapidly moved in the direction of a low wage and high tuition model. Read more.
• Professors on food stamps (Salon.com Sept. 21, 2014) "...The most shocking thing is that many of us don't even earn the federal minimum wage, said Miranda Merklein, an adjunct professor from Santa Fe who started teaching in 2008. Our students didn't know that professors with PhDs aren't even earning as much as an entry-level fast food worker. We're not calling for the $15 minimum wage. We don't even make minimum wage. And we have no benefits and no job security. Read more.
• Academic Workers Fight Back "You are not a Loan" Says Strike Debt
• Student Loan Crisis and Solutions
• An estate tax can fund higher ed/eliminate loan burden--Bill Gates (Sr.)

Corporatization of Universities & Movements of Resistance

• The Open Access Movement and Activism for the 'Knowledge Commons' Jackie Smith, Editor of the Journal of World-Systems Research.
• Open Access Week is October 20-26, 2014. Contact your local librarian!