IHE article: #ScholarStrike

[OneMoreYear]

I didn't see a thread on this, but if I missed it I apologize.

IHE article about the call for a ScholarStrike: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/28/professors-plan-strike-racial-justice

My department is having discussions about this, and I'm curious what members of the fora think.

[TreadingLife]

From the article

It is of "crucial importance for those of us in higher education to take a stand in solidarity with our students and the communities we serve,"

Are students asking us to stand with them in this way? Is a strike during a pandemic while many students are attempting to learn online what students want? I have not heard about any students strikes that are being complemented by this scholar strike. There were only two mentions of the word "students" in the entire article, and I quoted one of them. This seems like another example of faculty, staff, or administrators trying to tell students what they want. Where are the student voices? Or do we not care because we've made up our minds regarding how we want to respond? At least then don't proclaim it is in response to our students when it is not.

[polly_mer]

This is another example of why academic is a bad word in some quarters.

Working with the government, police, and community groups to make changes based on research matters to students.

Serving on the boring government and related committees to sort through making the necessary changes based on research and local needs matters to students.

Talking in a loud voice at people who don't have the power to make the changes to address the problems is just annoying.

[TreadingLife]

Talking in a loud voice at people who don't have the power to make the changes to address the problems is just annoying.

I agree. A more impactful statement of support could be for faculty, staff, and administrators to agree to donate some amount of money to organizations whose mission and expertise is to work towards the policy changes we need. We've already completed step one by identifying the problems. Let's not stay on that step by continuing to talk about it, even though that's easier. Let's move to step two and start pushing for specific, tangible changes. I know the students on my campus repeatedly express frustration with our abundance of words and lack of measurable actions.

[Hibush]

Polly makes a blunt but true statement above.

Improvement in social justice will require directing energy and enthusiasm to durable changes in law, policies and procedures. This action doesn't accomplish that.

I'm afraid Professor Gannon is not being helpful to the cause he supports.

[Wahoo Redux]

TreadingLife makes the point about donating money, which any of us could do individually through Gofundme or any number of sites, but as a group what could academics specifically do?

[TreadingLife]

TreadingLife makes the point about donating money, which any of us could do individually through Gofundme or any number of sites, but as a group what could academics specifically do?

We could start a single GoFundMe with the #ScholarStrike name and donate to show the power of our collective scholar dollars (it has a nice ring to it) in one pot of money. It would be a visible aggregation of financial support from faculty that could really move the needle for certain causes.  Now, I doubt we could decide on how to best spend that pot of money, but in theory it could work. I really don't care how the money is spent. Just shut up and do something at this point. Talk is very cheap. Let's put our money where our mouths are if we really care about supporting change.

NBA players got the league to open stadiums for voting. That is a good example of using power, position, and privilege to get a tangible and meaningful change implemented.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/sport/nba-michael-jordan-postpone-playoff-wnba-thursday-spt-intl/index.html

I don't think we need more teach-ins to rehash what we already know. We need action-ins where we give faculty, staff and students specific charges to go into the communities to affect change. For example, how does one get on a citizens review board for policing-related complaints? Itemize the steps, solicit nominations to serve, count that as service for faculty and students, and follow up with feedback on the progress in the community in X months. Alternatively, we could give the money to organizations who are better prepared to organize and implement such programs at the community level, but we could still allow faculty, staff and students to get credit for that engagement. That is something that colleges and universities could do to show that they value that form of service.

[Wahoo Redux]

I think virtually anyone can start a Gofundme page.  You'd need to recruit people at multiple colleges for this to honestly be an academic effort----start with Facebook?  Mass emails?  Contact your HR people?  Not sure how you'd get the word out.

It would take a lot of work, particularly if you wanted to move fast, but it could be done.

[Hibush]

TreadingLife makes the point about donating money, which any of us could do individually through Gofundme or any number of sites, but as a group what could academics specifically do?

Academics can put the power of the academy to work for the benefit of those who have been and continue to be short changed. That was the idea behind affirmative action in admission, but we do far more than just admission. Each of our institutions serves a different student base well, and engages with society in a specific way. I'd use those strengths in a new way.

Do Black students feel like full members of the student body, or are there actions you could take to make them feel more central? If you can do that, you can then enroll more, have them learn more while there, make more connections while there and leave with more confidence. In this moment those of us outside the Black community are learning a lot about some ridiculous and completely unnecessary challenges our Black colleagues and students face that we had no idea about. Cumulatively, they end up feeling rejection. (Our friend Mahoganny often provides examples of the impact exclusionary behavior has.)

Spending the day examining that phenomenon within ones own department, and instituting different procedures that will improve the situation could have lasting impact.

I use this example because it is something fully under our control, using tools we already know, but deploying them in a different way with a different intended outcome.

You can do other things, but doing the stuff close at hand seems to be a minimum. 

[Diogenes]

I think the teach-in model would be far more impactful than cancelling classes and meetings. I'm thinking about converting those days to be specifically about the history of racism in my field.

[Wahoo Redux]

I totally agree with Polly about shouting at the wrong people----the whole protest movement is predicated on this----but the one thing with the strike, the sit-in, or the march is that it gets headlines.  It generates news, local and sometimes nation, good and bad.  It gets people's attention. 

I'm not sure a teach-in would do that, at least not to the same degree, but it would make the same closed-minded people mad.

It depends on what one wants to achieve with the experience, I guess.

[polly_mer]

For those who missed it in the mass media, this is day two of #ScholarStrike.

Even Twitter is pretty quiet on the effect because, well, it's still just words without the actions that matter.  The big picture issues might matter, but the strike itself isn't even bringing media attention to the problems.

In contrast, our local school board is seeing a lot of community action through something like

. For example, how does one get on a citizens review board for policing-related complaints? Itemize the steps, solicit nominations to serve, count that as service for faculty and students, and follow up with feedback on the progress in the community in X months.

Changes are being made there by the educated people who were angry about how community input prior to and during the virtual board meetings was being ignored.

[Hibush]

For those who missed it in the mass media, this is day two of #ScholarStrike.

Even Twitter is pretty quiet on the effect because, well, it's still just words without the actions that matter.  The big picture issues might matter, but the strike itself isn't even bringing media attention to the problems.

Should they be tweeting if they are on strike?  I truly don't follow the logic of the organizers, so the answer to that question isn't obvious.

[polly_mer]

Apparently one shouldn't tweet if doing so is admission of breaking a state law: https://insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/09/17/professor-investigated-participating-scholar-strike

[marshwiggle]

Apparently one shouldn't tweet if doing so is admission of breaking a state law: https://insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/09/17/professor-investigated-participating-scholar-strike

A few years ago, there was a local news story about a woman getting arrested for theft, based on photos of herself with stolen property on her Facebook page. Social media is an incredibly useful tool for law enforcement, as many people do the electronic equivalent of turning themselves in.