---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: élise thorburn <[log in to unmask]> Date: 4 December 2011 21:40 Subject: The University is Ours - Call for Participation - Toronto April 27-29 To: utaedco <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] Hi everyone, Here is a conference/meeting that i am co-organising here in Toronto. please circulate to all your networks and considering coming! elise > > *A Conference on Struggles Within and Beyond the Neoliberal University* > *April 27-29, 2012* > *Toronto, Ontario* > > The university belongs to us, those who teach, learn, research, council, > clean, and create community. Together we can and do make the university > work. > > But today this university is in crisis. The neoliberal restructuring of > post-secondary education seeks to further embed market logic and > corporate-style management into the academy, killing consultation, autonomy > and collective decision-making. The salaries of university presidents and > the ranks of administrators swell, but the people the university is > supposed to serve — students — are offered assembly-line education as class > sizes grow, faculty is over-worked, and teaching positions become > increasingly precarious. International students and scholars seeking > post-secondary or graduate education are treated as cash cows rather than > as people who might contribute to both research and society. Debt-burdened > students are seen as captive markets by administrators, while faculty is > encouraged to leverage public funds for private research on behalf of > corporate sponsors. > > The attack on what remains of public education has been total. Over the > last year we have witnessed the closure of humanities programmes, further > tuition hikes, the replacement of financial support with loans, union > lockouts, and the accelerated development of private, for-profit > universities. Yet at the same time we have seen growing waves of struggle > against these incursions, as students, staff and faculty in Europe, Latin > America, and across the Middle East organize, occupy and resist the > transformation. > > Our struggles are not limited to the university, but are a part the > widespread resistance against the neoliberal market logic subsuming all > sectors of our society. The university is a key battleground in this > struggle, and a point of conjuncture for the various labour, economic and > social justice struggles that face all of us – workers and students alike. > Crucially, these struggles occur on stolen indigenous lands and manifest > through colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, ablism and other forms of > oppression that hurt and divide us and that shape what sorts of knowledge > are considered valuable. > > We cannot cede the ideal of the university as a site for struggle and > debate. We cannot permit the dissolution of proliferating research, ideas > and innovations free from the demands and control of the market. We cannot > watch as universities are degraded into a mere site for corporate or > state-sponsored research and marketing. The time to mobilize is now! > > This conference will connect and chart the varied struggles against > neoliberal restructuring of the university in North America and beyond. We > envision a series of debriefings on experiences of resistance, the creation > of a cartography of local and global struggles, and a strategizing session > for students, teachers, workers and activists. We aim to develop a North > American network of struggles. > > We encourage presentations that raise questions and generate dialogue among > the rest of the participants. Ideally, submissions will indicate the > specific outcomes they hope will emerge from the discussion. We encourage > participation from those with first-hand experience of these crises, and > those engaged in the fight for free and public post-secondary education, > especially student groups and trade unions. > > For a better future for all – join us! > > POSSIBLE THEMES: > > - mapping the terrain of campus struggle in Canada and North America > - connecting with and learning from global struggles > - waged and unwaged labour in the university > - abolition of student debt > - the university and the occupy movement > - the cultural politics of the neoliberal university > - the death of the humanities > - militarization of the university > - intersections of university struggles other fights against oppression > - environmental justice > - beyond public education > - radical pedagogy > - academic freedom > - the politics of research funding > - the economics of the neoliberal university > - university and student governance > - the undergraduate experience of neoliberalism > - alternative/free/autonomous universities > - organizing the education factory > - the suppression of on-campus dissent and organization > > Please email submissions to [log in to unmask] by January 16th. > Also,if you would like to attend the conference, please RSVP to the same > address so organizers can plan for numbers. > > This conference is organized by the edu-factory collective in collaboration > with the University of Toronto General Assembly. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Advisory Board" group. 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