Patrick's blog

While students didn't get everything they wanted and the struggle continues, the relative swiftness of victory here is worth examining.

Last night, we learned that five trustees of the Cooper Union suddenly resigned from the board, including the board's recent chairman Mark Epstein. This is an unambiguous victory for anti-tuition organizers and activists, and a victory for the future of Cooper Union.

The annual State of the Union Address is a key aspect of the political spectacle of the modern Presidency. It's in these addresses that Presidents announce new policy goals, attempt to shore up public support, try out new narrative and rhetorical frames to shape the political landscape for the coming year, and in most cases, assiduously avoid going into detail.

Boards of Trustees (or Regents, Visitors, etc.) are as old as American colleges themselves. The University of Virginia's initial Board of Visitors included two Presidents —Thomas Jefferson and James Madison — and a host of local and national politicians. 

The grievances that have spurred the strike are specific to higher ed, but the general line of attack from UC administrators is one that workers experience everywhere.

Last Friday, workers at Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted 712 to 626 against unionizing with the United Automobile Workers. There are more than a thousand unionization votes in the U.S. every year, so what made this vote particularly important? What can students learn from their failure?

Edward Glaeser, an economics professor at Harvard, lays out the case for working for free.

Well, free for your employers, not for you, because you should really just take out a few more student loans while you're at it:

Former UC Davis cop John Pike, made infamous when cameras captured him casually pepper spraying dozens of peaceful protesters, is now receiving $38,059 from the university. But it gets worse.

Yesterday, in the middle of a packed auditorium at SUNY's Binghamton University, President Obama laid out a number of proposals aimed at reforming the U.S. system of higher education. Here's why they miss the mark.

Below is a reportback from Sara Fitouri, Denver-based organizer with COSPA, the Colorado Student Power Alliance.

From August 1st - 5th more than 300 youth from around the nation converged in Madison, Wisconsin for a weekend of radical thought, workshops including anti-oppression and direct action trainings, and reporting back on a year of work in their home states.