April 5 Teach-In at UMass Amherst

Posted on by March 31, 2011

Next Tuesday, April 5, will be a teach-in at UMass, from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm in the Student Union Ballroom.

This is an historic moment in US history, but change will only happen if we educate ourselves for action.  Many of us, and our students, have trouble keeping track of what is happening, or knowing what to make of assorted (and contradictory) media accounts.  A teach-in is a way to present evidence and ideas; speakers will supplement their remarks with written handouts to take home.

GEO and MSP are among many teach-in co-sponsors, along with more than a dozen academic departments.   We already have excellent speakers – professors, community members, staff and students – as well as a live-stream connection with the national teach-in featuring Frances Fox Piven, Jeffrey Sachs, and Cornel West.  Our teach-in is part of a national movement; over 100 campuses around the US have committed to holding similar teach-ins on April 5th.

We need your participation to make this the most informative, inspiring and well-attended event UMass has seen in years.

Together, GEO and MSP are asking professors and graduate students to commit to the following:

  1. Tell your classes about the event.  TA’s: Encourage your professor to speak up, pass out flyers, offer extra credit.  Faculty: Announce the teach-in yourself, or have a TA announce it, and allow your TA’s leeway in encouraging undergrads to participate.
  2. Publicize this event to your colleagues, committees, community groups and other networks.  The event is free and open to the public.
  3. Bring your class to the teach-in.  It is an educational forum and the speakers will teach about the economic crisis, the politics of inequality, how unions and collective bargaining work, and alternatives to neoliberalism.  If you bring your class, your students can report back or write about what they learn.
  4. Ask your department or program to endorse the teach-in. They will join Afro-American Studies, Anthropology, Communication, CPPA, Economics, English, History, Labor Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology, STPEC, and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, among others.

Following the teach-in, there will be a call-in day on April 6th to contact our legislators and ask them to endorse more progressive revenue policies instead of budget cuts, attacks on collective bargaining, and fee hikes.

Please join us on Tuesday, April 5th, from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm, in the Student Union Ballroom.

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