"O! be some other name:
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Shakespeare uttered these famous lines, and they reverberate with us, often.
Yet how frequently do we really think about their meaning? What do names really mean? How do we identify with what we are called, and how do they tie us to one cause, pigeon-holing us, not letting us speak further afield, and making us seem “outlier” when we do?
"Man With a Briefcase" sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky
Is it the color of our skin that makes us more vulnerable for deportation? Are we not white enough? Do we fall through the cracks, forgotten, and are we left behind, kicked to the ground and then sent back?
Are we afraid of that report going around that the minority in schools (black, brown, Asian) has now become the new majority? http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/08/20/01demographics.h34.html
Will sending that brown back where we came from make the white majority come back?
Why is this mass deportation happening, when other countries have been welcomed in the past, and others still are taken in?
I will write more of my most recent trip to the border, and all the wonders in the midst of pain, but before I do -- since I just got back -- I will leave you with this video that Paul Pfeifer, a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and active participant of LIRS (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) sent me so that I could take a look.
This explains simply and in a nutshell what is going on; take a look. Then if you want to read more about it, check out these other pages from LIRS. Everyone is doing all they can to help. You can too!
The humanitarian crisis, as far as the media tells you, seems to be slowing down. Do not believe them. They are just sending these people who have done no wrong, and who are escaping violence and death, to more pain and torture.
Is this what you would want for your child, your family, your student, your friends? Do onto others, they tell us... YES, do onto others!
HELP!
The first link has some history. The second link includes many additional links.
We need to become aware so that we are not caught in this endless "Oh I did not know... Just like they tell us with adjunct faculty -- I don't know -- and we say it is not acceptable. This injustice, also, is not acceptable.
We must all become aware. We must all make others aware. And we must all take action, in whatever way we can, no matter how small.
Jack Longmate: Goals of COCAL & the Program4Change
I am a great believer in the Program for Change, which is presently being used effectively at Vancouver Community College. All adjunct faculty can implement this program in as little or as long a time as needed to achieve equality. Hence, I am presenting Frank Cosco & Jack Longmate's program, with an excellent exposé written by Jack Longmate.
This is not just theoretical. It is tried and true. Please read & share widely! And if you want equality at your university, do more than share: implement!
Thank you to Vanessa Vaile from Precarious Faculty for her technical assistance, always!
Ana M. Fores Tamayo, Adjunct Justice
Originally posted to adj-l, September 1, 2014
all faculty, part-time and full-time, probationary and permanent, are on the same 11-step pay schedule;
workload is not segmented according to full-time or part-time status but proportionally, that is, a PT instructor employed at 60 percent of full-time is expected to perform the full range of job functions on a proportionally reduced scale (that is, both equal pay for equal work AND equal pay and equal work);
after two years of teaching at 50 percent of full-time, a probationary faculty becomes regularized, which is the functional equivalent of tenure;
a regularized part-time instructor can remain part-time indefinitely if desired (or increased his or her workload up to a full-time if desired);
all faculty accrue seniority;
seniority is the primary (but not exclusive) consideration in workload assignment; and
a part-timer can be senior to a full-timer.
While tenure exists in some British Columbian institutions, it does not at Vancouver Community College, but I believe that fact is incidental. There is job security, there is academic freedom, there is faculty governance, etc. Again, the absence of tenure is incidental. But that doesn't mean that we, in calling for the abolition of contingency, should call for the abolition of tenure, or allow ourselves to be understood in that way.
The Program for Change is based primarily on this real-world example, not a idealistic vision of some activist. As a co-author with Frank Cosco, I believe the Program for Change is our best shot at proposing how contingency could be abolished primarily through collective bargaining, but also through all other means available.
Also, I'm delighted to report that, thanks to the efforts of Ana Fores Tamayo, we now have a Spanish translation of the Program for Change, which we'll be posting very soon. Hopefully, we'll have a French version before too long too.
Best wishes, Jack Longmate
Continue to barrage Governor w/letters about mtg Mary Faith!
#MARYFAITH still has no meeting with the governor! PLEASE continue your letters, asking for a meeting: she needs our continued help!
I have added addresses below, pinned to the top as well as here: write to Gov. Cuomo's Correspondence aid, Kelly Brady at
[email protected][email protected]
Ian Rosenblum is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education.
Ask Governor Cuomo to meet with Mary Faith ASAP.
