By Michael Meranze

Updated Below: (1), (2), (3) (4)

The Labor and Protest actions continue in full force in Wisconsin.  On Friday the 18th, a reported 40,000 people crammed themselves in and around the capitol in Madison to oppose Governor Scott Walker's efforts not only to roll back the wages and benefits of public workers but to deny them collective bargaining rights.  Unionists, teachers, students, allies, and even professors from the University of Wisconsin have converged on the capitol to demand that the Republicans back down from their plans.

Early hopes that governmental and university authorities in Scotland might resist the siren call of cutbacks in the humanities and social sciences appear to have been premature.  Glasgow university has unveiled plans to consolidate history, archeology, and classics and to scrap most of the modern language departments.  In addition, anthropology, nursing, and social work may be cut.  Faculty and supporters have responded with a public letter (unfortunately behind a firewall).  They are also circulating a petition in defense of the teaching and study of foreign languages.  They are asking for people to sign it to show support.

If there are any updates we will add it to this post.

As many of you know, Bob Samuels and others organized a "counter-conference" recently during the MLA's visit to Los Angeles.  In case you missed it, or want to revisit it, the video is now available.  You can find it here.  Chris's initial notes on the major themes of the afternoon are here.

By Michael Meranze

The pilgrimage of President Yudof and Chancellors Reed and Scott to Sacramento was notable for a number of reasons. First, while they were there for an Assembly hearing they chose to present a united front at their press conference. Instead of the usual arms length distance between the sectors, the three administrators made clear that California’s higher education future was at systematic risk. They insisted that California was at a crossroads: the proposed budget cuts building on poor public policy going back decades. Yudof and Reed, for example, both made the case that CSU and UC were effectively being given budgets equivalent to the late 1990s while the size of their student bodies had increased dramatically. Scott and Reed were more militant than was Yudof but none of them tried to deny the dismal character of the present. They each insisted that unless funding changed, the systems would shrink and increasing numbers of Californians would be shut out of higher education. Indeed, that closing off of opportunity has already begun.

President Yudof and Chancellors Reed and Scott made their way up to Sacramento on Monday for a press conference and testimony to the Legislature.

You can see the Press Conference Here.

You can watch the Hearing Here.

Jack Scott's Press Statement is Here

The CSU Press Release is Here.

Mark Yudof's Prepared Testimony is Here.

Thanks To Cloudminder for some of the links!

Commentary and Context to follow soon.

The Orange County District Attorney has brought misdemeanor conspiracy charges against eleven of the Irvine Students who protested the speech of Michael Oren last spring.  Campus officials already imposed penalties on students and suspended the Muslim Students Association for a year.  The Orange County District Attorney is seeking to impose legal penalties on top of university penalties and has indicated that he has filed the charges because the students of an “organized attempt to squelch the speaker."

Further information on the actual charges can be found here.

Information on some responses can be found here.
There are two petitions being circulated against the effort to criminalize the student's actions.  If you are a member of the UCIrvine community you can find one here.  If you are outside the UCIrvine Community you can find one here.

These petitions were drawn up before the actual charges but you can still sign them.

Update: 100 UCI Professors Have Signed a Petition and Issued A Statement Calling for the District Attorney to Drop the Charges.  You can read it HERE.