RE: https://mastodon.social/@turkanbeyaz/116721649287729366

#philosophy #felsefe #aft

The American Association of University Professors (#AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers (#AFT) just released a joint "Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education."
https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2026/Higher_Ed_Vision_and_Policy_Platform_326.pdf

Also see the summary by their two presidents.
https://www.highereddive.com/news/higher-education-must-be-rebuilt-to-restore-public-trust-heres-how/821031/

The blueprint calls for "transforming" higher ed, and the summary calls for "rebuilding" and "overhauling" it.

My take is that the blueprint conservatively restates ideals for higher ed long and widely held by academics themselves -- like me. Insofar as there's an argument here for transforming, rebuilding, and overhauling, it looks like this: The ideals need no revision. In fact, don't touch them. We've fallen short of living up to them, mostly through defunding and cost-shifting to students and their families.

I deeply wish to see us restore slashed funding, relieve student debt, and create fair pay and job security for professors. That might even deserve to be called transforming, rebuilding, and overhauling.

But is it enough to restore public trust? Is it true that the ideals need no revision? Do we need little or no transformation beyond economic transformation to respond to recent trends and current politics? Some of the harmful economic decisions (about tuition and pay) were forced by external circumstances, and some were not. But beyond those that were not, does the academy itself bear any responsibility for the current loss of trust?

#Academia #HigherEd #Universities

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RE: https://mastodon.social/@MplsPhotoBot/116244993617458947

More strike content from the photo bot. Wasn't really aware of this one either and looked it up. The teachers struck for voters to pass a tax increase. Would be highly illegal today and most unions wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Very reminiscent of the WV #Wildcat strike a few years ago. After this and a sympathy strike with janitors a few years later the state outlawed public worker strikes, setting up the famous 1970 strike. This strike at the time though was the second largest teachers strike ever.

#Minneapolis #Strike #Labor #LaborHistory #Unions #MFT #MFE #AFT

From Minneapolis to the Bay Area, workers and youth are increasingly raising the question of collective action and a general strike against ...

San Francisco educators, on strike since February 9, should reject with contempt the betrayal of their four-day strike and expand the struggle to Los Angeles and beyond.#SanFrancisco #teachers #GavinNewsom #UUESF #AFT #Weingarten #defendpubliceducation #teacherstrike #austerity
Vote “No” to betrayal of San Francisco teachers’ strike! No more sacrificing livelihoods and social rights while billionaires feast!

Minnesota teachers, school districts go to court to evict ICE - People's World

MINNEAPOLIS—In Inver Grove Heights, Minn., ICE agents arrested a special ed paraprofessional in the Concord Education Center parking lot in that suburb south of St. Paul.#labor #us #aft #ice #minnesota #schools #teachers #unions
Minnesota teachers, school districts go to court to evict ICE

Why do we have a Drug Enforcement Agency and a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives? Are states really too stupid to be trusted to enforce their own laws? It seems to me like a waste of taxpayers' money, not to mention lives in need of medications...

#AFT #bureaucracy #DEA #drugPolicy #drugs #federalism #firearms #governmentWaste #regulation #TenthAmendment #tobacco

Biggest US labor unions fuel No Kings protests against #Trump: ‘You need a voice to have freedom’

With more than 2,700 events planned across the US, one organizer, James Phipps, 75, says: ‘Protest is all I’ve done all my life’

from #TheGuardian #Guardian
Michael Sainato
Sat 18 Oct 2025 05.00 EDT

Some of the largest #LaborUnions in the #US are involved in organizing the #NoKings protests, with more than 2,700 demonstrations planned across all 50 states, with the #ServiceEmployeesInternationalUnion (#SEIU) and #AmericanFederationOfTeachers (#AFT) anchoring events.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/18/no-kings-protests-labor-unions?CMP=share_btn_url

#WorkersRights #Workers #Unions #Labor #LaborMovement #TradeUnions #USA #USpol
#news #politics