Category Archives: Education

Another School Year, Another War Year

Posted on 09/05/2010 by Sarah Lazare

CLASSES HAVE STARTED AGAIN and military recruiters are out in full force. Students spill onto the quad, the August sun blazes down on the sea of people rushing off to class or lounging in the grass. And there are my … Continue reading →

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The Battle of Mahomet

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Neil Parthun

STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS in Mahomet were back in class on Monday, Aug. 23 after the Mahomet Seymour Education Association (MSEA) and the school board were able to settle on a new contract on Aug. 20. The settlement marked an end … Continue reading →

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Education vs. Incarceration: The Early Release Program in Illinois

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Brian Dolinar

With a current state budget deficit in Illinois of some $13 billion, among the largest in the country, state legislators are making tough decisions about where to save money. Recently, Governor Pat Quinn proposed an “early release” program for prison … Continue reading →

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Odyssey Project

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Kerry Pimblott

For the past four years, the Odyssey Project has offered a free-college accredited course in the humanities to workers and low-income men and women in Champaign County. Thanks to support from both the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) and the University … Continue reading →

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Valedictorian Speech From The Odyssey Project

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Janice Walker

Good Afternoon Friends, Family and Faculty. Thank you for taking time to celebrate with the 2010 Graduating class of the Odyssey Project. About 2-years ago I saw the Odyssey Program advertised in the News Gazette paper and I thought WOW, … Continue reading →

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Urbana Neighborhood Connections, Inc.

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Belden Fields

On January 19 of this year, Neighborhood Connections Center, Inc opened its doors as a community learning center for African American young people. It is located at 1401 E. Main Street in Urbana. The Center is the creation of Janice … Continue reading →

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The Campus Faculty Association at U of I Fights Back: In Springfield and on Campus

Posted on 05/05/2010 by Belden Fields

In a political climate of incredible irresponsibility, ineptitude, and corruption, the Campus Faculty Association (CFA) at the U of I has been letting our state legislators know that we will not put up with the privation to which public education … Continue reading →

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Letter by an Undocumented UIUC Student

Posted on 05/05/2010 by anonymous

No identification, no rights. Am I invisible? Where do I belong? Who can I trust? What will I do? How can plan my future? When will I stop being an “illegal alien”? These are the mixture of feelings I have … Continue reading →

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”Students For Justice In Palestine” Question Israeli Studies

Posted on 11/04/2009 by David Green

On a visit to Israel in 2007, then Chancellor Richard Herman expressed his opposition to a boycott of Israeli academics supported by Great Britain’s University and College Union. Herman stated that “Scholarship and research must remain fluid and borderless, unconstrained … Continue reading →

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GEO Update

Posted on 10/04/2009 by Rich Potter

DESPITE HAVING WORKED for over two months under the terms of an expired contract, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) continues to seek a negotiated agreement over the terms of their new contract with the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. … Continue reading →

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GEO Struggles For A Living Wage And The Future

Posted on 09/04/2009 by Rich Potter

WHILE THE ONGOING ADMISSIONS SCANDAL at UIUC has brought mainstream attention to the administration’s misplaced priorities, labor activists have long been familiar with the contradictions. It doesn’t surprise Peter Campbell therefore, to know that the Chancellor approved using $300,000 of … Continue reading →

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Mahomet Seymour Teacher Union Struggle

Posted on 06/02/2009 by Neil Parthun

On June 11, the Mahomet Seymour Education Association (MSEA) held a press conference to gain public support for their opposition to Mahomet Seymour teaching staff being asked to perform medical and health services as a condition of their employment, instead … Continue reading →

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Executive Pay at the University of Illinois

Posted on 05/02/2009 by Brian Dolinar

MANY HAVE EXPRESSED OUTRAGE at the $20 billion in bonuses handed out to Wall Street executives, even as they were receiving bailout assistance from the federal government. As the “business model” has crept into the university, we find the same … Continue reading →

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GEO Fights for a Living Wage

Posted on 05/02/2009 by John Gergely

BARGAINING IN AN ATMOSPHERE of fiscal crisis is difficult. There is a temptation to maneuver conservatively, hoping only to hold one‘s ground. However, for those of us who are graduate employees, the current and future stewards of higher education, the … Continue reading →

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Class in Session

Posted on 08/01/2008 by John Marsh

Everyone knows that higher education and higher incomes go together—that is, the longer you stay in school, the more money you’re likely to make. But the actual numbers, especially when it comes to poverty, are surprising. In 2003, according to … Continue reading →

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Graduate Employees Unite!

Posted on 06/01/2008 by Andrew Ó Baoill

Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO, IFT/AFT 6300) hosted 80 graduate employee union activists and leaders for the AGEL (Alliance of Graduate Employee Locals) conference, a twice-yearly gathering to reflect on lessons learnt and challenges … Continue reading →

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Aramark™ Makes Horrible Lunches, and Kids Do Something About It

Posted on 05/01/2008 by dezyp

I go to Leal Elementary School in Urbana, and our school lunches suck. Most of the kids in my class think the school lunches are unhealthy, and should not be served at our school, or any other elementary school. For … Continue reading →

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Highlander Folk School, Education for Social Change

Posted on 05/01/2008 by Jon Hale

IN THE MIDST OF CALLS FOR SOCIAL REFORM, interested educators and volunteers should take note of the quiet history of education for social change in the United States. The Highlander Research and Education Center, originally known as the Highlander Folk … Continue reading →

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Urban Planning’s Dirty Laundry

Posted on 05/01/2008 by Elizabeth Sweet

THE UIUC CHAPTER OF THE PLANNERS NETWORK organized a clothesline event in Temple Buell Hall on Thursday April 24th. The goal was to create a display of the good, the bad and the ugly done by planners and policy-makers to … Continue reading →

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Consent Decree 101: The Mis-education of Champaign’s Black Students

Posted on 02/25/2007 by Brian Dolinar

More than 50 years after the landmark case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954), this country still has not fulfilled the dream of desegregation. In fact, there are many indications that the country is seeing a trend toward … Continue reading →

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