Category Archives: Education

Graduate Employees Go Wild—For Unionization

Posted on 02/10/2023 by Pat Simpson

Workers are on the move across America. Strikes rose by an astounding 50 percent between 2021 and 2022, and the pace of organization was equally impressive, with new fields of organizing opening in the service sector, the art world, and … Continue reading →

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The Anti-Democratic Movement Against Public Schools

Posted on 06/25/2022 by Pat Simpson

“The path to saving the nation is very simple—it’s going to go through the school boards.” – Steve Bannon The workingmen’s parties of the nineteenth century pushed hard, very hard for public schools and were key to their creation. Yes, … Continue reading →

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Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Al Kagan

Book bannings are very much in the news these days. They are happening mostly in more rural school districts and in the South, but not only in these places. The American Library Association (ALA) issued a statement in November of … Continue reading →

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SB 148 and the Assault On Teaching Black History

Posted on 03/31/2022 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Florida’s SB 148 represents the surging wave of white supremacist fascism sweeping across the country. Entitled “An Act Relating to Individual Freedom,” it symbolizes the deceptive, authoritarian, and racist motivations that characterize the white nationalist Republican Party. By making the … Continue reading →

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What Educational Values and Beliefs Underpin a Decision to have Armed School Resource Officers?

Posted on 10/27/2020 by Ameena Payne

This article was previously published in Smile Politely,  On December 17, 2019, the Urbana Board of Education (BOE) signed an intergovernmental agreement to approve funding of two full-time armed police officers (called School Resource Officers, or SROs)—one at the middle … Continue reading →

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Is the Addition of a Larger Police Presence to Urbana Schools a Human Rights Violation?

Posted on 06/05/2020 by Cara Munro

On February 4, 2019, I was in class at Urbana High School when a student came in and said there were students fighting in the hall and a teacher had been knocked out. My teacher quickly locked the door and … Continue reading →

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Being the Unreasonable: Educating Highly Marginalized Girls to Change the World 

Posted on 11/02/2019 by SwaTaleem Foundation

Seema is a 12-year-old Dalit girl from Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. In the social hierarchy, Dalits in India belong to the lowest strata, often devoid of education and job opportunities, and have compromised rights. On one … Continue reading →

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Why Traditional School is a Dangerous Place for Black Boys

Posted on 09/02/2016 by Lori Patterson

My son is an A student in his junior year of college and a budding composer and performer with shining confidence. However, that was not always the case. In the 5th grade he came home and said, “Mom, the teacher … Continue reading →

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CU Schools Need to Work Harder to Involve African American Parents

Posted on 09/02/2016 by Deloris Henry

During the month of August, thousands of children will head back to schools in Champaign Unit 4 and Urbana 116 school districts. Many African American families and students are probably anxious about the new school year because of issues they … Continue reading →

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Youth Poetry

Posted on 04/25/2016 by Public i

MY CURLY HAIR by Amina Alamin My curly hair can do anything it can be in big braids and in little braids and curled in to ringlets and many more things. Some people don’t like my hair and some people … Continue reading →

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UIUC is Balancing a False Budget “Crisis” on the Backs of Students and Faculty

Posted on 04/10/2016 by Mary Grace Hebert

Illinois has not yet passed a state budget for higher education, and schools like Chicago State have been left in the lurch. According to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago State will not be able to pay employees after April. Similarly, the … Continue reading →

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Barbara Kessel Accepts Humanitarian Award

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Barbara Kessel

Barbara Kessel’s acceptance statement of the 2016 James R. burgess, Jr.-Susan Freiberg Humanitarian Award given by the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Countywide Celebration Committee: “I am happy for this opportunity to remind the audience that as we sit here … Continue reading →

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Fraternities, Sororities and Racism at Illinois’ Flagship Land-Grant Institution

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Stacy Harwood

Efad Huq, Stacy Harwood and Ruby Mendenhall Research from the 2011-2012 Racial Microaggression online survey indicates that one area of concern expressed by students of color is the explicit racism they experience when interacting with largely White fraternity and sororities. … Continue reading →

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Rantoul Jr. High Hosts 1st NAAPID Event

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Neil Parthun

National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) is a national event that started in 1995 as the brainchild of long time Michigan principal Joseph Dulin. He was inspired to take action after attending the Million Man March and a speaker … Continue reading →

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Where is My Radical Gender Equality?

Posted on 03/11/2016 by Julie Laut

In my youth I had a sense that my generation was perfectly poised to make a leap toward gender equity. A child of the 1970s, I admired the strength of my grandmothers’ generation, which had negotiated the Depression and World … Continue reading →

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Culture, Liberation, and #BlackLivesMatter

Posted on 09/03/2015 by Amira Davis

During the early 70s, Amilcar Cabral wrote extensively on the theme of liberation and the collective persona of subjugated people expressed as culture. His libratory praxis offered a context to dialectically engage notions of freedom and strategies for its attainment. … Continue reading →

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From Boredom To Books: New Library at Stateville Prison

Posted on 03/06/2015 by Barbara Kessel

Three R’s (Reading to Reduce Recidivism) and BTP partnered to establish a new library at the Northern District Reception Center, the first stop for many newly sentenced males with time to serve in a state of Illinois prison. A state … Continue reading →

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Important Questions Related to the Steven Salaita Case at the U of I

Posted on 11/13/2014 by GaryStorm

For university faculty, when, if ever, is speech that includes what may be perceived as vulgar, discourteous or uncivil language protected from putative action by university administrators and/or boards of trustees? Is speech which uses such language, even swear words, … Continue reading →

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Academic Freedom and the Board of Trustees at the U of I: A Historical Perspective

Posted on 11/13/2014 by Belden Fields

At the panel on academic freedom and free speech across disciplines held in the Beckman Institute on Monday, September 29, one of the panelists, Professor Colleen Murphy, said that the project now must be to make sure that the way in … Continue reading →

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UIUC Report on Hiring of James Kilgore

Posted on 11/10/2014 by Brian Dolinar

On Monday, November 10, the Friends of James Kilgore held a press conference outside the Henry Adminstration building on the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign campus. They encouraged the Board of Trustees, meeting this Thursday, to reinstate Dr. Kilgore. After a right-wing … Continue reading →

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