Feature Archives

On Thursday January 8th, several hundred students, parents and teachers gathered at the Oakland Public Schools Administration Building for a hearing on Oakland school closures. As dozens rallied outside and hundreds packed a hearing room, "Oakland police barred dozens of other people from the building, including at least one journalist and a woman who asked to be let in to find her young daughter. The crowd chanted, banged on windows and rang fire alarms, which could be heard from inside the meeting room." (Oakland Tribune).
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The occupation of Oakland schools by the State of California enables the state to make cuts to Oakland schools that a democratically elected school board would never approve (see pdf). Administrator Randolph Ward at first threatened to close up 13 schools but settled on a short-list of 5.
Ward plans to rent shut-down schools to charter schools. Ward's attack is a thinly veiled attempt to privatize education. Ward is acting as an unelected, unaccountable overseer for the state to try to strip down, degrade and privatize education in Oakland.Read More...

Ignacio Chapela, an outspoken biotechnology critic, has been denied tenure by the University of California, Berkeley and will be let go when his employment contract expires in June. Read More...

On Feb 1, protests were held outside Orangeview Junior High in Anaheim in reaction to the Anaheim Union High School District's banning of books about prominent gays and lesbians. Despite instructions over the PA system that students were not to talk to protesters, many joined the activists and made their own signs and chants. Details

On March 8 2001, students and teachers from all around the Bay Area rallied at Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley and then marched through town to urge a reinstatement of affirmative action programs in the UC system. Apparently some looting occurred; the majority peacefully demonstrated. Some stores locked their doors. Watch a video of the rally, read the list of speakers and planned events.

4/1/01: Students will rally at the University of San Francisco at 2 p.m. on April 4 for the Student Labor Day of Action. This year the Day of Action's focus is living wages. Leila Salazar from Global Exchange will speak on globalization, and Art and Revolution will perform. Hundreds of USF students are expected to attend the demonstration along with others from UC Santa Clara. The demonstration is in support of fair working conditions for sweatshop workers all over the world. United Students Against Sweatshops members are seeking support for their appeal to USF food service contractors to rethink their reliance on prison labor.

April 2001:A series of hate letters, the murder of an unidentified black man and an unresponsive university administration have created an uproar at Penn State University. Read an account of what's happening.

Students rallied at the University of San Francisco on April 4 2001 for the Student Labor Day of Action. This year's Day of Action focused on living wages and fair working conditions for sweatshop workers around the world. United Students Against Sweatshops members are seeking support for their appeal to USF food service contractors Sodexho-Marriott to rethink their reliance on prison labor. Read about how students at American University dumped Sodexho. United Students Against Sweatshops members are seeking support for their appeal to USF food service contractors to rethink their reliance on prison labor.