Education

By Belle Chesler | ( Tomdispatch.com) – It seems appropriate that the 2020-2021 school year in Portland, Oregon, began amid toxic smoke from the catastrophic wildfires that blanketed many parts of the state for almost two weeks. The night before the first day of school, the smoke alarm in my bedroom went off. Looking back, […]

Education

Yes, Biden needs to Cancel Student Debt up to $50K: Society and Employers should pay for College to begin With, like High School

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The years in the aftermath of the North American Free Trade Act were difficult and often painfully disheartening for many working class Americans. Growing up with the expectation that a high school degree was a ticket to jobs with income, healthcare, comfortable pensions they were confronted by […]

Climate Crisis

How Persistent Student Organizing Forced the University of Michigan to Divest from Fossil Fuels

Waging Nonviolence

By Jonathan Morris | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Last month, the University of Michigan became the latest to accept the obvious — that investing in the destruction of society is fundamentally counter to the mission of higher education. With its endowment of $14.2 billion, Michigan now becomes one of the largest public universities […]

Education

A Green New Deal: Arkansas School District goes Solar, Gives Teachers $1000s in Bonuses with Savings

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Climate Wire reported last fall on a remarkable story about the way renewable energy not only saves the earth from the destructive climate emergency but can at the same time improve our lives and those of our children. Our hero is Michael Hester, who some years ago became the superintendent […]

Authoritarianism

Mr. Erdogan: Cease Turkish Gov’t Campaign against Boğaziçi University, Students, Faculty and Institutions

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan President of the Republic of Turkey T.C. Cumhurbaşkanlığı Genel Sekreterliği 06689 Çankaya, Ankara Turkey Dear President Erdoğan: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North America and its Committee on Academic Freedom to […]

Democratic Party

The Federal Gov’t owns 92% of Student Debt. Will Biden Wipe it Out?

Inequality.org

By Sarah Anderson and Margot Rathke | – ( Inequality.org) – Washington is abuzz with ideas for actions the Biden-Harris administration could take that would not require Congressional approval. One of the buzziest: cancellation of student debts owed to the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education owns about 92 percent of the $1.6 trillion […]

Education

Mental Health at Michigan: What can the stories of five individuals tell us about the history of mental health at the University of Michigan?

contributors

A project of University of Michigan students mentored by Professor Henry Cowles. Mirrored from Storymaps: “Mental Health at Michigan.” N.B. Scroll down via scroll bar on right or click in text and use “down” key. Mirrored from Storymaps: “Mental Health at Michigan.”

Donald Trump

Is the Trump Administration Trying to destroy our Public Schools, Too?

Belle Chesler

( Tomdispatch.com) – Seventeen years ago, against the advice of my parents, I decided to become a public school teacher. Once I did, both my mother and father, educators themselves, warned me that choosing to teach was to invite attacks from those who viewed the profession with derision and contempt. They advised me to stay […]

Donald Trump

Trump, Convicted of University Fraud, wants to Defund the Universities to Stop People Thinking

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump notoriously set up a phony “university” to bilk prospective students of millions of dollars. He lost a civil suit to the outraged victims and had to pay them $25 million. Now the stable genius is coming for America’s universities. He wants to kick out all international students where their […]