On Wednesday morning, March 17th, the words "f**k black people" were found chalked on the sidewalk outside the Otter Express at CSU Monterey Bay. This follows an incident the night before where an African American student was called the N-word by a student she did not know who later claimed to be "joking." The hateful words of Wednesday morning underscore that racial insensitivity is never a joke. By Thursday night, members from all racial communities came together in solidarity with the African American community that was the target of this particular racist incident.

On Thursday, March 4th, students, parents, teachers, and community members marched through downtown, chanting "Whose Schools? Our Schools!", demanding that Rochester keep it's current system of an elected school board. Click HERE to see Rochester Indymedia's video report.

While corporate mass-media narrowly focus on the views of Rochester's elite, Rochester Students for a Democratic Society and the Community Education Task Force have been busy making their thoughts and analysis known by visibly showing public opposition to mayoral control of the school district. After the SDS-led march, the students facilitated a public speak-out at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church for the community to discuss the issue. All "mainstream" corporate media outlets were notably absent from this meeting. After the meeting, Harry Davis Reports that forum-goers were met with at least 20 police officers.

Related: Initial video reportback | On Facebook: Stop Mayoral Control of Rochester City Schools! | From DC-IMC: Why Teachers Unions Matter

OBAMA'S "RACE TO THE TOP" PICKS UP WHERE BUSH LEFT OFF, "CARPET-BOMBS" PUBLIC EDUCATION Nowadays a newspaper cannot be opened — or a TV turned on — without one being subjected to anti-teacher misinformation. The anti-teacher hysteria looks diverse on the surface, but underneath, this public controversy seeks to dislodge teachers unions: the right-wing trashes teachers’ unions outright, while the “liberal” media takes a more subtle, sophisticated approach, blaming the state of public education on “bad teachers” who must be fired and replaced. Both styles are the same in essence.

On Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 12pm at Morrill Hall on the U of M East Bank campus, there will be a march and rally to defend public education.  The protest was initiated in response to a call for a National Day of Action to Defend Education.  The call initially emerged out of struggles across California last fall against the 32% tuition increases and corporate administration there.  There are hundreds of protests planned at universities and colleges across the country tomorrow.  A list of protests by state shows them planned in at least 31 states as of March 3rd.

 

IMC brings three free events for Open House on March 13

 

Urbana, IL March 7, 2009:

Students, faculty, and workers gathered at UC Santa Cruz on March 4th to protest the privatization of public education in California. They used their bodies to block the streets at the intersections of High & Western, Hagar & Coolidge, and the west entrance of campus. UCSC was shutdown throughout the day, with traffic prevented from going up to campus. As of 7am, hundreds of students, faculty and workers had gathered at all entrances to campus.

As part of the March 4th day of action for public education, hundreds of students and supporters rallied at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. On February 11th, around 40 students, faculty and staff met to discuss how Cabrillo would get involved in the movement to defend public education. There was overwhelming support for the March 4th protest against the budget cuts in the California public education sector.

On March 4th, the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, along with Viernes Cultural, parents, students, and community partners, held a rally in the Watsonville plaza and a symposium to support public education and bring the community together to call for "No more cuts to education!"

March 4th at CSU Monterey Bay started out with a banner drop at the library. Around noon, students, staff and faculty participated in a walkout and marched from either end of campus to a rally in front of the Student Center. Students, staff, and faculty members spoke about cuts to public education and related issues, from spending money on wars and prisons, to the systemic injustice that prevents so many people from attaining higher education.

A protest was held on February 24th at UC Santa Cruz in response to racially themed parties held at UCs San Diego and Santa Barbara, and in response to the state of diversity at UCSC.

Yesterday, as college students were walking out, teaching in and rallying at universities citywide and nationwide, thousands of local high school students were streaming out of school gates and into the streets of New York. It was by far the largest protest to hit the State or the MTA since the Authority's decision to eliminate the free Student MetroCard last December. Joined by teachers, parents, transit workers, CUNY students and others, the students rallied at the office of embattled Governor Paterson and marched to the MTA hearings. Rush-hour traffic was blocked from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue.

LOS ANGELES - March 5, 2010 – Nationwide student demonstrations took place yesterday. Here in Southern California reports are still coming in of actions on the campus of every public university and college in the region. Additionally at a large march and rally in downtown Los Angeles students, parents and teachers marched against privatization of the public schools at the K through 12 level.

UCLA students staged a 5 hour sit-in at the chancellor’s office demanding to met with him. The only response from the office was from a vice chancellor who stated that there would be no statement or meeting. In addition to the sit-in there were a number of rallies, marches and teach-ins on the UCLA campus. UCSD, UCR, UCSB, Cal State Northridge and many others are also reporting sizable student actions throughout the day. No arrests or incidents of police violence have been reported on any of the South California campuses. However there are some disturbing reports of mass arrests and police violence at some campus in the bay area. See IndyBay for more on Northern California student actions. Latest from the newswire: Los Angeles Teacher Phyliss Williams Testimonial | | UCLA Students Sit-In at Murphy Hall -updated 2:21 | | March 4 Education March Downtown Los Angeles | | Los Angeles March 4th Day of Action Photos Set 1 0f 3 | | Video: UCLA Students Murphy Hall Sit-in

Why is it that neoliberal banks and corporations are bailed out while students are squeezed of every last penny by predatory student loans amidst our financial feeding frenzy?

On March 4th, over 400 students, community members and professors protested on the Park Blocks of Portland State University in solidarity with a national call to defend public education. Several student groups in collaboration with student government organized the rally as a direct response to the proposed economic deregulation and restructuring of PSU.

Students feel that the state funded institution is augmenting corporate interests while diminishing the quality, affordability and access to higher education. Students demonstrated their bravery by walking out of class at 1pm to express their heightened level of disgust and indignation with administrative ineptness and bureaucratic subterfuge. Speakers discussed the financial mismanagement of the education system in order to keep those who might be agents of social change in debt and bondage.

Local drumming troupe; Powder Keg led students, faculty and the public in a rigorous display of resistance to the neo-liberal capitalist vision of 'education' presented by the administration and board. The crowd proceeded to march across campus, occupying the hallways of the administration offices. There they presented the following demands agreed upon by students at all three of the universities in the Oregon University System:

On March 4th, 2010 several organizations on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus and people across the country gathered to “march forth” in a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. More than 300 came together for a spirited rally on what turned out to be the first sunny day of the new Spring.

The march began at the Alma Mater statue with a dedication to the Native American peoples who “granted” the land on which this land grant university was built. Miriam Larson led a modern-day adaptation of the classic Woody Guthrie song: “This land is your land, This land is my land, From Illinois to California, From Minnesota to Arizona, Land grants were made for you and me!”

from the open publishing newswire: On Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 12pm at Morrill Hall on the U of M East Bank campus, there will be a march and rally to defend public education.  The protest was initiated in response to a call for a National Day of Action to Defend Education.  The call initially emerged out of struggles across California last fall against the 32% tuition increases and corporate administration there.  There are hundreds of protests planned at universities and colleges across the country tomorrow.  A list of protests by state shows them planned in at least 31 states as of March 3rd.

Planning for the march and rally was coordinated by the University of Minnesota's Chop-from-the-Top Campaign and the Save our Schools Coalition which includes Staff, Graduate Students, Undergrads, Adjuncts and Faculty members concerned about the effects of the budget cuts.

Other Indymedia coverage nationwide: Crowdsourced news from LA Indymedia (photo source) | New York City | Indybay: California March 4 Resistance Heats Up Amidst Occupations and Riots | DefendEducation.org