UMass Boston Finance Forum
[v. 8-23-18]
Increasing Federal and State Investment in Public Higher Education -
Invest in Minds not Missiles.
Thursday Oct. 4, 4 - 6 pm, Small Science Auditorium, UMass Boston
Public education is under siege across the country: From budget cuts by Republican-controlled state legislatures and administrations; from charter school, voucher and other privatization campaigns led by Hedge Fund managers and their allies; most recently from the Supreme Court Janus decision undermining pubic sector unions. These factors also weaken public higher education, which in addition have to fight off the campaigns of the Koch Brothers and their allies to limit progressive education and speech on campuses.
Though almost all of our institutions of higher education are under pressure, one of the most critical and most vulnerable institutions of higher education in Massachusetts is the University of Massachusetts at Boston, originally chartered with the mission of ensuring quality higher education for disadvantaged urban residents. The recent Court rejection of the millionaire’s tax exacerbates the situation. Countering the efforts to shrink access to higher education, the Bernie Sanders campaign, Our Revolution and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, have called for four years of tuition free public higher education for all qualified high school graduates. These proposals finance the program through the federal budget by reversing the Republican tax cuts, and by cutting the bloated Pentagon Budget.
Welcome: Representative of the UMass Administration:
Panel 1: The Value of UMass Boston to the Boston-area Community:
Chair: Prof. Jane Regan (BU College of Communication, Dept. of Journalism)
- The Role of UMass in Providing Urban Access to Higher Education: Prof Marlene Kim, Dept. of Economics, UMass Boston.
- Public Research for Public Good: Prof. Randy Albelda, Dept. of Economics, UMass Boston.
- Obtaining a College Degree while Raising a Family: Ms. Jelena Mitic-Elliott, Undergraduate, UMass Boston.
- Graduate Programs as a Key Public Service Resource: Andrew King, Graduate Student, McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Affairs, UMass Boston.
- Responding to our Immigrant Communities: Jean Lesly Rene, Haitian Creole and Culture Institute, UMass Boston
Panel 2: Financing Public Higher Education
Chair – State Rep. Mike Connolly (26th Middlesex)
-Contributions from State, Federal and Private Sources: Josh Hoxie, Institute for Policy Studies
- Pressing the State Legislature to Increase its Education Budget: State Rep Natalie Higgins, 4th Worcester District (former leader of PHENOM Public Higher Education Network of Mass).
- The Continuing Struggle for Inclusion: Prof. Tony Van Der Meer, Africana Studies, UMass Boston.
- Efforts of the Mass Teachers Assn, American Federation of Teachers Ma, and other Unions to Support Higher Education: Barbara Madeloni, Past President, Mass Teachers Assn.
- Four Years of Tuition Free Public Higher Education – The Peoples Budget: Prof. Jonathan King, Our Revolution National Campus Faculty and Staff Committee, and Mass Peace Action.
- Make our Tax Dollars Available for Public Education, Veterans Affairs, and other Essential Needs by Cutting the Inflated Pentagon Budget: Senior Lecturer Paul Atwood, American History, UMass Boston Honors College and Veterans for Peace.
Closing Remarks: Where Do We Go From Here? Zac Bears, PHENOM; Anetta Argyres, Professional Staff Union, SaveUMB; Juan Blanco PHENOM-UMB.
Program Committee: Paul Atwood, Marcus Breen, State Rep. Mike Connolly, Michael Gilbreath, Jonathan King (Co-Chair), Jelena Mitic-Elliott, Jane Regan (Co-Chair).
[Co-Sponsors: American Friends Service Committee, Institute for People’s Engagement; Mass Peace Action; national Our Revolution; Our Revolution Somerville; People’s Budget Campaign, PHENOM, SaveUMB, SEIU Local 888, UMB Professional Staff Union: Veteran’s for Peace].
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Student leaders emerge at MIT conference to address danger of nuclear war
Photo Caption: Students attending the Invest in Minds not Missiles came from Brown U. Columbia U., CUNY, Fordham Lincoln Center, Fordham Rose Hill, Hunter College, Manhattan College, Marymount College, MIT, Pace, Princeton U., Rutgers U. , UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, and UMass Lowell). Also shown in the photo are session Chair Jim Anderson from Peace Action New York State and Conference Chair Jonathan King from MIT and Mass Peace Action. Photo by Mutsuko Ohnishi.
Students from campuses across the Northeast gathered at MIT this spring to share their experiences in challenging the US government’s aggressive foreign policy, growing nuclear arsenal, and neglect of pressing domestic needs. They were in town to lend their voices to the conference “Invest in Minds, Not Missiles: Reducing the Threat of Nuclear War” on April 7 and 8. This meeting, responding to the continuing risk of nuclear war or accident, continued the long tradition of advocacy for nuclear disarmament through the efforts of former MIT faculty including Vicki Weisskopf, Philip Morrison, Herman Feshbach, Randall Forsberg, Bernard Feld, Henry Kendall, Kosta Tsipis, George Rathjens and Aron Bernstein. Prof. Bernstein was a lead-off speaker.
Caption: Prof. Aron Bernstein. Photo by Mutsuko Ohnishi
The students—who represented a spectrum of ages and academic levels, ranging from high school students and undergrads to recent alums, grad students, and postdocs—traveled to Cambridge from more than fifteen campuses in New England, New York and New Jersey to attend. Grants from the Ploughshares Fund and the Amy Rugel Foundation were vital in supporting the travel and lodging expenses of out-of-town students, as well as support from MIT’s Technology and Culture Radius program, the Institute for People's Engagement, and Mass. Peace Action.
The focus on campus organizing had emerged at the end of the 2017 MIT anti-nuclear conference, where participants realized the need to actively recruit young people and support their campus organizing efforts. Students have a leading role to play in the peace movement, which in recent times has been represented mostly by older activists and experts. Organizers of this year’s conference heeded the call.
Nuclear Dangers Reviewed at Saturday Plenaries
Analysis of the nuclear weapons dangers and tense international situations were provided by Aron Bernstein (MIT), Elaine Scarry (Harvard University), Joseph Gerson (American Friends Service Committee), Jim Anderson (Peace Action of New York State), Hon. John Tierney (Council for a Livable World), Charles Knight (Commonwealth Institute), Chuck Johnson (International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War), Gary Goldstein (Tufts University), Lisbeth Gronlund (Union of Concerned Scientists) and Mike VanElzakker (Mass Peace Action). Prof. Scarry’s call for Congress to assert their Constitutional Article I authority to declare war, and pull back the President’s thumb from the nuclear launch button was shared by all.
Caption: Prof. Elaine Scarry. Photo by Mutsuko Ohnishi
Cogent analyses of the economic pressures from the weapons industry were provided by William Hartung (Center for International Policy), Stephanie Scammel (Costs of War Project, Brown University), and Richard Krushnic (Institute for People’s Engagement). The proposed $1.2 trillion dollar nuclear weapon triad upgrades were concerned by all. Hartung described how these dollars are recycled through political donations to influence Congressional and Pentagon appropriations and policies.
Caption: Wiliam Hartung. Photo by Mutsuko Ohnishi
Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, Kristina Romines of WAND, Jonathan King of Peace Action, Paul Johnson of the Poor People’s Campaign, Andrea Miller of People Demanding Action, and Paul Shannon of the People’s Budget all described campaigns underway to broaden and expand the base of people concerned about the nuclear danger and the human burdens and economic cost of endless wars. Calling for pension funds, college endowments and other funds to divest from investing in companies that manufacture or maintain nuclear weapons educates the public that nuclear weapons are a domestic business as well as a component of foreign policy.
In the Campus Organizing panel Kate Alexander described the New York approach of contacting political active campus faculty members, and asking for suggestions for students to contact. Caitlin Forbes described MAPA’s approach of offering internships with MAPA, which included forming campus-based Peace Action clubs. Luisa Kenausis, a former MIT undergrad mentored by Prof. Aron Bernstein, described how she and other students contacted Physics Dept. faculty members, asking them to include in their lectures material on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Emma Budd and Eric Stolar of Fordham University described forming a “Humanitarian Student Union,” which organized events addressing pressing issues such as social justice and housing not covered in classes.
Caption: Caitlin Forbes, Luisa Kenausis, Emma Budd, Eric Stolard, Kate Alexander, Jim Anderson. Photo by Aaron King.
Students Share Organizing Strategies at Sunday Roundtable
While the Saturday conference consisted of a daylong series of plenaries and workshops analyzing the current war danger, Sunday morning was devoted to a round-table discussion of campus organizing, in which students shared their varied experiences and tactics. Many described a low level of concern among their student peers about nuclear issues; however, they said addressing related issues such as the suffering of refugees, the militarization of police forces, and the defunding of human service programs, had allowed them to reach more students. Their programs included holding forums with guest speakers, showing films, and collecting signatures on petitions.
Luisa Kenausis, a former MIT undergrad mentored by Aron Bernstein, described how she and other students contacted Physics Dept. faculty members, asking them to include in their lectures material on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including the unimaginable human suffering. Now Luisa and Prof. Aron Bernstein, are developing a website with model curriculum modules, to distribute broadly.
Hainan Zhang of Rutgers described his participation in research under Prof. Alan Robock on “nuclear winter,” the inevitable result of a general nuclear war, or even a limited nuclear exchange such as one between India and Pakistan: the smoke and soot from the firestorms would be lofted into the stratosphere, would block out the sun for a decade or more, lowering temperatures to the level of the last Ice Age, and killing harvests around the globe, leading to near universal starvation. He promised to share his material with other campus groups.
Andrew King, from UMass Boston, described the importance of student peace activists joining in the Poor People’s Campaign. He said one of the six weeks of PPC non-violent civil disobedience, starting in Massachusetts the day after Mother’s Day, was devoted to protesting the war economy, which is draining resources from essential social programs. He noted this issue is especially relevant for peace and justice groups on many campuses.
Emma Budd and Eric Stolar of Fordham University addressed the issue of student groups obtaining resources from their universities. They described how their organization, “Humanitarian Student Union,” was able to hold educational talks and secure resources from an academic department interested in international affairs. Several groups mentioned receiving support and resources from their campus ministries. Sebastien Phillipe reported success at Princeton University in securing financial support from academic departments for a campus-wide day of action, which covered a range of issues including climate change, immigration, and restrictions on free speech.
Caption: Emma Budd and Eric Stolar
Participants agreed to form a Northeast Campus Peace and Justice Organizing Network to provide mutual assistance and support, and to help seed peace and justice clubs on other campuses. This work will build on the campus organizing efforts of Peace Action of New York State and of Massachusetts Peace Action. The next step may be organizing a similar forum in the New York / New Jersey area.
The conference was co-sponsored by MIT Radius; American Friends Service Committee; Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security; Council for a Livable World; Future of Life Institute; Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, Institute for People’s Engagement; and Massachusetts Peace Action.
Special thanks to Cindy Woolley, Patricia Weinmann, Christina English, and Alexander Plowden for their logistical support.
Congressional Call for Restraint toward North Korea
62 Reps Ask Tillerson to Encourage Restraint, Pursue Talks with North Korea
BY GABE MURPHY (National Peace Action) ON AUGUST 10, 2017
Today, 62 House representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to do what he can to rein in President Trump’s recklessness on North Korea. The effort was spearheaded by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).
In the letter, the signers offer their support for Tillerson’s recent statements calling for talks: “We strongly support your recent statements calling for direct talks with North Korea and offering assurances that our country is not their enemy and does not seek war or regime change.”
They also call on the administration to reaffirm Congress’ constitutional responsibility to debate and authorize war and seek authorization from Congress prior to any preemptive military action against North Korea.
Earlier this week, between the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, President Trump appeared to threaten North Korea with nuclear war, warning of “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which the world has never seen” should it continue acting aggressively. Today he doubled down on that statement, asserting that his statement perhaps “wasn’t tough enough.” This reckless posturing from the commander and chief underlines the importance of Congress taking a stand to ensure the president doesn’t stumble into a catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula.
The full text of the letter and the signers are below. If you see your representative’s name, call and thank them for signing it and encourage them to continue speaking out on this issue. If your representative’s name isn’t there, call and ask them to speak out against Trump’s reckless statements, and in support of negotiations without preconditions with North Korea.
The Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Make sure to say your name and address so they know you’re a constituent, then ask them to support diplomacy and oppose preemptive war with North Korea.
Full text of the letter:
Dear Secretary Tillerson,
We write to express our profound concern over the statements made by President Trump that dramatically increased tensions with North Korea and raised the specter of nuclear war. These statements are irresponsible and dangerous, and also senselessly provide a boon to domestic North Korean propaganda which has long sought to portray the United States as a threat to their people.
Accordingly, we respectfully but firmly urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that President Trump and other Administration officials understand the importance of speaking and acting with the utmost caution and restraint on this delicate issue. Congress and the American public will hold President Trump responsible if a careless or ill-advised miscalculation results in conflict that endangers our servicemembers and regional allies. To allay these concerns, the Trump Administration should publicly declare its agreement with the constitutional requirement that any preemptive attack on North Korea must be debated and authorized by Congress.
As 64 Members of Congress wrote in May, “Military action against North Korea was considered by the Obama, Bush and Clinton Administrations, but all ultimately determined there was no military option that would not run the unacceptable risk of a counter-reaction from Pyongyang [that] could immediately threaten the lives of as many as a third of the South Korean population, put nearly 30,000 U.S. service members and over 100,000 other U.S. citizens residing in South Korea in grave danger, and also threaten other regional allies such as Japan.” Simply put, there is no military solution to this problem.
We strongly support your recent statements calling for direct talks with North Korea and offering assurances that our country is not their enemy and does not seek war or regime change. This accords with the approach that 64 Members of Congress urged in the letter to President Trump, and is also backed by leading experts on US-North Korea policy, including former Secretary of Defense William Perry, former Secretary of State George Schultz and former Senator Richard Lugar who have stated that our country “should make clear that the United States does not have hostile intentions toward North Korea.”
An approach that includes these elements has shown promise in the past. In 1994, after North Korea’s announced their intent to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States and North Korea engaged in direct diplomacy, resulting in the Agreed Framework. Under the pact, Pyongyang agreed to freeze its nuclear program, while U.S. committed to provide fuel for electricity to offset the power lost from shutting down their plutonium reactor. Despite allegations from both sides of non-compliance with the agreement, North Korea did not reopen their plutonium reactor, and in October 2000, the two countries pledged in writing that neither would have “hostile intent” towards the other. This progress was regrettably and unnecessarily halted after the Bush Administration took office, as then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton publicly admitted that he was “looking for [a hammer] to shatter the Agreed Framework.” We are grateful that you understand the urgent need to make a good faith effort to replicate these successes and we urge you to minimize preconditions in order to bring the North Koreans to the table and commence dialogue at the earliest possible date.
Finally, we respectfully request your assistance in receiving a response to our initial inquiry in our May letter. Kindly provide us information about the specific steps your Administration is taking to advance the prospects for direct negotiations that could lower the potential for catastrophic war and ultimately lead to the denuclearization of the peninsula. We also request any plans you may have to address important humanitarian issues of mutual concern such as the reunification of Korean and Korean-American families as well as the repatriation of the remains of US servicemen left in North Korea following the War, including whether these or other humanitarian efforts will be impeded by your newly announced travel ban.
We look forward to working with you to support crucial diplomatic initiatives and avoid catastrophic war.
Signatories:
Reps. John Conyers (MI-13), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Madeleine Z. Bordallo (GU), Alma S. Adams (NC-12), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Karen Bass (CA-37), Don S. Beyer Jr. (VA-08), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-AL), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Salud O. Carbajal (CA-24), Judy Chu (CA-27), David N. Cicilline (RI-01), Emanuel L. Cleaver, II (MO-05), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), Michael F. Doyle (PA-14), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Dwight Evans (PA-02), Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Al Green (TX-09), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03), Luis V. Gutiérrez (IL-04), Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01), Alcee L. Hastings (FL-20), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Daniel T. Kildee (MI-05), Al Lawson, Jr. (FL-05), Brenda L. Lawrence (MI-14), Ted W. Lieu (CA-33), Alan S. Lowenthal (CA-47), Betty McCollum(MN-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Janice D. Schakowsky (IL-09), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), José E. Serrano (NY-15), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), Louise Slaughter (NY-25), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Darren Soto (FL-09), Niki Tsongas (MA-03), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Timothy J. Walz (MN-01), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Peter Welch (VT-AL), and Frederica Wilson (FL-24), John A. Yarmuth (KY-03).
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