WELCOME TO OCCUPY UNIVERSITY!
Occupy University is just what it sounds like – a university for everyone, run by the Occupy movement.
We believe that learning should be collaborative and politically empowering.
We are proud to have been a collaborator on the May Day Free University initiative (http://maydaynyc NULL.org/freeuniversity), which was a great success in envisioning and actualizing an alternative form of education! To see some great footage of it, click here (http://vimeo NULL.com/41518833).
Our courses are up and running: from algebra, to poetry and politics, to walking, to pedagogy – click the “Our Courses” tab above for more information. And we have many more in the works, so stay tuned! (And of course, be in touch if you have a course you would like to propose or suggest to us.)
If you’re interested in what we’re doing, and you’re in the New York area, contact us (https://docs NULL.google NULL.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFZmeGFFNXNodG9qZ1B0REN5dk1sVHc6MQ#gid=0) – you’ll find we’re very friendly.
If you’re not in the New York region, why not get in touch with Occupiers in your area, and start up your own Occupy University?
WHAT WE’RE DOING
We’re helping people to set up courses on all sorts of topics, in many neighborhoods throughout the New York area. If this sounds like something you’d like to be involved in, get in touch! Email us at owsuniversity@gmail.com (owsuniversity null@null gmail NULL.com) or fill out our contact form (https://docs NULL.google NULL.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFZmeGFFNXNodG9qZ1B0REN5dk1sVHc6MQ#gid=0).
HOW WE’RE DOING IT
With the help of brilliant, fascinating, motivated people like you!
Would you like to learn something? Would you like to teach something?
We’re looking for thoughtful and intelligent proposals for great educational activities of all kinds – classes, courses, walking tours, reading groups, apprenticeships… whatever you’re excited about. If you’d like to suggest a class, or would just like to take one, please email us at owsuniversity@gmail.com (owsuniversity null@null gmail NULL.com).
Or perhaps you’d like to help us build our University? If so, we encourage you to join our Occupy University Working Group. You’ll be very welcome! The Occupy University Working Group usually meets on Saturday afternoons, from 2:30-5:30, at various locations around the city (check the events page on nycga.net (http://nycga NULL.net/) for up-to-date info, or email OccU to join the listserv).
Please NOTE: The OccU meeting this week (Saturday May 12th) will be from 3pm-6pm at The Graduate Center – James Gallery – 365 Fifth Ave.
The first portion of the meeting will be an open conversation about Pedagogy, in conjunction with events going on at the James Gallery this week around Occupy and Education.
WHY WE’RE DOING IT
The Occupy movement has inspired many of us to question the way education proceeds in our society – and to try to do something about it. We have many thoughts on this, and we’d love to hear yours, too
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Here are two of our first ideas, just to get you thinking:
1) An idea about what we might want to learn
2) An idea about how we might want to learn
I’d like to be aware of whatever you do even if I don’t live in NY. I’d really appreciate to recieve infos per email and get it touch. Thanks!
Courses: History of representative gov’t in US from the Federalists Papers to the Modern Era.
History of the Labor Movement in US.
History of the Protest Movement in US from the Boston Tea Party to 1968.
How about a class on what the “tea party” was really about….hint: not a protest against taxes.
Good stuff, been trying to understand core issues myself https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/113203226894654744883/113203226894654744883/posts (https://plus NULL.google NULL.com/u/0/b/113203226894654744883/113203226894654744883/posts)
I’d love to get something like this started in Oakland (Bay Area). I’m an ex tenure track professor who left academia because I did not want to be an intellectual policeman. Please keep me posted.
Thank you, Joanna, and welcome to OccU! Stay tuned.
Joanna – Do a search for ‘East Bay Free Skool’, they are just kicking up their spring calendar. Also check out http://theholdout.org (http://theholdout NULL.org) (on 23nd & San Pablo). I just left my Ph.D program in San Diego out of disgust with the incumbent system. Would love to chat with you further
I want to learn about how Occupy and the 99% can get involved in alternative/complementary currency.
The “Global Spring” in the offing?
Great work guys. All power to your elbow!
You should start a course on how the federal reserve came to be, how president woodrow wilson signed the act and later regretted it and how it was all part of a plan to infiltrate our government and take control of our economy and force us into debt slavery. Also, check out http://www.livefreenow.org (http://www NULL.livefreenow NULL.org), and educate the people on how the IRS is a scam, and while I believe in paying taxes there should be another alternative… look into the fair tax act as a better alternative. In order to defeat the enemy, we have to learn its history, how it came into being, who were and are the players and who is pulling the strings. Only then can we implement a strategy, by using logistics and fine tuning are targets, to be done with surgical precision can we then defeat the corrupt system that benefits only the few.
There are free universities out there, and free classes as well, e.g. kahn academy. However, I love the idea of a free university coming out of the occupy movement! I’m not sure how I could contribute, but it is something I’d like to perhaps get involved in. This university, I think, should not be just for those in NY, but for anyone around the world. The Occupy movement is much larger than NY, and so it’s University should be, too. I see the University as a major “teach-in” that provides solid useful information and solid reliable sources for the occupiers. It could cover everything from money management to tips for what to do when you are arrested, to how to write up pertinent court documents, to how to effectively engage our politicians, to how to effectively organize people, and how to keep demonstrations peaceful. I teach Psychology and Criminal Justice classes, so I’m not sure how I can contribute, but you guys certainly have my support!
Great work Occupy University. Also, great ideas from everyone here so far. We just need to do what we’re doing, and forget abou the government. Free and Self-education by the Occupy community–what could be better. I love it. I just finished a 40+ paper on Occupy, and hope to develop it into a graduate thesis possibly. I’d love to share it with whoever wants it. The draft I completed was for a class paper in my Political Movements course (an awesome btw) I’m taking at UTSA, but I’ll be developing the research further as I progress w/ my studies. It incorporates comparative historical research in the field of social movement theory, compares Occupy to IWW and ties it to #M15, as well as discussing the possibility of an anarchist future, along the lines of Murray Bookchin’s post-scarcity anarchsim notions.