As Congress moves to slash $40 bilderiving from state and local taxes

declined to 64 percent in 2004 from lion in spending, the college loan pro74 percent in 1991. A number of uni- gram will be hardest hit, with almost
versity presidents are calling this $13 billion cut over the next five years
decline a de fecto privatization of the The money taken from the student
insdtutions that played such a crucial loan program would not be pumped
role in the creation of the American into other education programs, but
middle class (The New York Times, counted only toward reducing the federal deficit (Associated Press,
Oaober 16,2005).
New York City child care providers December 21, 2005).
were informed by a city official that
the city's massive new after-school
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
child care initiative would pay less
than needed and expect service On September 15, 2005 die director of
providers to seek private funding. This the FBI announced the creation of a
announcement marked the first time National Security Higher Education
the city has articulated what previous- Advisory Board, consisdng of the presily had been a quiet shift from public dents and chancellors of several promito private funding of the city's after- nent U. S. universides and designed to
school budget (www.CityLimits.org, foster outreach and promote understanding between higher education and
December 12, 2005).
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the FBI (FBI National Press Office,
unanimously that the federal govern- September 15,2005).
Students, by just doing their homement can deduct money from Social
Security checks to cover long overdue work, are now having their academic
student loan debts. Since many of fi-eedom challenged. A high school stuthese loans were taken out twenty to dent in North Carolina had fulfilled
thirty years ago, their recipients now his senior civics class assignment by
are often in their sixdes and dependent creating an anti-Bush poster illustratupon Social Security {Chronicle of ing the student's right of dissent. When
Higher Education, December 8,2005). a photo of the poster was developed at
In "The War on Our Children" {In the local Wal-Mart, an employee
These Times, December 19, 2005), turned the photo over to the Secret
Representative
Pete
Stark(D- Service, who showed up at the high
California) writes that the Iraq War school to confiscate the poster. The
and the tax breaks given to the wealthi- student was not indicted, and the
est Americans have placed almost Secret Service did not pursue the case
impossible hurdles in front of our chil- further (The Progressive, October 8,
dren. Since 2002, nearly 7,000 Head 2005). At the university level, a UMass
Start slots for low-income families have North Dartmouth senior was visited
been cut. The next targets are poor by agents of the Department of
mothers with children under six years Homeland Security after he requested
old. These mothers would have to dou- through interlibrary loan a copy of
ble their work hours from 20 to 40 Mao Tse-Tung's "The Little Red
hours to remain eligible for vocadonal Book." The student was completing a
training, yet not gain the $10.5 billion research paper on Communism for a
needed for the additional childcare class on fascism and totalitarianism
When children reach school age they {Standard-Times [New Bedford, MA],
will be subjected to No Child Left December 17, 2005).
Professors as well are having their
Behind, which has shortchanged pubacademic
fireedoms challenged. David
lic schools by $40 billion as of June,
Graeber,
a
Yale anthropology professor
2005. If they reach college, students
could be forced to pay an additional renowned in his field, has ignited a
$5,800 for collie. The U.S. has spent letter-writing campaign from profes$250 billion for the Iraq War and will sors worldwide when he was not
give American millionaires an average renewed by Yale. Graeber is an anartax break of $41, 574 in 2006. These chist whose countercultural writings
funding priorities may be costing are almost as popular as his academic
work, carries an Industrial Workers of
American students their futures.
46

the World (IWW) union card, and

has been arrested during anti-globalization protests (www.Newsday.com,
October 23, 2005). In Mexico, the
Supreme Court has ordered Sergio
Witz, a poet and professor of literature, to fece trial after he published a
protest poem ("The Country Among
Shit") that proposed using the
Mexican flag as toilet paper. If convicted. Professor Witz could be sentenced to a prison term of up to four

years (The Chronicle of Higher

Education, October 12, 2005).
In "Rogue Scholars" {The Nation,
December 26, 2005), Tara McKelvey
describes how professors from Harvard's Alan Dershowitz to University of
Chicago Law School's Eric Posner support torture in various forms and have
made ticking bombs and waterboarding into concepts in an intellectual
game.
The American Council on Educadon
filed a lawsuit challenging a new federal requirement that could force colleges
to overhaul their computer networks so
that law enforcement agencies could
monitor emails and other forms of
online communicadon Collie officials
across the country are saying that making the changes would cost billions of
dollars and deplete budgets already
strained to the breaking point {The
Chronicle ofHigher Education, Oaober
24, 2005).
WORKS FROM MEMBERS OF
THE RADICAL TEACHER
COLLECTIVE
Based on Pepi Leistyna's forthcoming
book. Class Dismissed\s a documentary
navigadng the steady stream of narrow
working class representations from
American television's beginnings to
today's sitcoms, reality shows, police
dramas, and daytime talk shows.
Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of
working class people, stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. For further informadon, email
videosinproduction@mediaed.org; to
order, caU 800-897-0089.
In The Ellis Island Snow Globe, Erica
Rand, author of Barbie's Queer
Accessories, takes readers on an unconRADICAL TEACHER NUMBER 75