Editor's Note: Check out the news blog for audio clips and the multimedia tab for video from the Defend Education, Ohio! Teach-In.
More than 100 Ohio University students and employees attended the opening remarks that began a five-hour long teach-in yesterday.
Judith Grant, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies department, organized the Defend Education, Ohio! Teach-In with help from several other faculty members and students.
“Our demands are support education, don’t forget us, don’t kill us,” Grant said.
The event included 27 faculty and student presentations. Topics varied from international concerns to the impact of budget cuts on OU.
Grant kicked off the event at 1 p.m. in the Baker University Center Ballroom, followed by Tyler Barton, an organizer and senior studying chemistry. Both addressed the problem of higher education being treated like a business.
“We should be talking about education as a right, not as a commodity to be bought, sold and consumed by the wealthy and the privileged,” Barton said.
Presentations followed the two opening speakers and were held in various conference rooms on the second floor and in the ballroom.
In addition to the presentations, Duane McDiarmid, associate professor of art and Faculty Senate representative, drew a small gathering when he dressed as a skunk and performed a skit with the help of student and faculty volunteers.
McDiarmid had a group of students lying on the floor, acting as the ocean and holding a boat. Volunteers helped row and throw cookies onto the boat — representing the “hard tack” needed to keep it floating.
The presentation symbolized the university's current budget, McDiarmid said.
“We need to think about where we want to make those (budget) cuts and why we want to make those cuts,” he said.
Evan Meles, a sophomore studying political science, said he thought the organizers did a good job gathering different professors from a variety of backgrounds and that he learned a lot.
“I really enjoyed a lot of the speakers, but I think Dr. Tehama Lopez was really interesting,” Meles said. “She talked about racial disparities, not just in higher education but education in general.”
Faculty members said they were also proud of the participation and discussions that the presentations prompted.
“I think it's fantastic to see faculty and students working together like this, and I'm convinced productive solutions are only going to come out of this alliance of faculty and students,” said Julie White, associate professor of political science.
A rally protesting education cuts will be held Friday at noon at the Scripps Amphitheater, followed by a march through East Green that will end in front of Cutler Hall.
km312708@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCampus
p{text-indent: 2.0em}
