Politics & Culture

The Philosophy of Fascism

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Philosopher Jason Stanley and Journalist Mehdi Hasan discuss the philosophy of fascism within the context of the Trump administration. "So fascism is a philosophy based on social Darwinism. Think of Hitler’s book. The title is My Struggle. So what he means by that is that value comes from winning in a struggle. Now we’re familiar with non-fascist varieties of this. Think of Ayn Rand and economic libertarianism. You only have value if you’re a winner. But fascism moves the individualist philosophy of libertarianism to the group and says, "Some groups have more value than others because of a glorious military past and great civilizational achievements."

Race & America's Long War

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Historian Nikhil Singh and Journalist Jeremy Scahill discuss why it's risky to erase the line between the horrible things Trump does and the horrible things the U.S. has done for a long time. It’s a complicated conversation. It means exploring the roots of white supremacy in the U.S., the way American wars are constantly put through a laundering process to make them seem noble and brave, the way “real American” has been defined and continues to be defined in our society. For eight years, we had the first black president in U.S. history, and now we have a reality TV host who spends a great deal of time tweeting and watching TV. So what is unique to Trump, and what is embedded in the politics of empire?

Congresswoman Ihan Omar Models Change

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Mehdi Hasan: A lot of people aren’t aware of the kind of crazy racist, Islamophobic abuse that you and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have received since arriving here in Congress.
Ilhan Omar: It sort of feels like it comes with the territory. I mean, we’re shifting the idea of who should have a seat at the table. These systems really weren’t built for people like Rashida and myself. I think we can focus on the doors that we have to open and keep open or let this deter us...They would like us to be afraid...I know the people in our districts who voted for us knew that we were the right people to come here and shake things up.

Angélique Kidjo sings
"A Change is Gonna Come"at the
Women's March on Washington

California Community Colleges

Assembly Votes
​on Community College Budget Items

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On May 22, 2019, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 2 Education Finance voted on the community college portion of the state budget. Highlights include providing $40 million in ongoing Proposition 98 funding to increase the hiring of full-time faculty (with a focus on diversity), $17.3 million to part-time faculty office hours, reducing one-time funding for the online college ​by $50 million, and reducing the ongoing funding to the online community college by $15 million. In coming weeks, the Governor and both houses will continue to negotiate the budget.

Vision for Success: 
A Faculty Perspective

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”​
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”
—Dolores Huerta
​California Community College students achieve their dreams regardless of any educational, social, or economic challenge. Each college works hard to provide an academically robust, diverse, inclusive, and innovative learning environment that engages students of every background to develop their intellect, character, and abilities; to explore, define, and achieve their goals; and to be socially responsible community members and leaders.

Why Faculty Matter:
​The Role of Faculty in the Success of Community College Students

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Across the United States over the past 50 years, there has been a coordinated movement to divest in public education, full-time faculty positions, and labor unions. Until fairly recently, the California Community College system has resisted pressure to change its funding structure to a performance-based funding model that has proven to harm students. Until fairly recently, the California Community College system has honored and benefited from a shared governance model of decision-making. Until fairly recently, the California Community College system recognized the need to invest in its faculty because faculty/student interaction is the key to students' success in college and beyond.

FACCC sponsored the research and writing of this paper, which argues the following:
  • Faculty/student interaction is the key ingredient for student success.
  • Investment in faculty correlates with increases in student success rates. Divestment from faculty correlates with decreases in student success rates.
  • The importance of investment in faculty was embraced in AB 1725 (Vasconcellos, 1988), which included the adoption of the goal that 75% of all credit instruction should be taught by full-time faculty. The current percentage of credit instruction taught by full-time faculty is around 56% and has been declining over the past decade. The full-time faculty headcount is around 30% and has not changed in the past decade. 
  • Along with investing in full-time faculty, the system must empower and compensate part-time faculty to perform all faculty duties. Full support for part-time faculty would include pay parity, medical benefits, paid office hours, and compensation for out-of-classroom duties.
  • An ethnically and racially diverse faculty leads to increased rates of student success.

© 2019 Debbie Klein