9 Responses to “Students barricade themselves in the Humanities Building”

1. James says:

   March 3, 2010 at 1:28 pm

   A lot of people are dwelling on the fact that there was childish graffiti in the building – let me assure you that the “graffiti” was only chalk and done by one person who was never inside the building DURING the occupation. Do not base your opinions on this individual act as those ACTUALLY involved released a rather thoughtful statement that can be found here:

   http://makebelievecommittee.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/csuf-humanities-building-reclaimed/
2. Nicole M Smith says:

   March 3, 2010 at 7:08 pm

   Make Believe Committee. How appropriate.

   Offended because a university administrator referred to the College of Humanities and Arts “socially irrelevant.” Lolz! You’re clearly living in the world of make believe (with your parents?), not the one where even skilled tradesmen can’t find work because the economy is such crap.

   According to the rant James links to, communications is a so-called “practical” major. I’ve witnessed a number of my colleagues from Cal State’s College of Communications struggle since graduating.

   In theory a communications major will open far more doors than a comparative religion major, for example. That doesn’t mean there’s no value in the latter, there’s just far less demand — especially in this economic climate. And I think that’s what the administration is getting at in this “pre-event reading” document the rant refers to.

   It’s cut throat out here. Jobs are scarce, competition high. Unless you’re equipped with practical, professional skills (and a little luck), you’re going to the end of the unemployment line.
3. funding says:

   March 3, 2010 at 9:23 pm

   Obviously there is something funny going on with funding in the University system; Chancellor Reed makes about the same as the president of the United States ($450k).
4. Adam Smith says:

   March 3, 2010 at 9:27 pm

   Wow. What a cutting, thoughtful, and creative analysis Nicole. You’ve really shed some light on issues these hooligans and Peter Panners just couldn’t see. Perhaps this is because of their “socially irrelevant” blinders and their crrrrrazy ideas of change, you know, those fantastical pixie dust notions such as communities based around social interaction and not “competition” (supply and “demand”); creative and critical dialogues on perpetuating racism and class inequality in American society, global capitalism, and the university; the challenging of the university as simply a “practical,” “professional,” training ground for middle to upper managers, as a mere step to higher wages; the challenging of the university system’s inclusion in a system based upon pure market conditions and strategies (i.e. the university ran as a BUSINESS and not a PUBLIC place of learning and enrichment); the State’s role in perpetuating and fortifying racial injustice and oppression by remaining #1 in prison spending and #50 in education spending (the education to prison pipeline)…….

   “LOLZ!”

   With all honesty, I do not want to be mean or come off like another sardonic intellectual. But please Nicole, please, please, please do not assume that students who challenge the university, the people who challenge the State, the police, or any authoritative figures are ignorant enough to not see the logic of their oppressors (i.e. the University’s compliance in the “practical” and non-practical dialogue based merely upon economic applicability) A large part of what is underneath all of this, what is underneath this protest, this rebellion, this challenging is not simply the want to sustain the Humanities and Fine arts. It is a challenging and scream against what is underneath the University’s logic, business, and practices as a ideological and physical training ground to produce compliant “consumers” (Parkers terminology….this doesn’t alarm you at all??), non-questioning workers, commodities upon commodities all when people in our streets and across the globe work themselves into the ground (literally) to produce our commodities — our shirts, our gadgets, our fruits and vegetables, our shoes, our trinkets, our clean dishes, our clean bathrooms — and SUFFER to sustain this “crappy economy” (CRAPPY BY WHOSE STANDARDS?).

   This, IN PART, is why we refuse to accept your reality, the University’s new reality (well really not that new), America’s economy, capitalism’s “naturalness”….this is why we write, take over buildings, organize, fight, breath, and scream, because we will not quietly accept your version of “the world.”
5. Marcus Wright says:

   March 4, 2010 at 12:18 am

   Seriously kids, do we really think the Humanities will be taken away? haha and I love the fact that you won’t accept the current version of “the world” because you’ll be left in the dust because things will not change. You have to change human nature first. Good luck with that.
6. Guy.Fawkes says:

   March 4, 2010 at 3:41 am

   Marcus Wright,

   As a former Poli Sci Major, your disgusting invocation of the names of two of the best teachers in that department as a pseudonym are disgusting.
7. Nicole M Smith says:

   March 4, 2010 at 5:40 am

   Adam, why don’t you focus on the issue at hand rather than slamming me or my argument? It makes your argument that much weaker, you “sardonic intellectual.”

   Please, please, please come share your thoughts again when you’ve shed the “blinders” of the sheltered university environment. Or even when there’s a news story here, like the university is shutting the Humanities college down.

   The so-called “occupation” or “reclamation” of a university building at 3 a.m. when no one’s watching sounds less like a protest to me are more like a prank.

   In fact, I bet some people — those who have experience oppression — might even find your use of such heavy words offensive. You’re by no means oppressed.
8. silencedogood says:

   March 4, 2010 at 9:28 am

   Stupid to break into a building like that. What do they expect to accomplish with these “protests”? Do they compare themselves to Ghandi or some such crap. Is there issue just as important that it requires breaking the law. Is civil disobedience the answer every time something doesn’t go your way? I mean come on, budget cuts suck but the State can’t print money out of thin air. I know you’re dumb but you surely can understand this. Does this issue really come close to the importance of the civil rights movement or the movement for indian independence?
9. Radical Leftie says:

   March 4, 2010 at 10:11 am

   ORGANIZE! RADICALIZE! STOP DEBATING, TAKE ACTION!

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