Occupied Cooper Union – Schedule of Events

*OCCUPIED* COOPER UNION FREE UNIVERSITY
“How can we free education?”
Saturday, May 18, 2013
3pm-9pm

All day:
Arts, Crafts, Food, Care station
Bring art materials, blankets, food, and extra care.
Occupy Wall Street Screen Printers station
Bring your own blank paper, shirts, bags, etc. to design.
End-of-semester “work-in” for students and teachers
Get your productivity on together in the park.

Schedule:
Free University-NYC Brief Welcome and Statement of Intention
3pm sharp!

“Papier Maché Workshop”
with Cooper Union and CUNY students
3pm

“Lessons from the University of California/New School Student Occupations”
New York Year Zero
3pm-4pm
Veterans of the 2008-2009 student occupations at the University of California and the New School discuss the recent history of radical student struggle in the U.S.

“Why Are We Not Free?”
Cecile Lawrence
3pm-4pm
What is freedom? What does it look like, smell like, sound like? Who has it? Who does not? Did we once/ever have it? When? If so, where did it go? How can we retrieve it? Did it get stolen from us? If so, when, how? Or did we give it up? Is this a religious discussion?

“Free University-NYC: Ideas Working Session”
4pm-5pm
Come help us build the next year of FreeU-NYC activism and solidarity. Some topics that will be approached: summer events/ideas; visions for the year ahead; website development; links with other organizers/organizations; lessons from May 1, 3013.

“Writing and Free Education from Home, School, and Everyday Life”
Susan Naomi Bernstein
4pm-5pm
For new and experienced writers: This course presents the processes of writing for anyone who struggles to write. Together we will develop our own practices of writing for audiences and purposes that connect to our visions of free education, and social transformation for home, school, and everyday life.

“Desiring School: Formulations and Performances”
Elizabeth Adams
5pm-6pm
What would a school be like that you would want to go to? How can you best describe it, and how can you best perform that description?
Hone your wildest imaginings into startling and pithy formulations. Generate a variety of performances of them in everyday life. Design social heuristics to improve their effectiveness.
Formats: Talking, writing, acting, responding
Ideology: the “teacher” brings the starting questions and structure because she does not yet have the answers.

“Lessons from the Quebec Movement”
Stefan Christoff
5pm-6:30pm
Stefan Christoff will present about the struggle in Quebec and give some background/context to the demand for abolishing tuition. Stefan is a Montreal-based writer, community activist and musician who recently published “Le fond de l’air est rouge,” a booklet of texts on the Quebec student uprising in 2012.

“Facilitation Skills-Share”
Marisa Holmes
5pm-6pm
Facilitation is the act of guiding a group thru its own process. I will cover intermediate and advanced facilitation techniques, so that we can collectively improve our practice of direct democracy.

“A discussion on the social consequences of debt”
Aaron Jaffe
6pm-7pm
I’d like to share in a discussion regarding the longer term consequences for indebtedness. How are educational, labor, political, and social responsibilities experienced when burdened with debt? I hope the conversation will be a balance of both personal and political concerns.

“Education in Transition: A Discussion on Creating Alternative Learning Opportunities for Regions and Peoples that are In Flux”
Jennifer Lauren
6pm-7pm

“NYC Universities at a Tipping Point”
with members of All in the Red, Free University, Student Bloc NYC
6:30pm-8pm
Cooper Union students occupy their president’s office for over a week, creating a public dialogue on defending free education through nonviolent direct action. Faculty votes of no confidence in administrators spread across Cooper, NYU, and New School. CUNY shuffles in/out Chancellors and Trustee members amidst tuition increases, adjuncts exploitation, a Pathways stalemate, David Petraeus’ announced teaching appointment, and the successful ouster of Medgar Evers’ president. This tipping point in NYC universities can produce new coalitions between students, faculty, and staff workers to make change in our near future. In this discussion, we’ll map out some of these issues and resources, identify key pressure points, and brainstorm strategies for the summer and next academic year.

Short Films by Cooper Union students – Outdoor Screening
8pm-9pm

Red Light Ceremony with the Cooper Union student occupation
9pm