Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout

*Urgent Call for Solidarity*

Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout

BRIEF BACKGROUND:
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying “Money for Schools, Not War.”

Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.

In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:

· Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who supported his students in a student generated democratic movement
· Threatened administrative action against five other teachers
· Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First AmendmentRight to free speech

When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war, he said: “It’s an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th, and I’m not happy about it.”

Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!

Tell them they need to:

1. Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on administrative leave!
2. Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who face investigations!
3. Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their communities!
4. Take no disciplinary action against students who participated in the walkout!

We request that you flood the school administration with phone calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against students and the Tukwila Six!

CONTACT:
Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: (206) 901-7905
ilgenfritzg@tukwila.wednet

.edu
And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: (206) 901-8000, (206) 901-8006,

burkee@tukwila.wednet.edu

Please send a copy of protest emails to us at

tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com so we can count how many protest emails have been sent in.

If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant Principal Daryl Wright (206) 901-7902 and Foster HS Office Manager Darlene Aguiluz(206) 901-7915.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE BACKGROUND INFO:
On Friday, November 16th, more than a 1,000 students in Washington Stateparticipated in a nation-wide student walkout to protest the war and military recruiters in schools. This included around 150 students at Foster High School, just south of Seattle. Foster is part of the Tukwila School District, of which 71% of the student body is low-income and eligible for the free and reduced-cost school meals. Since the beginning of the Iraq War, the U.S. military has been assigning ever greater numbers of recruiters to lure young people into signing up for this bloody, costly and illegal quagmire in Iraq, especially in marginalized schools like Foster High School.
Student made signs, walked out, marched to an I-5 overpass and the TukwilaCity Hall for a civic and peaceful assembly. Now the principal and school district superintendent have begun a witch-hunt against students and at least six of their teachers and threatened to suspend students who walked out. The students took a bold stand against the war and these teachers have stood up for their students, some of the most disenfranchised in the state, both inside and outside the classroom. Students who walked out are threatened with truancy, and their teachers’ jobs are on the line. Now, who will stand up for these students and teachers?

One teacher was put on administrative leave on Monday, November 19th. On Tuesday, November 20th, at least five more were delivered memos notifying them that the Tukwila school district was “investigating reports of possible misconduct relating to you in connection with the student walk-out.” These teachers were further notified that they were not to discuss “this matter with any District students or staff” under threat of being terminated. Several of these teachers were completely unconnected with the walkout, but because they have been previously marked out as individuals that speak their minds, they are being lumped into the teacher hunt. “Investigative interviews” are to begin this Tuesday.

· With a “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001 provision forcing principals to give up the private contact information of young people to military recruiters, students and teachers have the natural right to protest.
· With a bloody and illegal war, where the soldiers that are killed and maimed are disproportionately minorities and victims of the “poverty draft,” students and teachers of Tukwila have the natural right to protest.
· With more than $500 billion dollars and the lives of more than a million Iraqis having been utterly wasted on a failed war, with schools in marginalized areas falling apart, we should all be protesting with the slogan: “Money for Schools—Not For War!"
· With 75% of the American people polling against the war according to the latest Washington Post poll, and a Democratic Congress still making excuses for why it can’t cut off funding to bring the troops home, we must support the young people who speak out against their future being bombed away.
· And we MUST support their teachers whose only misconduct was making their lesson plans truly relevant to the lives of their students.

If this Principal gets away with this attack on these workers and students, it will embolden more bosses to try to further undermine workers’ rights, wages, and benefits, and it will intimidate more people from speaking out against injustice—this is an attack on all students and workers. These teachers are union members of the Tukwila Education Association, and there are measures being taken to try to ensure their defense through this channel, BUT A STRONG COMMUNITY AND NATION-WIDE RESPONSE IS CRITICAL!!!

How can we give thanks to those on the REAL frontlines of freedom in America?

Call and email the school officials above!

And please forward this alert to supportive organizations and individuals!
------------------------------------------------
YET MORE BACKGROUND INFO:
The memo from Interim Superintendent to at least 6 teachers essentially says:

1. In the next couple days, we will summon you to a meeting because we are“investigating reports of possible misconduct relating to you in connection with the student walk-out.” There could be disciplinary consequences pending completion of this investigation.

2. You are not to discuss “this matter with any District students or staff,” or else you could be terminated.

3. You have the right to have a union representative present with you during the investigative interview in case you feel your rights might be violated.

The administration is clearly trying to isolate the teachers and students from one another to try to divide them and weaken them. They are trying to use the tactic of divide and rule. They are also blatantly violating the teachers’ right to free speech.


The teachers have been careful to abide by the Interim Superintendent’s directive not to talk with any District students or staff about these matters. But nothing in the Superintendent’s letter said teachers could not talk with their union representatives or community supporters. In fact, the letter explicitly says they could talk with the union.

Some teachers who received letters were simply on their lesson planning hour and therefore were not scheduled to teach class when the student walkout happened. These teachers went outside just to see what was going on when the students walked out, but they did not walk out or promote the walkout. So the school has no evidence against some teachers who received the threatening letters.


It appears the administration is targeting these teachers in a political with-hunt because they have spoken their minds in the past over other issues. For example, two of these teachers were banned in the past from sending out school-wide emails because they spoke their minds in school-wide emails that the administrators did not like.

Iraq Veteran
The husband of one of the teachers who received the threatening letters is an Iraqveteran. He went to Foster High School on November 16th and spoke to the students from first-hand experience about the truth of the Iraq War that the government and corporate media are actively hiding from the American people, and he walked out with the students.

As the Iraq veteran left the building, he was confronted by a security guard who identified himself as a police officer/veteran/federal marshall who said: “Don't even start with me, I'm a veteran.”

The school administration is disciplining a teacher whose husband is a veteran whose life was put at serious risk in Iraq and who has now turned against the war. This is very disrespectful to the veteran, his family, and the working-class students who are being forced to shoulder the burdens of this war. The school administrators are more concerned with trying to having power over teachers and students than letting the communities who have been hit the hardest by the war speak out against the war and the predatory military recruiters in their schools. This—after the American people voted the Democrats into Congress to end the war, but the Democrats are still making excuses about why they cannot cut off funds for the war and direct those funds toward education and other desperately needed social services. When the leaders of our country will not end this unjust war, then it becomes up to ordinary workers, parents, students, and soldiers to end the war.

The attendance secretary at the school also refused to excuse the absences of students who had permission slips signed by their parents to miss school, which is a flagrant violation of parent and student rights.

Principal George Ilgenfritz also told one student that she didn’t know anything about war. (Ironically, the student is from an immigrant Somali family who still has family in the war-torn country of Somalia.)


On the Tukwila School District’s website, the following message has been posted byInterim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: “We believe in the historic mission of public education within our democracy… Our schools are expected to encourage and prepare students to be productive citizens. We believe the challenge is to transform every child – to give every student a chance to become an autonomous, thinking person and a self-governing citizen. We are all here to work together to provide the best education for the most prized commodity of our fine city – the students of theTukwila School District.”

Yet when the students participate in an act of peaceful civil disobedience in the best traditions of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement who challenged unjust segregation laws, now the Superintendent is hypocritically trying to discourage students from being “self-governing citizens” and standing up for what is right.

We need to match the determination of these courageous teachers, students and theIraq veteran with all the support we can! Please take a few minutes now to call and email the Principal and Superintendent at the numbers and emails at the top of this email!

YouTube video of Foster High School student rally for peace:www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOuLz3kKExI
Report on Washington State Nov. 16th student walkouts against the war: http://yawr.org/nov16/seattle.html
Articles on Youth Against War and Racism student victories against military recruiters in schools:
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#tacoma
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#kennedy
http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article13.php?id=611

Please forward this email widely to supportive organizations and individuals who might be able to help!
For more info, contact the Tukwila Teachers and Students Solidarity Committee: foster_nfo@hotmail.com (253) 573-9252

Gift It Up! is back -- in JP and online!

Dear friends,

It's that time of the year again, when I put in a plug to you all for Conscious Consuming's alternative gift fair, Gift it Up! Please visit our website at http://www.giftitup.org and consider making a donation in a loved one's name.

According to the Consumer's Union, children in our country are sent 30,000 TV ads per year to get their parents to buy them stuff. And yet you know that there also are millions of children around the world who wish every day they had enough food or a safe place to sleep. American's produce 4-5 pounds of trash per person, per day, while children in many parts of the world labor to make us these cheap, "throwaway" goods. Instead of the newest incarnation of something you probably already have, won't you consider giving a gift to change the world?

If you live in the Boston area, come to Gift it Up! Conscious Consuming gathers 14 non-profits on Saturday, December 1, at the River of Life Church in Jamaica Plain. "Shoppers" will get to talk with representatives from each of the nonprofits, browse their programs, choose a gift to fit any budget, and receive a Gift it Up! card announcing the gift. The event is to be held:

Saturday, December 1
12noon - 4pm
River of Life Church
440 Center Street
Jamaica Plain, MA

If you are unable to attend the fair, you can visit the Gift it Up! website at www.giftitup.org to learn more about it, to see the list of participating non-profits, and to purchase gifts securely on line.

Because Conscious Consuming is an all-volunteer non-profit, our PR is grassroots. If you could please send your contacts something as simple as the following, we'd be much obliged!

Thanks! Enjoy the peace and good will of the holiday season,

Cindy

CALL Jin Restaurant: Support Imigrant Workers!

Can anybody help with this? See below for the phone number.

The workers are negotiating with the owner on Dec. 7, and could use some public support before then.

Please let the restaurant know you will not eat there until the workers' demands are met.

Let me know if you were able to make a phone call, etc.
Thank you!
-Amee

--
Stand Up for Immigrant Workers Rights!
Support Jin Restaurant Workers!

Jin Asian Cuisine is one of the largest Chinese restaurants in Massachusetts. With nearly 1,000 seats, it does millions of dollars in business every year.

But Chinese wait-staff report:

- Stolen tips and pay: the restaurant stole their tips to pay weekend non-Chinese temporary workers at $30 an hour. Wait-staff also describe time-sheet irregularities, not being paid if they forgot to punch out, and having meal breaks improperly deducted.

- Discrimination: non-Chinese temp workers were paid $30 an hour, but Chinese temp workers were paid half as much.

- 12 to 16 hour work days, 6 days a week

- Workers often had no meal breaks, but their wages and a meal fee were always deducted! When allowed to eat meals, they were given the buffet leftovers after the customers left.

- Unsafe conditions: workers suffered back and muscle injuries from overwork; one fractured three ribs by slipping on the constantly wet floors. And w hen workers were injured, the restaurant did not cooperate so they could receive Workers Compensation!

- Intimidation & retaliation for asking about their tips.

- Adding insult to injury, workers were unjustly fired for standing up for their rights – and then falsely accused of stealing tips by the management! This accusation hurts their reputations and ability to find future work.

WORKERS HAVE ORGANIZED TO DEMAND:

1) An apology from management for false accusations of stealing tips

2) Compensation for their stolen pay!

3) Safe working conditions and cooperation with Workers Compensation regulations

4) Stop intimidation and retaliation!

In 2006, Chinese & Latino workers initiated a class action lawsuit and attempted to meet with the owner, Ming Lam, who then broke his promises to them. Latino workers settled their portion of the suit this year, but the wait-staff continues to struggle on. Another negotiation has been scheduled for early December -- we need your support!

CALL AND FAX JIN RESTAURANT IN SUPPORT OF WORKERS DEMANDS!
Phone: 781-231-8888
Fax: 781-231-8899

Let them know you will not eat there, and will tell your friends, family, and community not to, until the workers demands are met!

Jin Asian Cuisine
20 Bennett Hwy
Saugus, MA 01906

Sample script: "I am alarmed to hear of the labor violations and dispute at Jin Restaurant. Unless you compensate the workers for their stolen pay, end all malicious retaliation against them, and meet their demands for better working conditions, I will not patronize your restaurant, and will encourage my friends, family, and community to do similarly. The former wait-staff deserve a public apology for your accusations that they stole tips. A restaurant doing so much business should serve as a role model for respecting workers rights -- it is disturbing that workers have been exploited this way."

If you were able to call, please let us know at amee@cpaboston.org

For more info, please contact the Chinese Progressive Association at 617-357-4499 or amee@cpaboston.org

National Conference for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

NNIRR is holding a national conference for immigrant and refugee rights in Houston, January 18-20, 2008.

http://www.nnirr.org/events/conference/2008/english.html

Empirical Research Training Opportunity for Graduate Students Studying Sexual Orientation

Training and Career Development Opportunity for Graduate Students
Studying Sexual Orientation


What: A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual Orientation
Where: Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
When: Thursday and Friday, February 21-22, 2008
Who: Graduate students pursuing research on sexual minorities
Cost: Free

About the training:
The Williams Institute is sponsoring a two-day training session for graduate students pursuing research on sexual orientation called "A Primer on Empirical Research on Sexual orientation." The broad goal of this training will be to enable scholars to find and appropriately use existing empirical data that permits the identification of sexual orientation. Sessions will also include strategies for pursuing a career with a focus on sexual orientation research. The broad topics of this two-day training include:
· Issues to consider regarding the measurement of sexual orientation
· Availability of data that include identification of sexual minorities and the measurement of sexual orientation, behavior, and attraction
· Appropriate use of data sources that measure sexual orientation
· Details on how to access and appropriately use U.S. Census data to study same-sex "unmarried partners"
· Possible research topics using available data
· Strategies for pursuing both academic and policy-focused careers that include sexual orientation research

Williams Institute’s 7th Annual Update
Participants will be invited to attend the Williams Institute’s 7th Annual Update on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy on Friday, February 22nd. This event features panels exploring recent developments in sexual orientation law, policy, and advocacy and concludes with a cocktail reception.

Cost and Stipends
The training is free of charge and space is limited. Travel stipends to cover costs of transportation and overnight accommodation are available for students outside the Los Angeles area.

Application procedure:
Training is open to graduate students in a variety of disciplines, including Sociology, Social Psychology, Economics, Demography, and Political Science.

Applicants must be currently pursuing or interested in pursuing empirical research on sexual orientation.

Priority will be given to students who can demonstrate an active research agenda, especially if the research has clear public policy relevance.

Applications should include the following:
1. Cover letter briefly describing the applicant’s research interests and background
2. Curriculum Vitae or resume including applicant contact information
3. Description of current or proposed research on sexual orientation (abstract or paper).

Applications are due by Wednesday, January 2, 2008 and can be submitted either by mail or email to:

williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu

or

The Williams Institute
UCLA School of Law
405 Hilgard Avenue, Box 951476
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Accepted participants will be notified by Monday, January 14, 2008.

This information can also be found on our website at:
http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/programs/EmpiricalResearchTraining.html

Filipino American couple, living in U.S. for 20+ years, being deported based on technicality

From a friend:

Article: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/patriotnews/article304373.ece

This hits home because they're the parents of a good friend of mine from high school, Shappine.

They've been in the U.S. for over 20 years, serving as a doctor and grocer in an underserved rural community in Pennsylvania. The community has come out to support the family and they have a lawyer on board, but it seems that ICE isn't hearing the outpour.

I'm talking to Shappine's cousin, who is a good friend of mine as well, and I'll keep y'all updated to see if we could support this somehow.

Here is an online petition from their local newspaper: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/servanofamily/

Peace,
Charles

p.s. - this article from Philly brings tears to my eyes and for y'all who have parents that worked hard in a small (and often environmentally abusive) business, it'll hit you, too. sheng kai dong is a young 'prodigy' who's dad is being deported, causing a horrible mess for the rest of the family. check it out at http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2007/11/15/the-prodigy

Jodie Nealley embezzled $300,000 from Tufts, Dean Reitman says

Director of Student Activities Jodie Nealley was fired on Friday because she allegedly embezzled approximately $300,000 from the university. Nealley has admitted to Tufts officials that she took at least a portion of this money, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman. As of yesterday, Reitman could not provide a specific time period for the embezzlement, nor could he identify the exact sources of the stolen money, as an investigation is still ongoing and has not yielded complete results. "We are shocked, disappointed and angered by Ms. Nealley's actions. She breached the trust that all of us at Tufts had placed in her," Reitman said in a statement.

[Read More]

Camarilla Advisor

Dear progressive people,
The camarilla advisor website has been updated...please check it out. You will notice a new feature, namely the monthly member spotlight (which Cindy Chang unwittingly volunteered for this month...thanks Cindy!). If anyone has an interest in being the next member in the spotlight or you'd like to request a specific month e-mail me: danika at ekit.com. New pictures, new updates, rants, raves, cookie recipies, knitting patterns, mathematic proofs, haikus and limericks are all encouraged.
Your friendly camarilla advisor updater,
danika

Transfair - Trade Marketing Manager

TransFair USA, a four-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist award for Social Entrepreneurship, is an entrepreneurial non-profit organization that is the only certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. TransFair is a fast-paced, dynamic environment driven by a passion for “doing good” in the world by harnessing the power of markets and corporate partnerships. This position is responsible for all aspects of trade-related marketing for TFUSA, including the planning, coordination and management of Fair Trade Month, and all industry-related programs for licensees and retail accounts. This key position works closely with Business Development team to support their needs and those of key accounts.

Please apply on Transfair’s website: www.transfairusa.org/jobs

Venezuela Documentary

NO VOLVERAN - The Venezuelan Revolution Now

Cool documentary on what's going on in Venezuela.

Defend the University

It seems as if all those with academic positions would want to 
consider signing this petition.  One can do this by e-mailing:  
defend.university@gmail.com.


---

 Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the University



Many concerned individuals, on campuses and beyond, have been 
monitoring and
condemning the recent attacks on academic freedom, including the ever 
more aggressive
incursion of partisan politics into universities' hiring and tenure 
practices.
Today a diverse group of academics and others are joining together to 
collectively mark
our resistance to the current abrogation of academic freedoms.  To 
begin we are asking
people to sign up so that their name may be added to the petition on 
our web page here,
and to the petition as it will appear in the  press.
   If you would like to join us, or for more information, please 
contact us at defend.university@gmail.com.



 Our Petition
    In recent years, universities across the country have been 
targeted by outside groups seeking to influence what is taught and 
who can teach. To achieve their political agendas, these groups have 
defamed scholars, pressured administrators, and tried to bypass or 
subvert established procedures of academic governance. As a 
consequence, faculty have been denied jobs or tenure, and scholars 
have been denied public platforms from which to share their 
viewpoints. This violates an important principle of scholarship, the 
free exchange of ideas, subjecting them to ideological and political 
tests. These attacks threaten academic freedom and the core mission 
of institutions of higher education in a democratic society.

    Unfortunately and ironically, many of the most vociferous 
campaigns targeting universities and their faculty have been launched 
by groups portraying themselves as defenders of Israel. These groups 
have targeted scholars who have expressed perspectives on Israeli 
policies and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with which they 
disagree. To silence those they consider their political enemies, 
they have used a range of tactics such as:

*unfounded insinuations and allegations, in the media and on 
websites, of anti-Semitism or
sympathy for terrorism or "un-Americanism;"
*efforts to broaden definitions of anti-Semitism to include 
scholarship and teaching that is critical of U.S. foreign policy in 
the Middle East and of Israel;
*pressures on university administrations by threatening to withhold 
donations if faculty they have targeted are hired or awarded tenure;
*campaigns to deny scholars the opportunity to present their views to 
the wider public;
*the promotion of efforts to restrict federal funding for area 
studies programs and the teaching of critical languages on political 
grounds;
*lawsuits in the name of the "right" of individual students not to 
hear ideas that may challenge or contradict their beliefs;
*and demands in the name of "balance" and "diversity" that those with 
whom they disagree be prevented from speaking unless paired with 
someone whose viewpoint they approve of.

    The suppression of free speech undermines academic freedom and 
subverts the norms of academic life.  It poses a serious threat to 
institutions of higher education in the United States.  The 
university should be a place where different interpretations can be 
explored and competing ideas exchanged. Academic freedom means not 
only the right to pursue a variety of interpretations, but the 
maintenance of standards of truth and acceptability by one's peers.  
It is university faculty, not outside political groups with partisan 
political agenda, who are best able to judge the quality of their 
peers' research and teaching. This is not just a question of academic 
autonomy, but of the future of  a democratic society. This is a time 
in which we need more thoughtful reflection about the world, not less.

    A study by a Harvard sociologist last summer found that "a 
greater percentage of social scientists today feels their academic 
freedom has been threatened than was the case during the McCarthy 
era."  It is time to defend the norms of scholarship and the best 
traditions of the academy.

We, the undersigned, therefore pledge:

    *to speak out against those who attack our colleagues and our 
universities in order to achieve their political goals;
*to urge university administrators and trustees to defend academic 
freedom and the norms of academic life, even if it means incurring 
the displeasure of non-scholarly groups, the media among them;
    *to vigorously promote our views in the media and through the 
Internet, and to explain the importance of academic freedom to a 
sustainable and vibrant democracy;
    *to mobilize our students to defend the values and integrity of 
their institutions.

The future of higher education in America, its role in our country's 
democracy, and its contribution to world affairs is at stake.  Join 
us in defending academic freedom!
Joan Scott, Edmund Burke, Jeremy Adelman, Steven Caton, Jonathan 
Cole, Organizing Committee.

RACISM/WAR: MAKING CONNECTIONS FOR PEACE

RACISM/WAR: MAKING CONNECTIONS FOR PEACE



NOVEMBER 19 (MONDAY)
6:30-9:00 p.m.
VIETNAMESE AMERICAN COMMUNITY CENTER
(Behind the Fields Corner T Station, Red Line)
Racism and war (at home and abroad) are parts of a system of
oppression that affects all of us. We must all (including white,
middle-class/privileged peace activists) work together to overcome
the racism that fuels our wars abroad.

Program includes:

EXPERIENCE: testimony from casualties of war abroad and at home: Iraq
vets, CORI victims

DISCUSSION: antiracist dialogue about war abroad and at home

ACTION: antiracist next steps for peace following the leadership of
communities of color.

Guest Speakers include:

City Counselor CHUCK TURNER

PROJECT HIP-HOP

BOSTON WORKERS ALLIANCE

Co-Sponsored by DORCHESTER PEOPLE FOR PEACE and COMMUNITY CHANGE, INC.

"Beyond the War in Iraq", a talk by Howard Zinn

"Beyond the War in Iraq", a talk by author and radical historian Howard
Zinn.
Tuesday, 6 November
8 pm
Morse Auditorium at Boston University

Sponsored by BU Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Boston
Youth and Student Anti-War Network (BAWN).

Morse Auditorium is located at 602 Commonwealth Ave., right at the
Blandford St. T stop on the Green Line (B), a couple of blocks outbound
from Kenmore Square.

Admission is free and the event is open to the public, but reservations
are recommended. To reserve a seat, email sdsbu@bu.edu, and be sure to
include your first and last name.

You can find a flyer for the event at
daschaich.homelinux.net/Zinn-11-06.pdf