[Antiracism] Tomorrow: Deval to Attend Higher Ed Summit at UMass Amherst - 10:30am

[Mishy Leiblum]

Please forward this to list serves and contacts:

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Deval Patrick to Attend Higher Education Summit at UMass-Amherst!!
Campus Center Auditorium    10:30 – 12:00   Friday, December 1
Small Strategy Sessions to Follow from Noon Onward

Governor-elect Deval Patrick has accepted our invitation to attend a Higher 
Education Summit organized by a coalition of campus unions and student 
organizations - including MSP, SGA, GEO, GSS, and staff unions.   He and his 
public higher education working group will host a "community meeting" on 
public higher education in the Campus Center Auditorium to which all 
students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited.

WE URGE YOU TO:

Ø        attend the community meeting and TESTIFY -

Ø        share your thoughts on public higher education at the community 
meeting, and

Ø        help spread the word


Members of the coalition believe that this is a unique moment to push 
forward with a visionary agenda for improving public higher education in the 
state.

The Public Higher Education Coalition has prepared a report entitled 
"Advancing Public Higher Education:  A Roadmap for Governor Patrick."  The 
report calls for increasing and stabilizing the funding for the public 
higher education system; dramatically easing tuition and fees; expanding the 
accessibility of the system; investing in more teachers and researchers; and 
democratizing public higher education.  We expect the report will be the 
basis for discussions with Patrick and his advisors.  It will be available 
at the Summit on Friday and on the faculty union website (www.umass.edu/msp) 
by this Thursday afternoon. A summary of the report is pasted below.

The public meeting will be followed by strategy sessions from 12 to 1 (lunch 
provided), open to all.  Our goal is to use this event to help build the 
sleeping giant of Massachusetts politics: a unified statewide coalition of 
public higher education stakeholders.

Main Community Meeting: Campus Center Auditorium    10:30 – 12:00   Friday, 
December 1

Small Strategy Sessions - 12:00 - Includes Lunch
Funding - Campus Center 174
Affordability - Campus Center 176
Accessibility - Campus Center 172
More Faculty - Campus Center 165-69
Democratizing - Campus Center 170-68

Contact <umasshigheredgroup at riseup.net> for more information.

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Advancing Public Higher Education in Massachusetts:
A Roadmap for Governor-Elect Patrick

1.  Fund public higher education so it can serve the commonwealth

Step 1:  Fix the immediate funding gap
Step 2:  Take care of profound capital needs
Step 3:  Put public higher education on firm financial footing for its 
upward progress


2.  Make higher education affordable

Step 1:  Reform financial aid and freeze fees
Step 2:  Free community college and explore free college and university
Step 3:  Institute free public higher education


3.  Make higher education accessible to all

Step 1:  Be pro-active in recruitment.
Step 2:  Provide a full range of services and supports to those students who 
enroll
Step 3:  Guarantee access to one of the state's public colleges or 
universities


4.  Hire more teachers and researchers

Step 1:  Require campus reports on the change in the number of faculty and 
staff over the past fifteen years, and on plans to rebuild to appropriate 
levels.
Step 2:  Earmark funds in the budget for five year hiring plans on each 
campus
Step 3:  Require reports to the Joint Committee on Higher Education on 
progress toward five year hiring goals


5.  Democratize public higher education

Step 1:  Establish Campus Councils that truly are broadly representative of 
the community
Step 2:  Guarantee meaningful autonomy for student governance bodies.
Step 3:  Democratize the Boards of Trustees
Step 4:  Respect Collective Bargaining