FEMD

The Movements Whose University The Whose University project itself is specific to the University of Minnesota, however it addresses broader patterns of societal and educational inequalities. Through the creation of an upcoming documentary, a Day of Education, and connection to community networks, the project looks to address racial and economic disparities within the university system and through public education on the whole. Whose University focuses on three spaces within the University when addressing the questions of access, support, and value of knowledge. Whose University 1. Who has access? 2. Who is supported? 3. Who's knowledge is valued? Feminism In Academia: Assessing Movements Budget Cuts The Union United at Temple College is questioning why funding for higher education is being cut in half while tax breaks are given to the mining and drilling industry. The Union at Temple University is combined of students, the teachers union, and every other union in Pennsylvania united in solidarity questioning the government's budget. They are Demanding restored funding Who's leading the fight against budget cuts? Questions "Your child's future is the first to go with budget cuts" -Lupe Fiasco DESCRIPTION: The Put this on the Map team is focusing on a prjocet called Reteaching Gender and Sexuality. They are a team of community educators and activists focusing on various inequalities and issues at the forefront of society today and how they are effecting today's youth. This project utilizes the educational system and voice of queer youth to spread their message. Their goal is to change the conversation and understanding of gender and sexuality from their current rigid understandstandings and constructions. The team tours various schools and communities giving speeches and offering new ways to understanding these issues. The teams and the project questions the current construct of gender and sexuality, they way they are understood and discussed. They offer support and visibility to young queer people. In what ways are does the current and rigid understanding of gender and sexuality affect queer youth? Where are the support systems? How do we reconstruct the ideas of gender and sexuality? How do we teach, understand, and discuss these topics? Questions The campaign for non-violent schools highlights the relationship between the growing prison industrial complex and the budget crisis in the public school system. There are several points raised by young activists and students in this movement that question a system that seems to funnel more and more minority students into the prison system rather than universities. Most posts on their blog incorporate this theme by stating “More classmates and less inmates.” The budget crisis not only encourages the cutting of programs in high schools, but also seems to target specific programs that are designed to help underrepresented students. This shows a direct attempt to dismantle programs that are supposed to counteract the prison industrial complex. This social media space allows for the organization of several marches that bring light to this issue. Questions: How can we prevent the overruling of the educational system by the prison system? How can we prevent the attempt to dismantle affirmative action programs all over the country for people of color and for women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. What spaces are consistently under attack when fiscally conservative budget strategies are put in place? Feminist Critique:The questions posed within these projects address larger questions of privileging certain populations over others, and privileging certain types of knowledge overs . The questions of who has access, who is supported, and whose knowledge is valued were asked within the Whose University project. Questions of how to define queerness and how gender and sexuality are constructed, taught and supported were asked within the Put This On The Map project. Questions concerning budget for the prison system versus the educational system were addressed by both the Campaign for Non-Violent Schools and the Temple Association for University Professionals. All of these questions can be asked of all institutions and systems within society. We can further understand these questions in a feminist light by looking critically at the ways in which gender, sexuality, race and class intersect to create systems in which certain individuals have access over others, certain populations are supported over others, and certain types of knowledge are valued over others.