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The Obama Youth Inaugural Ball was a logistical and political disaster, says author and organizer Michael Connery.
The ball was over-booked, ticket-holders were barred from the event or sequestered in side rooms, and the whole event was locked down by police for more than an hour, Connery says. On top of all that the Youth Ball’s emphasis on service projects rather than policy issues left student and youth organizers at the “kiddie table” once again.
It’s a great piece. Go read it.
Another update on the York University strike:
- The strike, in its 79th day, is now the third-longest in the history of Canadian higher education, according to the sidebar to this article.
- Students disrupted a meeting of the York faculty senate executive, demanding to know why the partial resumption of classes announced yesterday hadn’t been undertaken earlier or on a larger scale.
- The new labor negotiator deployed by the Ontario government spent yesterday meeting with the two sides separately. Face-to-face negotiations are slated to resume today.
- YorkNotHostage, a student group, will be holding rallies in support of back-to-work legislation next Monday and Wednesday.
January 24 Update: It looks like the strike may be over. The provincial legislature will be called into session on Sunday afternoon to consider back-to-work legislation, and the Ontario premier is hoping to have students and faculty back in the classroom at York by the end of this week.
When Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, her college transcripts got a lot of attention — she’d attended four (or was it five? six?) different schools on the way to her degree.
But Palin’s experience wasn’t as unusual as some made out. Multiple-transfer students aren’t common, but they’re growing less rare all the time, and these days almost a third of all undergraduates transfer at least once before earning their degree.
As a recent article points out, Barack Obama was a transfer student himself, as were six presidents before him. Jimmy Carter was a multiple transfer — he enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College and Georgia Tech for a year each before landing at the US Naval Academy.
As we noted yesterday, the CUPE membership has rejected York University’s contract offer, and York has announced that they will not be returning to the bargaining table.
This morning comes word that Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty is sending his top labor mediator to Toronto to “bang some heads” and find an agreement.
McGuinty is reportedly opposed to bringing forward back-to-work legislation in the Ontario legislature, fearing that CUPE would challenge any such law in court, further extending the strike.
2:36 pm Update: Today’s Excalibur article has material from York president Mamdouh Shoukri’s press conference last night that I haven’t seen elsewhere. They quote him as saying that the university’s rejected offer will be “the basis for any future settlement, and that York “will not resume bargaining until we see a significant move” from CUPE. He also said that the university “have not asked for government intervention, nor has it been offered.”
4:34 pm Update: Click here for some background on the strike.
Here is the text of President Barack Obama’s remarks at the youth inaugural ball, from a transcript provided by MTV:
“I’ve been looking forward to this ball for quite some time because, when you look at the history of this campaign, what started out as an improbable journey when nobody gave us a chance was carried forward, was inspired by, was energized by young people all across America.
“I can’t tell you how many people have come up to us and said, ‘I was kind of skeptical, but then my daughter … she wouldn’t budge. She told me I needed to vote for Obama.’ ‘Suddenly, I saw my son and he was out volunteering and getting involved like never before.’ And so a new generation inspired a previous generation and that’s how change happens in America.
“It doesn’t just happen in the election and campaign. It’s happened in service all across America. As this is broadcast all around the world we know that young people everywhere are in the process of imagining something different than what has come before us. Where there is war they imagine peace. Where there is hunger they imagine people being able to feed themselves. Where there is bigotry they imagine togetherness. The future will be in your hands if you are able to sustain the kind of energy and focus you showed on this campaign.
“I promise you, America will get stronger and more united. You are going to make it happen, and we thank you from the bottom our hearts. God bless America. Hit it, band.”
studentactivism.net 
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