Statement of Solidarity From University of Pennsylvania Faculty
Content
Statement of solidarity from University of Pennsylvania Faculty
As faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania, we wish to express our solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement now underway in our city and elsewhere. This movement expresses widespread anger with the economic and political disenfranchisement of the great majority of the American people. Occupy Wall Street is protesting a system that provides increasingly few opportunities for the majority – – the 99% –– while generating vast profits for a tiny minority. Along with the demonstrators, we are demanding an end to the extreme inequalities that structure our society. We share with many Americans acute anger at the government's unconditional bailout of bankers and Wall Street firms that drove the economy to disaster. Our country urgently needs to address not the problems of Wall Street but the problems of the 99%: massive unemployment of the American people, the erosion of our social safety networks, our decaying infrastructures, social and education programs, and workers' wages, rights, and benefits. We oppose the undemocratic collusion of big business with government at all levels. We join Occupy Wall Street in calling for urgent action to increase employment and to protect programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, in part by requiring the wealthy, the investment bankers, and the large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. We also join the protesters in decrying the disastrous effects of the costly, unjustified wars that the United States has been conducting overseas since 2001. Only by identifying the complex interconnections between repressive economic, social, and political regimes can social and economic justice prevail in this country and around the globe. We applaud the efforts to keep the protests peaceful and democratic. As teachers we express our conviction that without social justice, education is a shell game. And as scholars we celebrate the creative and intellectual work of Occupy Wall Street as an essential partner to our own efforts to facilitate the emergence of a better social order and a smarter commitment to its lively perpetuation. We join our colleagues in the labor movement, especially teachers unions, and at other universities and colleges, in supporting this movement. We call on all members of the Penn community to lend their support to this peaceful and potentially transformative movement.
Ania Loomba, English Suvir Kaul, English Anne Norton, Political Science Charles Bernstein, English Toorjo Ghose Social, Policy and Practice
Robert Vitalis, Political Science Zachary Lesser, English Deborah Thomas, Anthropology Max Cavitch, English Andrea Goulet, French Jed Esty, English Timothy Corrigan, Cinema Studies, English, and History of Art John Richetti, English Emeritus Marcia Ferguson, Theater Arts Chi-ming Yang, English Nicola M. Gentili, Cinema Studies Eve Troutt Powell, History and Africana Studies Katie L. Price, English Rita Barnard, English Lisa Mitchell, South Asia Studies Salamishah Tillet, English Thadious Davis, English Kathleen Hall, Graduate School of Education Amy Kaplan, English Herman Beavers, English Jim English, English Phyllis Rackin, English Emerita Jean-Michel Rabate, English Heather Love, English Marie Gottschalk, Political Science
Bob Perelman, English Andrew Lamas, Urban Studies Karen Beckman, History of Art / Cinema Studies Nancy Bentley, English Nancy J. Hirschmann, Political Science Demie Kurtz, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Shannon Lundeen, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Michelle Taransky, English David L. Eng, English Michael Leja, History of Art and Visual Studies Tsisti Jaji, English Yin-Ling Wong, Social Policy & Practice Mark Stern, Social Policy & Practice Dennis Culhane, Social Policy & Practice Tukufu Zubeiri, Sociology Nina Auerbach, English Emerita David S. Roos, Biology Tulia Falleti, Political Science Projit Mukharji, History and Sociology of Science E. Ann Matter, Religious Studies Jamal Elias, Religious Studies Toni Bowers, English. Devan Patel, South Asian Studies Julia Lynch, Political Science Ezekiel Dixon-Roman, Social Policy & Practice
Roberta Iversen, Social Policy & Practice Michele Richman, French David Kazanjian, English Tamara J. Walker, History Christopher Nichols. History Andrea Doyle, Social Policy & Practice Sharon Ravitch, Graduate School of Education Cheikh Babou, History James Ker, Classical Studies Emily Wilson, English Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, History of Art Nuzhat Ahmad, Medicine Bethany Wiggin, German Josephine Parks, English Steven Hahn, History Devin Griffiths, English Lydie Moudileno, French Virginia Chang, Medicine Margreta de Grazia, English Emma Dillon, Music Rahul Mangharam, of Electrical and Systems Engineering Damon Freeman, Social Policy & Practice Karin Rhodes, Social Policy & Practice
As faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania, we wish to express our solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement now underway in our city and elsewhere. This movement expresses widespread anger with the economic and political disenfranchisement of the great majority of the American people. Occupy Wall Street is protesting a system that provides increasingly few opportunities for the majority – – the 99% –– while generating vast profits for a tiny minority. Along with the demonstrators, we are demanding an end to the extreme inequalities that structure our society. We share with many Americans acute anger at the government's unconditional bailout of bankers and Wall Street firms that drove the economy to disaster. Our country urgently needs to address not the problems of Wall Street but the problems of the 99%: massive unemployment of the American people, the erosion of our social safety networks, our decaying infrastructures, social and education programs, and workers' wages, rights, and benefits. We oppose the undemocratic collusion of big business with government at all levels. We join Occupy Wall Street in calling for urgent action to increase employment and to protect programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, in part by requiring the wealthy, the investment bankers, and the large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. We also join the protesters in decrying the disastrous effects of the costly, unjustified wars that the United States has been conducting overseas since 2001. Only by identifying the complex interconnections between repressive economic, social, and political regimes can social and economic justice prevail in this country and around the globe. We applaud the efforts to keep the protests peaceful and democratic. As teachers we express our conviction that without social justice, education is a shell game. And as scholars we celebrate the creative and intellectual work of Occupy Wall Street as an essential partner to our own efforts to facilitate the emergence of a better social order and a smarter commitment to its lively perpetuation. We join our colleagues in the labor movement, especially teachers unions, and at other universities and colleges, in supporting this movement. We call on all members of the Penn community to lend their support to this peaceful and potentially transformative movement.
Ania Loomba, English Suvir Kaul, English Anne Norton, Political Science Charles Bernstein, English Toorjo Ghose Social, Policy and Practice
Robert Vitalis, Political Science Zachary Lesser, English Deborah Thomas, Anthropology Max Cavitch, English Andrea Goulet, French Jed Esty, English Timothy Corrigan, Cinema Studies, English, and History of Art John Richetti, English Emeritus Marcia Ferguson, Theater Arts Chi-ming Yang, English Nicola M. Gentili, Cinema Studies Eve Troutt Powell, History and Africana Studies Katie L. Price, English Rita Barnard, English Lisa Mitchell, South Asia Studies Salamishah Tillet, English Thadious Davis, English Kathleen Hall, Graduate School of Education Amy Kaplan, English Herman Beavers, English Jim English, English Phyllis Rackin, English Emerita Jean-Michel Rabate, English Heather Love, English Marie Gottschalk, Political Science
Bob Perelman, English Andrew Lamas, Urban Studies Karen Beckman, History of Art / Cinema Studies Nancy Bentley, English Nancy J. Hirschmann, Political Science Demie Kurtz, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Shannon Lundeen, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Michelle Taransky, English David L. Eng, English Michael Leja, History of Art and Visual Studies Tsisti Jaji, English Yin-Ling Wong, Social Policy & Practice Mark Stern, Social Policy & Practice Dennis Culhane, Social Policy & Practice Tukufu Zubeiri, Sociology Nina Auerbach, English Emerita David S. Roos, Biology Tulia Falleti, Political Science Projit Mukharji, History and Sociology of Science E. Ann Matter, Religious Studies Jamal Elias, Religious Studies Toni Bowers, English. Devan Patel, South Asian Studies Julia Lynch, Political Science Ezekiel Dixon-Roman, Social Policy & Practice
Roberta Iversen, Social Policy & Practice Michele Richman, French David Kazanjian, English Tamara J. Walker, History Christopher Nichols. History Andrea Doyle, Social Policy & Practice Sharon Ravitch, Graduate School of Education Cheikh Babou, History James Ker, Classical Studies Emily Wilson, English Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, History of Art Nuzhat Ahmad, Medicine Bethany Wiggin, German Josephine Parks, English Steven Hahn, History Devin Griffiths, English Lydie Moudileno, French Virginia Chang, Medicine Margreta de Grazia, English Emma Dillon, Music Rahul Mangharam, of Electrical and Systems Engineering Damon Freeman, Social Policy & Practice Karin Rhodes, Social Policy & Practice
