Buffalo: State of University vs. State of the People
Buffalo: State of University vs. State of the People
Buffalo, New York Students, staff, and community members gathered in front of Slee Hall on the University at Buffalo’s North Campus on Oct. 11. Packed in that concert hall were 100 to 120 university administrators, deans, department heads and donors, who were all there to listen to the president’
Following the reading of these demands and the statement that preceded them, the community heard from three more speakers. The first speaker represented SUNY Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions and she connected her experience as a student activist in the 1980s pushing for divestment from South African apartheid to the current struggle to push for divestment from Israel.
The second speaker represented the No CAS Cuts movement (budget cuts to the College of Arts and Sciences) and connected the crackdown on the humanities — including the firing of staff and cancellation of classes — to the current crisis of end-stage capitalism.
The final speaker represented the Buffalo branch of Workers World Party and spoke about his time as a member of YAWF (Youth Against War and Fascism) fighting against Vietnam war recruitment activities on campus. He closed his speech by pointing out a connection between the U.S. military and how college campuses are complicit in [neo]imperialism.