Rethinking the University: Labor, Knowledge, Value April 11, 2008

This conference has been collectively organized by graduate students to bring together thinkers from across the campus community and national academic community to address the "crisis" of the university as it had continually been transformed by neoliberal forces. The recent AFSCME strike at the University of Minnesota and other academic labor struggles continue to expose the university in crisis, yet we need to further develop both our intellectual and organizational capacities to effectively address these crises.

The conference will take place over three days. Friday will focus generally on questions of neoliberalization and corporatization of higher education and the casualization of academic labor. Friday's meetings will be held on the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus, at the Carlson School of Management (morning panels in Carlson, 2-213, lunch in Carlson, 1-132, afternoon panels in Carlson, L-110). Friday night, we will host a reception in Ferguson Hall, 280. Saturday and Sunday will look at questions of alternatives, including campus labor organizing, radical pedagogy, and other strategies of resistance. Saturday and Sunday will be held on the East Bank Campus at the Institute for Advanced Studies (Nolte Hall, Room 140), and we will have a dinner on Saturday night at the Bell Museum.

Official Website: http://www.makeumnpublic.org/conference.htm