The Franklin Hall Commons was used by the American Association for University Professors for the “People’s 2030 Involvement Fair” on Thursday April, 17, that was later followed by a rally in Dunn Meadow.
The involvement fair included guest speakers as well as undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff from organizations such as For a New Green World, the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition, the Green Feather Movement, Friends of Dorothy, and the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
While each advocacy group represented a different cause, everyone gathered together to collectively illustrate their common vision for the future of IU.
This common vision amongst each group includes a future where neither students nor faculty feel hindered by the IU administration.
Q and A with Bryce Greene of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
“We joined the Coalition because we understand that the only way that we’d get anything from the administration is if we use our collective voices and join with other people fighting in the same struggles and amplify our voices to be more powerful,” said Palestinian Solidarity Committee Spokesperson Bryce Greene.
Speakers at the fair spoke about their personal experiences where they felt certain educational rights of theirs as well as their freedom of speech were compromised.
Background information from Purnima Bose of the IU chapter of the AAUP.
Bose also mentioned her personal connection to the general cause of “The People’s 2030 project” partly stemming from political trauma that she said her parents endured.
“So I have an investment in this state. My parents came to this state, but they themselves as young people experienced political trauma through the partition of the sub-continent,” said Bose.
In recent weeks leading up to the involvement fair, various international students had gotten their student visas revoked followed by the termination of a longtime Luddy school professor.
Protestors at both the involvement fair and the rally voiced their unhappiness with the visa revocation from various international students as well as the lack of due process in terminating Chinese native Luddy School Professor XiaoFeng Wang.
