Journalist – Historian – Speaker
My university, Dominican University, has declared itself a sanctuary campus. We have a long history as a national leader in supporting the rights of undocumented students to access higher education, including regular fund-raising to make that possible. In 2014 I wrote: Over the last few years at my Roman Catholic university, we have begun to …
I am not a fan of the label: Public Intellectual. I think it’s used to valorize certain kinds of public activity – oped writing, essays in fancy literary magazines, prestige stuff – and not others. For me, activism, community arts (music, theater, fine arts, etc.), working with local farmers, volunteering, and more, are at least …
Today I’m part of a workshop on how Dominican might develop more curriculum around ableism. I’ll be talking for about 5 minutes on my basic definitions of ableism – focusing on violence – and then participating for a few hours in a group effort to propose a set of linked classes. It’s just the start …
Last Wednesday, a group of African-American students staged a public protest against racism on our campus. You can see video and read about it here. They chanted, “Silence no more,” vowing to call out the racism that they saw. As of yesterday, faculty response coalesced around the phrase “Complicit no more.” There will be an …
UPDATE: Dominican Star article on the protests. Administration has been speaking out in solidarity with the students and we’ll see what happens. Meeting today at 8:30 of Faculty to discuss actions. Last week African-American students at Dominican University protested racism on campus. Here are two videos. The first is a short protest in the cafeteria. …
In my recent CNN piece, I wrote about my university with both pride and realism. We are a relatively low-cost private school that does some things exceptionally well. Those things that we do well cost money, though. I wrote: The Pell Institute’s publication “Moving Beyond Access: College Success For Low-Income, First-Generation Students” lists advising, tutoring, mentoring, …
I am a professor at a small Catholic university on the edge of Chicago. We have an extremely diverse population of students, a teaching-centered institution, a social justice mission, and I go to work feeling extremely lucky in many ways. But especially today. Today we are holding our Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Investigations (URSCI) …