Critical Pedagogy in the Neoliberal University: Reflections on the 2015 York University Strike through a Marcusean Lens

Abstract

In this article, we see the month-long graduate student and contract faculty strike at York University (Toronto, 2015) through a lens informed by Herbert Marcuse’s thought. In the context of widespread student protests across North America against neoliberal austerity, we draw on our picket line experiences to argue that Marcuse’s work provides insights into how students and faculty can engage in critical praxis within the neoliberal university. We argue that CUPE 3903, the union of TAs and contract faculty at York, is a kind of counter-institution that Marcuse argued was necessary for liberation. Marcuse strategically urged students to take advantage of gaps or cracks in a disintegrating system. Our analysis revolves around the complex experience of the graduate student picket lines – a “gap” – as a site of rupture for the liberation of aesthetic experience, “organized spontaneity,” open, democratic organization, as well as conflict.     

A model of cross-cultural training in the transfer of technology

During the past few decades, many aspects of the transfer of technology from developed to less-developed countries have been examined in detail. Although much of the transfer has been done by transnational corporations (TNCs), one area that has received scant attention in the literature is the cross-cultural training of workers in the host country. A model is developed to show how critical training the worker is to the success of the TNC in the host country. This model emphasizes the need for workers to be trained to understand and use the new (foreign) technology and to understand the culture of the foreign corporation. Thomas S. Barker is a Ph.D. student in higher education with a concentration in management and economics at the University of North Texas.     

Using Student Risk Factors in School Violence Surveillance Reports: Illustrative Examples for Enhanced Policy Formation, Implementation, and Evaluation

This article presents information about the range and type of violent and associated behaviors that occur on American school campuses. We argue that the prevailing practice of reporting single‐item population estimate trends from school violence surveillance surveys provides an incomplete basis upon which to form and evaluate public policy related to school violence. The presentation draws upon information derived from the 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999 Centers for Disease Control's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) surveys (CDC 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000) and the 1997–1998 California Student Survey (CSS) (Austin et al. 2001). Secondary analyses using the YRBS and the CSS are used to illustrate the importance of considering risk and school adjustment patterns when examining school violence trends to formulate public policy agendas.