Historic Gaza Protests at Columbia U. Enter Day 6; Campus Protests Spread Across Country

Democracy Now! – Apr 22, 2024

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Columbia University canceled in-person classes Monday as campus protests over the war in Gaza enter a sixth day. The protests have swelled after the school administration called in the police to clear a student encampment last week, resulting in over 100 arrests. Solidarity protests and encampments have now sprouted up on campuses across the country, including at Yale, MIT, Tufts, NYU, The New School and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Palestinian reporter Jude Taha, a journalism student at Columbia University, describes events on campus as “an unprecedented act of solidarity” that student organizers are modeling on antiwar protests in 1968. She says Columbia University President Minouche Shafik’s claims of an unsafe environment on campus are contradicted by the generally calm and productive atmosphere among the protesters, adding that the school’s heavy-handed response, including suspensions and evictions, is being seen as “an intimidation tactic” by organizers.

Our Fragile Food System : Fresh Air : NPR

See related:

• The Cartel on Your Dinner Plate – The Atlantic
• The “Green Revolution:” Its Essence, Achievements & Aftermath
• Global Balliol

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The Cartel on Your Dinner Plate – The Atlantic

The Federal Trade Commission has just released its long-anticipated report on the major disruptions to America’s grocery-supply chain during the coronavirus pandemic—and it confirmed the worst. According to the report, large grocery companies saw the pandemic as an opportunity. They deliberately wielded their market power amid food shortages, entrenching their dominance and keeping their shelves stocked even as smaller companies had to scramble for goods or simply close up shop. For the big players in the grocery industry—companies such as Walmart—the pandemic was a boon. And profits have continued to climb, along with food prices, even as supply-chain disruptions have vanished.

….. (read more).

See related:

• Our Fragile Food System : Fresh Air : NPR 
• The “Green Revolution:” Its Essence, Achievements & Aftermath
• Global Balliol

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A Hall of Stories

Yale University Mar 27, 2024

The Yale Peabody Museum reopened on Tuesday, March 26, after a four-year transformative renovation. Its first guests on opening day were students from New Haven public schools, who were captivated by the museum’s new and reimagined exhibits.

At renovated Peabody Museum, Yale reopens its ‘front door’ to the world | YaleNews

A ribbon-cutting ceremony signals the beginning of a new era for the revitalized Yale Peabody Museum.
By Mike Cummings
April 18, 2024
4 min read

During the dedication ceremony for the newly renovated Yale Peabody Museum this week, President Peter Salovey mused over which part of campus serves as Yale’s front door to the world.

Is it the College Street corridor, the new home of the Wu Tsai Institute located in the heart of New Haven? Or the stretch of Trumbull Street that greets motorists entering the city off I-91?

Perhaps, he said, it’s actually a specific room within the Peabody Museum itself that has been beloved by generations of Connecticut schoolchildren.

“If this is the most-visited spot in Connecticut by a child, then I would argue that the [Burke Dinosaur Hall] here at the Peabody is our front door,” Salovey said, speaking on April 17 before an audience of invited guests under the skylights of the museum’s new Central Gallery.

The ribbon-cutting event officially closed a four-year period of renovation and renewal that has transformed the museum into a dynamic center of participatory learning, groundbreaking research, and more accessible exhibitions that present the ever-changing story of life on Earth to a new generation of schoolchildren, university students, and guests from New Haven, the region, and the world.

In his remarks, Salovey repeated the dedication given during the building’s official opening in December 1925:

“Here, for generations to come, serious students will assemble for the intensive study of those profound and revealing chapters in nature’s history, which are here written,” he said, quoting the original pronouncement. “[Here] will come citizens young and old to gain broader and deeper conceptions of the history of life, of the Earth, and its structure and its place in the cosmos.

…(read more).

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Secretary John Kerry on the Climate Crisis | Office of the President

April 22, 2024

In one of his first interviews since stepping down as the inaugural Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, Secretary John Kerry joins Yale President Peter Salovey for an Earth Day conversation about his environmental leadership and how to build political will for climate action.

Kerry Initiative

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Yale Planetary Solutions

Yale Divinity School Living Village

Download transcript:
yaletalkepisode47-john-kerry-transcript.pdf

Listen to webcast

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BREAKING: Police move in on protestors on Yale campus

WFSB 3Apr 22, 2024

Protesters camped outside the Schwarzman Center on Yale University’s campus.

See related:

• LIVE: Police begin arresting pro-divestment protesters on Beinecke Plaza – Yale Daily News
• Pro-Palestine protesters demand Yale University to divest military manufacturers
• Trustees disperse from Yale Corporation meeting as protesters march to confront them – Yale Daily News
• “History never repeats itself. But sometimes….” — Yale University in Times of Civil Strife and Global Conflict

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At Climate Leadership Summit, Students Call Out Harvard’s Role in the Climate Crisis | by Divest Harvard | Medium

CAMBRIDGE — Last week, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard members joined other activists at the Kennedy School to discuss organizing against climate injustice. Their workshop was part of the Harvard Climate Leadership Summit, a section of Harvard Climate Action Week, which had the stated goal of “celebration and acceleration of climate research, education, and engagement.” Yet despite such lofty aims, as FFDH members pointed out, Harvard is still deeply entangled with the fossil fuel industry — especially in its research.

“We know who is responsible for climate change,” said Sophia ’24, citing the statistic that nearly three-quarters of global emissions originate from just 100 companies. “We know what the impacts are and how they are unjust. So why is Harvard still supporting the culprits?”

According to a study released earlier this year, Harvard received over $20 million from major fossil fuel companies between 2010 and 2020: an absolute lower bound, since the study worked only with publicly available information. In particular, several prominent climate initiatives at the Harvard Kennedy School — the very school where the Harvard Climate Leadership Summit was being held — are bankrolled by oil companies and directed by fossil fuel insiders. This is despite the fact that industry funding has a proven toxic impact on climate research, skewing findings in favor of fossil fuels, and despite Harvard’s purported plans to make its major contributions to sustainability through research.

… (read more).

See relaated:

• Harvard’s Divest Fest — Tuesday, May 3rd 2022
•  Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 3
• Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 2
• Recalling Some of the Chapters from the Harvard DIVESTMENT Struggle…Part 1
• Setting the Record Straight: The Depth, Severity and History of the Scientific Evidence on Earth’s Unfolding Climate Catastrophe
• Harvard’s Divest Fest — Tuesday, May 3rd 2022
• Divest Harvard – Whose University? The Case for Reinvestment at Harvard
• How Harvard Divested From Fossil Fuels With Ben Franta
• Tim DeChristopher – Hard truths that must be spoken about Harvard
• The Power of Big Oil Parts 1 & 2 & 3 : Denial, Doubt, Delay (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

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LIVE: Police begin arresting pro-divestment protesters on Beinecke Plaza – Yale Daily News

Police are arresting students on Beinecke Plaza, where pro-Palestine protesters urging Yale to divest set up an overnight encampment on Sunday for the third consecutive night. Follow live.

The Yale Daily News 7:03 am, Apr 22, 2024

8:13 a.m.:

“It’s imperative that we block every single fucking street,” a protester said over megaphone.

A Yale Alert that came out at 8:12 a.m. said that police are responding to “an incident in the area of Grove St & Prospect St… due to protestors who are blocking the street.”

Yolanda Wang and Nora Moses, Staff Reporters

8:10 a.m.

Police officers are instructing cars on Grove Street to back up from the circle of protesters in the intersection. They are backing them up to Hillhouse Avenue and diverting them that way.

Lily Belle Poling, Staff Reporter

8:09 a.m.

There are at least 30 officers gathered around the College Street entrance to the Schwarzman Center.

At least five additional police officers have been sent across College Street to the sidewalk in front.

Josie Reich, Staff Reporter

8:09 a.m.:

Organizers blocking the intersection of Grove and College Streets announce that people arrested are being charged with Class A misdemeanors. “Do we look like criminals?,” they have asked the crowd of over 200.

Lily Belle Poling, Staff Reporter

8:07 a.m.:

Protesters encircling the College Grove intersection have locked arms and are chanting “get up, get down, we’re anti-war in this town.”

Nathaniel Rosenberg, City Editor

8:05 am..:

Protesters have circled around the intersection of College and Grove streets. No cars can pass through.

Lily Belle Poling, Staff Reporter

8:03 a.m.:

More than 250 protesters on the College Street side of Schwarzman Center have now moved to block the intersection of Grove and College Streets.

Marshals in yellow vests are directing the crowd to create a large circle in the intersection in front of Schwarzman and instructing people to stay on the sidewalk. Protesters are chanting “whose streets, our streets.”

Yolanda Wang, Josie Reich, Nora Moses and Ariela Lopez, Staff Reporters

8:00 a.m.:

A fifth shuttle has just left Schwarzman Center and driven west on Grove Street. According to legal observers, at least seven arrested protesters were in the shuttle.

Organizers and legal observers said that protesters are being arrested on Grove Street, by the facilities entrance to Schwarzman. The crowd marched from College Street to Grove Street to “observe.”

Yolanda Wang, Nora Moses and Josie Reich, Staff Reporters

… read more.

See related:

• Pro-Palestine protesters demand Yale University to divest military manufacturers
• Trustees disperse from Yale Corporation meeting as protesters march to confront them – Yale Daily News
• “History never repeats itself. But sometimes….” — Yale University in Times of Civil Strife and Global Conflict

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