by Michaël Veremans
Anyone that’s been put through the public education system since Reagan and especially those of us at post-secondary institutions have seen an increasing pressure to dismantle it while funneling students into a series of for profit institutions, if they can afford it. I remember in elementary school some kids talking about how if a certain law passed they will be sent to a private school. This comment alarmed me—it was perhaps my first moment of political consciousness. And even at that age I knew that offering equal education to all people was a civic imperative along with health care and free and open elections.
Of course, since my childhood many things have changed, but one thing neither my fellow students or I (my generation) would have expected in this destructive march toward privatization is the amount of violent state repression that has accompanied this shift. With the corporatization of our schools comes inevitable militarization employed at repressing any dissent expressed by the people benefitting from the current social system. I will show that as public education become more expensive and its facilities become privatized, campus police departments have received more funding and will be emboldened to regard students as debtor-criminals and thus use violence against them. The infamous pepper spraying outrage at UC Davis is an alarmingly clear example of this type of violence. Sadly, it is not the only one.
Continue reading
