Comment Re:Education and corporate sponsorship (Score 1) 221
My school (UMASS at Amherst) is a good example of the effects of corporate sponsorship of education. A "generous" donation from Nike or Coca-Cola comes with a heavy price: the corporation expects and demands broad control over University policy and culture. In the last year:
- Nike has promised to withdraw all funding since we (students) convinced the administration to join the Workers Rights Coalition (an anti-sweatshop group).
- Coca-Cola and Starbucks have demanded and enforced expensive monopolies on all beverages sold on campus. The administration has also harassed students gathering signatures for the Ecopledge, a pledge not to work for a list of socially irresponsible companies which includes Coca-Cola.
- The administration has ignored the protests of students and professors by letting the Folett Group of Chicago skim profits from the Universities bookstores in return for undefined increases in "efficiency" (layoffs). Protesters against Folett must apply for a permit and gather in a confined space far from the bookstore or the Chancellor's residence.
Corporations who give to educational institutions don't just want recognition. They openly seek to stifle the free speech and progressive activism that make colleges more than short sighted training camps for career skills.
- Nike has promised to withdraw all funding since we (students) convinced the administration to join the Workers Rights Coalition (an anti-sweatshop group).
- Coca-Cola and Starbucks have demanded and enforced expensive monopolies on all beverages sold on campus. The administration has also harassed students gathering signatures for the Ecopledge, a pledge not to work for a list of socially irresponsible companies which includes Coca-Cola.
- The administration has ignored the protests of students and professors by letting the Folett Group of Chicago skim profits from the Universities bookstores in return for undefined increases in "efficiency" (layoffs). Protesters against Folett must apply for a permit and gather in a confined space far from the bookstore or the Chancellor's residence.
Corporations who give to educational institutions don't just want recognition. They openly seek to stifle the free speech and progressive activism that make colleges more than short sighted training camps for career skills.
