NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—A coalition named Reclaim Revolution, formed in response to the Rutgers’s 250th anniversary campaign, is hosting several teach-ins between  March 28th and April 21st. 

Reclaim Revolution wants to present a different side of Rutgers history, as we reported.  They argue that the one shown in the Rutgers 250 campaign is whitewashed and minimizes the contribution of minority groups.

“Sports, Black Power, and the Student Athlete” is the first of five events in the series.  It is hosted by the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, a faculty union, and it will be held at the Carlos Livingston Club Room on March 28 at 5 p.m. 

Other events include:

Rutgers’ Colonial Legacy & History of Activism
March 30 at 7 p.m. (Rutgers Student Activities Center on George Street)

Panel 1 is “The Colonial College: Histories of Slavery and Settlement at Rutgers.” It will feature the following panel members:

  • Maya Mikdashi, a Mellon Postdoctoral Associate working with the Institute for Research on Women (IRW) and the Women & Gender Studies Department at Rutgers University;
  • Carolina Alonso, a Ph.D. student and professor in the Women & Gender Studies Department at Rutgers University whose research focuses on migration studies, decolonial theory, and the history of immigrant illegality in New Jersey and the United States; and
  • Margarita Rosario, a Ph.D. student at Princeton University in the Comparative Literature department with a research focus on coloniality in the Early Americas.

Panel 2 is “Reclaiming Revolutionary Legacies: Histories of Student Activism at Rutgers University.” It will feature the following panel members:

  • Randy Green, an alumnus of Rutgers who was active on campus during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and continues to be active with social justice causes to this day;
  • Matt Cordeiro, an alumnus of Rutgers who was a major organizer during the tuition protests of 2011 and who is deeply familiar with Rutgers’s activist history; and
  • – Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, an alumna of Rutgers who was an active anti-Islamophobia and Palestinian justice activist during her time at Rutgers and after her graduation. She is also the founder and CEO of MuslimGirl.net.

The Corporatization of the University & Activism at Rutgers Today
April 4 at 7 p.m. (Rutgers Student Center on College Avenue)

Panel 3 is called “Know Where Your Money Goes: Neoliberalization & Corporatization of the University” and Panel 4 is called “The Time is Now: Current Student Activism at Rutgers.”

According to the event Facebook page, Panel 3 will “discuss the neoliberal ideology influencing university governance and how it is negatively affecting our faculty, staff, students, and the value of the degree.”

Panel 4 will “feature present undergraduate and graduate student activists working on a range of different issues…to detail the ways in which different struggles overlap, and work towards building solidarity between different student movements.”

Activism Through the Arts
April 7 at 7 p.m. (Douglass Student Center)

This session will feature:

  • MC Engima, rapper and activist;
  • Outernational, revolutionary rock band;
  • Fat Daryll & the Metuchen Burglars, an improvisational jazz group; and
  • student poets.

Finally, there will be a session hosted with the Center for Race and Ethnicity on April 21 at 6 p.m. at the Graduate Student Lounge on College Avenue.

All of the events are open to the public. Reclaim Revolution organizers are hoping to raise awareness of these issues and inspire debate with as many people as possible.