Human rights, gender equality, social justice and the environment: Repoliticizing the university

• In Event: Revisiting Human Exceptionalism in Education: The World May Not Be as We Order It

Proposal

Arguments have been made for redressing inequality in higher education, in its almost exclusive orientation towards markets and human capital formation (Marginson and Considine, 2000; Pusser, 2008). This has generated an urge for enhancing its public sphere orientation (Giroux, 2002; Pusser, 2012). Increasing crises in political systems, institutions and parties (Ordorika, 2018) with Brexit, Trump's attacks on science, the instability of governments in countries like Spain, point to the repoliticization of the university (Ordorika, 2018). Establishing their differences with other political institutions (executive branches, legislative bodies, and political parties), universities needs to be part of political debates, inform society and generate alternatives based on the diverse and plural knowledges and cultures they generate.

In this paper four contemporary political topics, crucial for the development and preservation of humanity, and to call human exceptionalism into question, based on regional examples that highlight their relevance and urgency should be addressed:

a) Human rights violations take place all over the world (Human Rights Watch, 2019). From Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, ethnic assaults in Myanmar and Yemen, challenges to free speech in China and Nepal; attacks on the media and the killing of journalists in Mexico. A symbolic case, much related to higher education, is the continued disappearance of 43 students in Mexico since 2014, a despicable political action that puts political institutions and humanism itself into question.

b) Struggles for gender equality are paramount events today. Universities are hotbeds in battles for equality and against gender violence (Buquet et al., 2013; Klein, 2018; Lewis and Marine, 2018). Lately, initiatives like #Me Too, have become more radical among female students on campuses (Buquet in Rodríguez Mega, 2019).

c) In the context of persistent and increasing inequality, migration is one of the most salient social and political issues. Trump’s threats of political and economic sanctions against Mexico, in order to force it to become a gatekeeper of US borders, highlights tragedies for individuals and families attempting to cross the border (Wilson, 2019). Universities have remained inexplicably silent.

d) Political leaders (i.e. Trump and Bolsonaro) reject global warming and environmental change as fake news. Among other environmental effects of human exploitation of resources, the meltdown of glaciers, the invasion of plastics, and more recently the burning of Amazonia, are threats to the survival of humanity and life on earth. Societal calls for the intervention of governments have generated limited responses.

Universities are called upon to assume strong political stances. The repoliticization of universities, beyond partisan politics, focusing on the future of human interactions and the protection of life as individuals and as species, brings new meanings to academic work, student formation and life on campuses. International connections between academics and universities contribute to generating national and international public spheres, capable –on the basis of knowledge and their own legitimacy– of coalescing broad coalitions for urgent change. This calls for a thorough re-understanding, reorganization and new orientations for our universities, colleges and research centers.

References
Buquet Corleto, Ana, Cooper, Jennifer, Mingo, Araceli, Moreno, Hortensia. 2013. Intrusas en la universidad. Coyoacán, México, D.F.: UNAM, Coordinación de Humanidades IISUE.

Giroux, Henry A. 2002. “Neoliberalism, corporate culture, and the promise of higher education: The University as a Democratic public sphere.” Harvard Educational Review 72 (4):425-463.

Human Rights Watch. 2019. World Report 2019. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Klein, Renate. 2018. “Sexual violence on US college campuses history and challenges.” En Gender based violence in university communities, editado por S. Anitha y R. Lewis. Pp. 63-82. Bristol University Press.

Lewis, R., & Marine, S. 2018. “Student feminist activism to challenge gender based violence.” In, R. Lewis y S. Anitha (eds). Gender based violence in university communities, pp. 129-148. Bristol University Press.

Marginson, Simon y Considine, Mark. 2000. The enterprise university: power, governance, and reinvention in Australia. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ordorika, Imanol. 2018. “Repolitizar la casa: las universidades de América Latina a cien años de la Reforma de Córdoba.” En A 100 años de la Reforma Universitaria de Córdoba: Hacia un nuevo manifiesto de la educación superior latinoamericana, R. Guarga (Ed.). Pp. 115-130. Córdoba, Argentina: UNESCO-IESALC / Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

Pusser, B. (2006). Reconsidering higher education and the public good. In W. Tierney (ed.), Governance and the Public Good. Albany: SUNY Press, 11-28.

Pusser, B. 2008. “The state, the market and the institutional estate: Revisiting contemporary authority relations in higher education.” Higher Education:105-139.

Pusser, B. 2012. Universities and the public sphere: knowledge creation and state building in the era of globalization. New York: Routledge.

Wilson, Audrey. (2019). “U.S.-Mexico Migration Deal Expires”. Foreign Policy, https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/06/u-s-mexico-migration-deal-expires-donald-trump-border-asylum-tariffs-china-trade-state-department-boris-johnson-brexit/

Author

• Imanol Ordorika, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México