Spirit of ’68: Remembering the university in revolutionary times

Join us on April 4th for a free lecture from award winning professor Dr. Robin D. G. Kelley

“In light of the 50th anniversary of 1968 (on the very day commemorating 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, assassination), I revisit the campus insurgencies of that period and suggest that the neoliberal university is partly a consequence of their defeat—not just in the U.S. but around the world.  When the Cold War liberal state dramatically expanded land grant universities in the 1950s and 60s, it did not anticipate mass resistance. Students and some faculty rejected the close ties between the emerging national security state and the university and the most radical movements to democratize America actually began on campuses by exposing the university’s liberal conceits and its role in the expansion of U.S. imperialism.  Genuine struggles to transform both the university and society, as well as the university’s relationship to society, ultimately failed or were captured, resulting in greater diversity of bodies and curriculum while consolidating state and corporate power over the university.  At the moment when anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-poverty, feminist, gay, nationalist, and Marxist insurgencies erupted on university campuses half a century ago, the Fordist/Keynesian welfare/warfare state had already begun to collapse.  I then make a plea to try and recover the ‘spirit’ of ’68, the spectre of (an unfinished) revolution haunting the current order.  There is much we can draw from this moment if we are to remake the university and the world.”

Free event, no registration required, but seating is limited (first come first served).

Refreshments will be provided.