Review of Consensus Model Subcommittee Reportbacks Logistics Subcommittee The form for submitting abstracts should be up this week and make scheduling speakers easier. They’ve come up with a list of possible locations, and the information (addresses) is already plugged into googlemaps. They ask that we not make arrangements for speakers even if CC-ed on an occupy101@gmail.com email. Let logistics do actual scheduling. Pedagogy Subcommittee They hope to create an interdisciplinary (art, economics, etc.) and free and downloadable curriculum package for K-12 and undergraduate classes that is customizable to other GAs targeting educators dedicated to social justice scaffolding the different concepts at play describing OWS’s successes and failures (thus far) providing a timeline for OWS’s development as a movement, some hints as to where the OWS movement is going, a bibliography organized by grade level, and information on previous movements that inform OWS enabling teachers and students to discuss the various forces of oppression at work in society (kyriarchy) In the process, they will archive multimedia and other information. They would like to touch base with the Occupy the Museums WG to discuss radical/alternative tours of museums. Open Forum Subcommittee They hope to coordinate with the People’s University/WSP to work out a non-conflicting schedule. They would like to create a webpage with transcripts and videos of open forums and a bibliography. They decided that speakers who have already done an open forum should present at other spaces before presenting again at Liberty Plaza and explained that open forums should be more like debates or discussions than lectures/teach-ins. However, they reaffirmed that decisions are explorations, not set in stone. Think Tank Subcommittee They study the occupation. What are people are bringing to the occupation? What are we doing as a 2 They collect, archive, and organize information flowing around Liberty Plaza (and hope to expand to include other working groups/communities/community organizations). They hold discussions every day from noon to 6pm (at the Plaza) and provide a suggestion box for potential solutions to the issues with which occupiers are concerned. They need people to help facilitate. Yale University Law wants to participate. Praxis/Theory Subcommittee They meet at Thursday at 3pm They endeavor to get input from as many people as possible. They ask what people are reading, which issues brought them to the plaza, how OWS began, and how the dire straits that brought occupiers here can be prevented in the future. They are constructing a reading list. RTW/Right to the Word (??) Subcommittee Mental health problems and addiction divide the plaza. Some people living there aren’t participating in the movement. Some people feel isolated. The plaza needs more unity. We need more information about this situation. RTW subcommittee members are researching models for mental health issues and partnering with social workers at Columbia to solve these issues. Proposal for Student Debt Subcommittee 1) Student loans should be interest free, not like other loans. 2) They should not be used to generate debt/profit. 3) Education should be free. 4) A student debt committee could combine the efforts of the people at Liberty Plaza, the student assembly at WSP, and academic experts who wish to work remotely. Clarifying Question Q: What kinds of actions would this subcommittee engage in? A: Pledge of refusal (if a certain threshold number of people is met, the committee would try to get over a million people to refuse to pay their student loans). Email Etiquette Proposal Too much email noise 1) If you want to thank someone or celebrate his or her ideas, please email just that person. Allow all members to invite people to googlegroups (response: mods will change the settings) 3 Label minute emails with the subcommittee name and send them to the larger group (then members of other subcommittees can ignore those emails if they like) All subcommittees should have their own googlegroups Meeting Time Discussion Members agreed to meet on Friday (November 4, 2011) from 8:30-10:00pm at 60 Wall Street and then vote electronically via doodle for the meeting for the week of November 7-13 and beyond. http://www.doodle.com/whdr3kmpkbqy78kv Announcement A representative from the Center for Constitutional Rights (located at 666 Broadway) offered space for OWS groups needing it. Call the Center or email occupy101@gmail.com for more information.
Minutes taken by Diana Pitt