Pull the Plug
The death watch on New College of California is getting tiresome—and repetitive. Better to let it die than continue on in this vain. Once it’s buried, we can finally start building something more authentic.
For those who want to testify at this funereal event, the San Francisco Bay Guardian has the story on its politics blog.
For those of us who are enrolled for the next semester it’s not so easy as it is for others to pronounce New College dead and go our merry way. Last semester was hell as the tension and uncertainty was palpable. With classes delayed, board members resigning, a new president announced and student work/study checks unpaid, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any easier. However, the fact that we registered and committed our financial aid to continuing with New College this semester speaks volumes as to our commitment to the institution. What would help most right now is for the new president to communicate with students and faculty whether classes will continue as normal or if New College will be forced to go into “teach out” mode so that we can complete our degrees before they close the doors. The rest is just more noise and posturing to me.
Thanks for writing, Kevin. You’re not the only one to point out the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of New College. The trustees’ ongoing refusal to communicate only confirms for us that there is nothing left to salvage.
Best of luck with your new film.
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am a New College student enrolled in the masters degree program of
Media Studies. I have made a commitment along with others to continue
at New College in spite of the challenges we now face. As a gesture of
my confidence in the institution I have agreed to a rare screening of
my first documentary film “El Salvador: In the Name of Democracy” at
the Roxie this Saturday afternoon. It s part of a program sponsored by
the Media Studies Department of New College. Here’s a description of
the film:
This 30-minute documentary film contains extraordinary footage of
abuses committed by the US-trained Salvadoran army in the early
1980′s. It also reveals the human face of members and supporters of
the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nationale (FMLN) who the
Reagan administration sought to dehumanize at the time.
This film stands as a documentary tribute to the more than 90,000
people killed during the Salvadoran conflict where the Reagan
administration armed and funded deadly military units such as
theinfamous Atlacatl Battalion. This also includes a short update
produced in 1989 and narrated by actor Mike Farrell.
Produced by Kevin Pina and the El Salvador Film Institute
Directed by Jose Ponce and Pamela Cohen
16mm, 30 minutes, color
I would love to see you there and discuss the situation at New College
with you afterwards.
In solidarity,
Kevin Pina
New College Media Studies Film Festival
Roxie Theatre (3117 16th Street, SF)
Saturday January 26 from 12-5pm
Free!
For the first ever New College Media Studies Faculty and
Students showcase their films and videos made to create change and to
document the struggles for social change over the past 3 decades.
All of these films capture working people organizing, making a
change and not simply suffering the consequences of capitalism
quietly, but creating a new society.
Part I
12:00 p.m. Introductions and opening remarks
12:30 p.m. Union Town (1979) by Mary Ellen Churchill (30
min.) A documentary about the Rank and File workers in Local 2 organizing
to take their union back from corrupt union bureaucrats and
union busting bosses in San Francisco.
1:15 p.m. El Salvador: In the Name of Democracy (1984) by
Kevin Pina (30 min.) This documentary reveals the human face of
members and supporters of the Frente Farabundo Marti para la
Liberacion Nationale (FMLN) who the Reagan administration sought to
dehumanize at the time.
2:00 p.m. 1990 Elections: A Vote Under War (1990) by Adrian
Carrasco Zanini (30 min). A film about the 1990 Nicaraguan
presidential election in which the Sandinistas lost due largely to the
effects of the U.S sponsored Contra War.
2:40 p.m. Panel discussion “How does it work?”
creating change through film & video?
Part II New College Media Studies students’ productions:
3:10 p.m. Uncommon Knowledge by Eliza Hemenway (26 min.) This
compelling and poetic documentary takes place inside the University of
California Extension as plans unfold to shut down its historic San
Francisco campus in favor of a lucrative private development.
3:40 p.m. La Revolucion Comunicativa by Greg Miller (24 min.)
A documentary about community radio and TV on the rise in Venezuela.
4:15 Fall 2007 Media Studies students short subjects
…and more!