The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work as minister, scholar and activist seems to follow a trajectory that goes from a focus on civil rights to a focus on human rights. As an activist he began to make connections between between local and international concerns. In other words, he shifted his rights-speak from a focus on justice for "citizens" to justice for "humans."

During the summer of 2011, we (Michelle Agunloye, Raquel Fuentes, Michaela Grenier, Michael Ivy) participated in HECUA’s “Civil Rights Movement: History and Consequences” off-campus study program. We learned not only about the history of the Civil Rights movement but about contemporary resonances of that movement in the South and throughout the United States. Through dialogue, lectures, readings and documentaries, we engaged with our own role in keeping this movement alive. This semester we have been working with Jack Shuler on a directed study not only to help us keep thinking about our summer experience but imagine ways to share that experience with others. In order to do meet this end, we are creating an exhibit entitled: “Civil Rights. Human Rights. Our Rights.” The exhibit will explore our understanding of the ongoing human rights struggles in the United States. During this teach-in we will discuss how we created the exhibit. We will also engage participants in an activity and discussion that will further the goals of the exhibit--to promote dynamic thinking about contemporary human rights struggles and to recognize the problems in our own backyards.

Presenters: Michelle Agunloye '14, Raquel Fuentes '14, Michaela Grenier '14 and Michael Ivy '13

Teach-In Location: Burton Morgan Atrium

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 25

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

From 1982 to 1990 Denison was the summer orientation site for black South Africans coming to pursue graduate and undergraduate degrees in the United States. Over this 9 year period more than 1,000 South Africans participated in this program. They had a significant impact on this campus and Granville. On completion of their studies, they returned to South Africa helping to transform the country. I served as the primary director of the orientation program and am pulling together a panel of colleagues who also served on the staff. We will examine the nature of the program, its significance, and what lessons it might hold for today's Denison.

This program speaks to Dr King’s commitment to global social justice and his identification with the oppressed in all areas of the world. His opposition to the Vietnam War, a controversial position even among some of his supporters, powerfully indicated this commitment. So, too, did his outspoken stance against apartheid in South Africa. In its 2007 commemoration of life and work of Dr. King, Denison recognized the significance of this dimension of his legacy with the theme, “The Words and Music: South Africa.” The student body has completely changed since that event and this teach-in provides the ideal opportunity to remind current Denisonians of this past expression of our solidarity with the disinherited.

Moderator: Dr. Don Schilling; Panelists: Dr. Don Bonar, Dr.Barbara Hamlet, Dr. John Jackson, Dr. Jack Kirby and Dr. Lyn Robertson 

Teach-In Location: President's Dining Room (Huffman)

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 90

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In today’s news media, we often hear stories of violent and hateful altercations.  Many of these incidents seem to stem from a lack of understanding and respect for difference.  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked to highlight the humanity of all people through the use of nonviolent strategies.  With dialogue, we hope to do the same; we strive to use dialogue to help increase understanding and empathy between individuals.  Through the employment of intensive group activities and discussion prompts, we will help session attendees honestly examine the various facets of their own and others’ identities.  We believe that the power of dialogue will help us engage differences as strengths.  In this teach-in, we hope to give people tools for dialogue and active listening as well as practice in utilizing these strategies.

We feel this is important because we know that Denison is a community of individuals from a variety of backgrounds.  Each faculty member, staff member, and student brings a different life experience to campus.  In order to create a campus community in which tolerance and respect are given to all, it is necessary to share some of these experiences to help us understand our differences and to establish common ground.  Join us in celebrating our differences and commonalities and in working to advance the vision of a more equitable and peaceful world for which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought.

Presenters: Will Rumford '12, Erik Farley, Jessica Wilson '12, Michaela Grenier '14 and Stetson Thacker '14

Teach-In Location: Welsh Hills Room (Burton Morgan, 3rd floor)

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 40

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In the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, this session proposes to focus on the topic of labor rights and connect this to our own community. “According to Meister, anyone doubting that the labor and civil rights movements were -- and are -- intertwined in that effort need only heed the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: "Our needs are identical with labor's needs: Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community" http://www.labornet.org/viewpoints/meister/mlk.htm . In this session a panel of current and former support staff of Denison will share the history of the progress we’ve made as a College toward equity and fairness in the area of labor rights for support staff. Panelists will illustrate key turning points in the evolution of labor rights practices resulting in greater voice, representation, and inclusion for support staff that defy distances between support staff and other members of the campus community. Each panelist will speak briefly based on their personal experiences in working toward social change so that participants can: 1) learn about social change processes within organizations, 2) see the productive results that can be achieved and how others who come behind benefit, and 3) learn about this important history of internal activism at Denison. Session will be dialogue oriented after brief sharing by each of the three panelists.

Presenters: Dianne Cline, Programmer/Analyst II; Elaine Hensley, former Academic Administrative Assistant in the Department of Soc/Anth; and Mary Philipps, Staff Assistant to the Provost

Teach-In Location: Slayter, 3rd floor

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 80

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"Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. Let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home." --the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community (1967)

For many years, advocates and homeless shelter workers from around the country have received news reports of men, women and even children being harassed, kicked, set on fire, beaten to death, and even decapitated.  From 1999 through 2009, and in 47 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, there have been 1,074 acts of violence committed by housed individuals, resulting in 291 deaths of homeless people and 783 victims of non-lethal violence.

By definition, people who are homeless live in public.  A lack of housing forces them to do in public what everyone prefers to do in private.  This indignity is one of the many reasons we seek to end homelessness.  Unfortunately, it has also become the battleground for the most fundamental defense of people who happen to be homeless: the right to exist.

During this teach in, participants will examine what many advocates, researchers, and historians call “the unfinished business” of the civil rights movement, through a comprehensive discussion of the civil rights movement’s impact on poverty and the unabated growth of poverty and its most extreme form—homelessness—in the decades that followed.  The teach-in will connect the violence, hatred, and criminalization that precipitated the civil rights movement and how the same behavior has become acceptable in relation to the treatment of homeless individuals today. 

Presenter: Donald Whitehead, 2012 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation speaker

Teach-In Location: Slayter Auditorium

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 300

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For the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. education was a critical part of the dream of equality of opportunity and prospects for personal and community advancement. Higher education continues to be a major contributor to social mobility in America. Yet access to higher education remains wildly uneven in our nation. Socio-economic class, race, and even geographical location, among other factors, have a statistically significant relationship to whether an individual young person is able to access higher education. The teach-in session will examine the continuing hurdles that place higher education out of reach for many who would like to participate in it. We also will have the opportunity to explore some of Denison’s own history of creating a more inclusive and representative student body and think together about how that has contributed to the learning environment for all.

Presenter: President Dale Knobel

Teach-In Location: Slayter Auditorium

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 300

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In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Cornel West wrote that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s response to the current economic and political crisis would be a call to “revolution.” More specifically, West reminds us that King would call for “A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.” When striving towards solidarity, Americans often see only two options: a radical individualism that espouses charity work and a welfare state that enforces solidarity through wealth redistribution. Jane Addams, a turn of the century American pragmatist, worked through a settlement house in immigrant Chicago to find a third way. In her work at Hull House, she worked hands-on with some of the most dejected and outcast members of Chicago society by setting up classes in music, arts, political activism and practical skills to help foster a community with a commitment to democracy. This approach to democracy was Addams’ third option. While liberalism pits every man against one another and Marxism (and some would argue contemporary critical race theory) pits groups against each other, Addams believed that a commitment to democracy could be the grounds for solidarity between people from different backgrounds. If the basic character of human interaction can be seen to be collaboration rather than conflict, Addams argued, positive steps could be taken for the betterment of all. Addams’s proposed “third option” was revolutionary during her time. This teach-in will investigate how this option might be the basis for responding
to King’s call today.

Presenters: Dr. Mark Moller and Rob Moore '12

Teach-In Location: Barney Davis Board Room

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 20

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While legislation has allowed the U.S. educational system to progress, even in 2011, public education remains stubbornly segregated economically. Quality of education is too often determined by neighborhoods, not laws. Where communities like Granville and Upper Arlington are predominately upper middle class, cities just minutes away like Newark and Columbus continue to suffer educationally. The most affluent students are on track to success from birth while some of the most talented children have to maneuver and fight through generational cycles of poverty. These realities have prodded many people to consider education the civil rights issue of this generation. Dr. King played a pivotal role in shaping the social and political landscape of the 1950s and 1960s. King urged Americans to join the cause for equality. Sadly, the average American classroom today does not reflect the equality King hoped for, as many qualified students are quietly restricted from top-notch K-12 schools because of their socioeconomic status. My desire is to facilitate a teach-in that is an extension of “A Conversation on Education in America,” the formal dialogue I held on campus last semester. The education race has increasingly become necessary for all students and is a conversation that this generation must engage in. Some of the questions we will explore include: What would King’s dream classroom look like in 2011? What practical models can struggling schools apply to “defy the distance” educationally? Specifically, I want participants to come away from this discussion with concrete solutions and ideas to apply to their educational communities.

Presenter: Jerome Price '12

Teach-In Location: Higley Hall Auditorium

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm and 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants, per session: 95

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As women administrators in higher education we view our work through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of “beloved community”. In this Teach-in, we will share our strategies for applying King’s concept of beloved community within his framework for non-violent social change that informs our work. We will show the parallels of King’s work to our womanist/feminist approaches to defying the distances that potentially dis-inherit or marginalize students within higher education today. In On Becoming a Woman Leader: Learning from the Experiences of University Presidents, Madsen (2008) states, “In a world of entitlement, post-secondary education is rivaled only by health care with its focus on rank and its privileges” (p. xv). We assert that some groups have relatively less privilege in the academy via: academic preparation, mental or physical wellness, learning disabilities, non-traditional learning styles, cultural capital, etc. We intervene in dynamics with heightened potential for students to experience disinheritance: e.g., not belonging, lower academic performance, exclusion, invisibility, silencing, etc. King states that cultivating beloved community calls for being “tough minded and tender hearted”. In our respective administrative roles, tender hearts are necessary to understand both those we serve and the institutions we work for. Tough mindedness is necessary to meet institutional requirements while seeking to further humanize institutional practices. We will illustrate how we balance this paradox, by articulating metaphors of: 1) “being mid-wife to”; and 2) "working the 3rd shift of" social issues in the margins. Attendees will be invited to participate in a dialogue, and explore their own metaphors.

Presenters: Jennifer Grube Vestal and Dr. Toni King

Teach-In Location: Shepardson College Room

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 25

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Miss Representation, a documentary aired in October of 2011, showed how the media plays a large role in the confidence of women, and consequently their involvement in leadership positions in politics. “Elect Her: Campus Women Win,” also addresses this idea that “you can’t be what you don’t see.” Because women are not shown as political leaders in the media, or how objectified they are when females are involved, the tendency for women to not self identify as leaders is perpetuated. The leadership roles in student governance are limited and subject to social forces such as: the gender and consequent influence of student government advisors, the tendency for females to be less confident in self identifying as leaders, and the divergent portrayal of gender roles in media. The Rev. Dr. King’s ideal community, where the dominant ideology is one of equality, coincides with the message of Miss Representation: equal representation in the media yields equal representation in society.

Presenters:  Dean Laurie Neff, Emma Bosley-Smith '15, Aminata Kaba '13, and Lauren Tyger '14

Teach-In Location: Shepardson College Room

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 35

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

Education doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door. Two of the most powerful leaders in U.S. history, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Bayard Rustin, were quite aware of that. Wells and Rustin are remembered for their exceptional success in mobilizing masses of people to challenge political structures that, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, seemed indestructible to many. Wells’ combined strategy of powerful articulation, moral persuasion, and organization in the form of economic boycott was a model that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. adopted decades later in the mid-twentieth-century Civil Rights Movement. Rustin, along with the Reverend Glenn E. Smiley, played significant roles in helping King frame his nonviolent resistance approach, and Rustin was the architect of the landmark 1963 March on Washington where King took the platform to deliver his most famous speech. Yet, both Wells and Rustin were marginalized within the movements they helped to create—one on the basis of gender and political ideology, the other on the basis of sexual orientation.

Jerrell Beckham will give a five-minute overview of Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s campaign against lynching and Karen Graves will give a five-minute overview of Bayard Rustin’s work in the Civil Rights Movement and the gay rights movement. Then, Lena Speridakos and Raymond Wilson will lead the group in a) analyzing the strategies embraced by Wells and Rustin; b) considering the role that intersectionality played in their work, and c) wrestling with the fact that both Wells and Rustin were pushed aside by others in the movements.

Presenters: Lena Speridakos '12, Raymond Wilson '12, Dr. Jerrell Beckham and Dr. Karen Graves

Teach-In Location: Burton Morgan Lecture Hall

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 117

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In this teach-in, Outlook will bring a panel to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Learning focusing on the intersections of identity at the heart of Dr. King’s mission for equality. Although the panel will have a focus on sexuality, the stories we tell will touch every community of marginalization from gender and race to ageism and disability. We will have two panelists discussing the history of gay activism as it emerges out of the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. The discussion will include the thematic similarities between MLK’s agenda for radical love and the efforts of the Gay Rights Movement. The panelists will also discuss the forward momentum of the movement and what issues still need to be addressed. We also have three panelists that will illustrate their personal stories of intersectionality. They will illuminate the struggles and triumphs of race, gender, sexuality, nationality and more. We will leave time at the end of the panel for an open dialogue, but we hope to prompt discussion by urging the audience to examine their own intersections. These intersections may exist in the classroom, the workplace or simply within their own hearts. In the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere;” when one sphere of our lives is affected, our world becomes tainted by the hue of injustice.

Panelists: Bernardo Feitosa '13, Brandi Belbin '15, Caitlyn Battaglia '13, Joyce Lindsay '14 and Taylor Klassman '13

Teach-In Location: Burton Morgan Lecture Hall

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Number of Participants: 117

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The Somali-Canadian artist K’naan remembers his first encounter with hip hop music this way:

"... I was seven
When rap came mysteriously and made me feel eleven
It understood me, and made my ghetto heaven
I understood it as the new poor people's weapon"
          K'naan, "African Way"

For people of African descent in the western hemisphere, music has always been a site of resistance against oppression and domination. Reggae, hip-hop, bachata and punk have all served as “poor people’s weapons.” The movement that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led from 1956 forward was inspired and mobilized by music, including not only church music but the popular music of the day. Yet some cultural theorists suggest that popular culture lulls people into passivity and makes them ready victims of exploitation and greed, while enriching a small group of elite culture industry moguls. In this teach-in, we will summarize some of the relevant arguments and discuss the ways that popular music can organize resistance and foment social change, as well as ways that it might obscure the relations of production that underlie pop music consumption. We’ll also consider the question, how do people use popular culture to locate their social identities, to mark their membership in social categories, and to delineate boundaries and distinctions between “us” and “them.”

Presenter: Dr. Anita Waters

Teach-In Location: Barney Davis Board Room

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 25

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

At a young age, some of the smallest social incidents had an inevitable impact on one of the greatest social movers of recent memory, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the anecdote goes, one such incident was a time in which he and his father were asked to move to the back of a shoe store to be fitted with shoes; they left not buying anything.

Shoes have always been central to the people's voice. From the marches for freedom and social justice during the Civil Rights era to the marches for freedom and social justice which continue today through the Occupy movements throughout the country, shoes have allowed our “civilized feet” to participate in the migration of change. We make a greater impact than if we stood still; when we march singularly or in a group, we are able to use the act of walking or marching to make our voices heard.

However, not all shoes are created equal and are oftentimes situated within the context of serving as a status symbol. Barefoot and sandal societies, for example, are often viewed as less sophisticated and in great need of support by shod societies such as the United States—arguably, they are members of the “disinherited.” Following an overview of the impact and importance of shoes throughout global history, with particular emphasis on the role of shoes as status markers, each participant will make their own shoes with tires and leather straps. These are the shoes of the Taramuhara Indians highlighted in the book Born to Run. A new awareness of this tribe has been brought to light by the minimalist running movement in the United States. Indeed, the magnificent human foot (that "thing" that allows us to stand up-right) is one commonality shared among a diverse, global population.

Presenter: Stephanie Agosta

Teach-In Location: Slayter, 3rd Floor

Presentation Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 25

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

On an all-residential campus, development of the individual stems from many facets of the community; development of sustainability within the community can arguably stem from our relationship with diversity and a nation of equality as envisioned by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. How does a college campus provide opportunity for growth and offer experiences that challenge our behaviors in times of crises? Across the nation, a form of an “Eco-Rep” program is being implemented on campuses to promote environmentally sustainable behaviors amongst students with initiatives led by students. Denison is taking it a step further by proposing that the program fosters the holistic development of the student through initiatives that target attitude and behavioral change. Denison’s form of the Eco-Rep program will be a Sustainability Fellows Program that consists of 2-4 leaders in the Residential Halls who will design and implement programs to promote a sustainable and socially responsible campus. By making the connections between all facets of the campus, an end goal of the program is to contribute to the university’s mission of develop “autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents and active citizens of a democratic society,” through which the transformation will continue on in society. The first half of the session will be a brief overview of findings from my Senior Project, “More than a Green Thing, It’s a Denison Thing: The Intentional Implementation of an Eco-Rep Program to Cultivate a Sustainable Community on Campus and Beyond.” The second half will be open dialogue on how this program will affect people’s perception of social responsibility and avoidance behavior in the move towards equality.

Presenter: Jennifer Low '12

Teach-In Location: University Room (Slayter, 4th floor)

Presentation Times: 3:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 35

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“Letter from Birmingham Jail” relies on natural law theory to support the thesis that there are natural moral norms that hold regardless of whether people select those norms for themselves: “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” In “Birmingham Jail,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. defends civil disobedience by arguing that he is being legally prohibited from performing an action that is morally required.

King offers a second and, arguably, incompatible argument for civil disobedience when he writes that U.S. citizens are “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Thus, “[i]njustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This is a decidedly more human argument, based on sympathy and shared community, concerns that capture this year’s MLK theme. In this session, Josh Finnell will share multimedia materials to help us consider historical context, and Tony Lisska will characterize the natural law tradition. After the break, we will discuss the following questions: Are there foundational moral norms that exist outside of our legal structures? If so, are these foundations accessible to us? Can human beings call upon them for justificatory purposes? Do we need such foundations? Can we justify civil disobedience on the basis of our sympathy for fellow community members? Do we in fact have such feelings? If so, are these feelings enough to motivate action? Or, in the end, are our “networks of mutuality” much more narrowly defined than King suggests? In discussing this influential work, we will begin to think about some of the ways in which these two argumentative styles are employed in our own communities.

Moderator: Dr. Alexandra Bradner; Panelists: Josh Finnell and Dr. Tony Lisska

Teach-In Location: Samson Talbot 210

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 32

Though certainly not required, participants are encouraged to read King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail".

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The J.W. Alford Center for Service Learning will sponsor critical reflection sessions for students and faculty who will have completed The Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Challenge between Saturday, Jan. 21 and the time of the Teach In on January 23. These sessions will be designed to elicit and support thoughtful consideration of their experiences in the service they engaged in: making presentations about the Civil Rights Movement at local schools; doing voter education and registration in Newark; and/or serving people who are in need of food and shelter. Emphasis will be on exploring the intersections among education, poverty, civil rights, and civic literacy as they relate to Martin Luther King’s values and his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. Sessions will focus on the students’ experiences collaborating with people of different backgrounds and situations and what these experiences signify in a world where the movement toward civil rights for all is not complete. These sessions will support the Center’s theme for the academic year, “Community Empowerment and Civic Engagement.”

Moderators: Each session will be led by a faculty member and a student who will have participated in one of the service challenges.

Teach-In Location: Fellows Hall, 3rd floor

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-3:00pm and 3:15pm-4:00pm

Number of Participants: 10 per group

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In the Civil Rights movement white people struggled for justice alongside black people; the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was accompanied by white people who organized and marched beside him.  In the 21st century, many white people are taught that race is no longer an issue and that it is inappropriate for us to address or even notice racial tensions or inequalities.  What can we do to address the gaps in perceptions about race between different racial groups?  What are the roles and responsibilities of white people in addressing the history, injustices, and social complexities of race in the United States today?  What do white people feel are the obstacles to getting involved in anti-racist activities?  What are the obstacles to learning from one another?  What are the conversations we need to have to help us get over the obstacles?  What do we need to learn from each other—whether we’re white, black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Arab American, or Jewish?  How can we help other people understand our perspectives and struggles as well as the cultural backgrounds and traditions that we love?

Presenter: Dr. Linda Krumholz and Samantha Driver '12

Teach-In Location: University Room (Slayter, 4th floor)

Presentation Times: 2:15pm-3:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 35

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

This Teach-In was inspired by the question of a Denison student who wanted to know what the Occupy Wall Street movement was all about, and whether it was a good thing. What caused people to start the movement, and why has it become such a phenomenon? Why doesn't it have a focused list of demands, and why does it refuse to engage in the traditional political process? What were the political and economic causes of the movement? Are the tactics and strategies of the movement smart? Why has the political establishment had such a fierce negative reaction to it? Is it a great movement like the Civil Rights Movement, or will it die out and be a blip on the radar? What should be its future and what will be its future?

The teach-in will be divided in two parts: The first part will be a whirlwind information tour of the causes, origins, conception, history, strategies, and prognosis for the movement, with a ton of sources and resources made available to all in attendance so that you can keep up on the movement yourself. The second part will be a student-lead discussion of the movement in which all are invited to participate. Not only informational topics, but moral, political, and social questions from all different points of view will be encouraged.

The teach-in presenter is Associate Professor John Arthos, who has been an active participant in the Columbus chapter of Occupy since its inception, and who taught a class in the Rhetoric of Social Movements in Fall 2011 which followed #OWS nationwide on a day-to-day basis. Student volunteers from this class will be discussion leaders during the second half of the teach-in.

Presenters: Dr. John Arthos and students from "the Rhetoric of Social Movements" (Genesis Giraldo '12, Nikki Roozeboom '12 and Matt Verklin '12)

Teach-In Location: Ebaugh 113

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-4:00pm

Number of Participants: 45

THIS SESSION IS FULL AND OFFICIALLY CLOSED TO ADDITIONAL PARTICIPANTS

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began the planning for the Poor Peoples Campaign and March that arrived in Washington for two weeks of protest in 1968. In the planning Dr. King expanded his view of "the problem" in America, from that of racial discrimination to a broader view of multi-racial poverty.

Under the "economic bill of rights," the Poor People's Campaign asked for the federal government to prioritize helping the poor with a $30 billion anti-poverty package that included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure and more low-income housing (Wikipedia). Over time Dr. King moved from problems of attitude and belief to problems of institutions and social structures. As Dr. King began to speak out in terms of class oppression, the war, and even labor, he moved toward a systemic analysis of the problem, one which called for a systemic, not a piecemeal solution.

Now, with poverty at 50 million in America, we must ask ourselves "What is the nature of the problem, and for those who want to create a better world, what mechanisms are available to us to struggle for economic and political justice?" The work of activists Lesha Farias and Allen Schwartz represents the full spectrum of responses, from filling people's bellies to fighting city hall. Lesha and Allen will lead a dialogue with Denison students who see themselves walking in the footsteps of Dr. King to create a better, and more just, world.

Panelists: Allen Schwartz and Lesha Farias, Newark Freedom School

Teach-In Location: Foresman Lounge (Fellows Hall)

Presentation Time: 2:15pm-4:00pm

Maximum Number of Participants: 25

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