The first installation of the three-part speaker series included professors from an array of universities, who focus on very different forms of activism, yet, they all come together to relate back to the neoliberalism university. To start off the panel, Dr. Audrey Hudson, Assistant Professor at OCAD University, spoke about her passion for Hip Hop and how it has become a voice for disenfranchised youth. As stated in this weeks reading, “Interview with Audrey Hudson on hip hop, intersectionality & education”, she has created a course called Hip Hop and convergence culture, which allows students to use Hip Hop as a platform to tell stories and experiment with elements of design. Through all of her activism, she ultimately wishes to take up space in a means to confront power dynamics. I personally have always been a fan of Hip Hop and its culture. Therefore, by having it be used in a way to express stories while also creating a safe space for marginalized groups and identities amazed me. I also really enjoyed the music video that was played.
To continue, Dr. RM Kennedy, Professor at Centennial College, spoke about his experiences with the five week strike to fight for academic freedom and to take a stand against precarious labor. Kennedy’s speech really opened my eyes to the inner workings of this protest, as I was not super involved in it while it occurred this past semester. They ultimately fought for academic freedom of speech, thought, increased job security, better wages and a change to the obscene rates of precarious labor. It was also amazing to see that not only teachers were taking part, but students as well.
Dr. Sandra Jeppesen, Associate Professor at Lakehead University, spoke next. She is an avid participant in transformative media and the media action research group that act on intersectional feminism in the neoliberalism university. Jeppesen expressed her knowledge and opinions on rape culture and slut shaming, the #METOO movement and #BLM-TO, which responds to racist police killings and the lack of urgency and equal treatment for marginalized groups. These are all very relevant and important topics when it comes to campus life. As a young woman I feel very strongly towards slut shaming activism as well as the #METOO movement. Therefore, hearing that there is continuous activism in place to reduce these problems made me feel optimistic. I had never previously heard of the “Slutwalk March”, but if I did I would’ve been very keen to participate and speak out about it.
Lastly, Susanne Nyaga, President of Ryerson’s Students’ Union, outlined the activism Ryerson students are participating in as well as media activism in general. She mentioned that Ryerson involvement includes loud protests and rallies, which I have seen, but never participated in, throughout my years at the school. The reason for this being that I was not fully aware or educated on the topic of these protests. If I were to feel very strongly towards a certain problem I believe I would be more inclined to participate, but in general I feel generally more comfortable protesting through social media or other platforms. Susanne mentioned that it is hard to create complex conversation over social media, which I completely agree with. Although protesting is the more efficient way to get one’s voice out there, I have never felt completely comfortable doing so.