Core of the Matter

The past few weeks were filled with incredible mobilizations in order to protect the Lincoln Annex School in New Brunswick, which is at risk of being sold to Robert Wood Johnson in order to expand the Rutgers Cancer Institute. If the plan goes through, students could end up at a warehouse school outside of the fifth and sixth wards. But it’s also important to remember that the fight to protect New Brunswick schools did not begin with the threats to Lincoln Annex, nor will it end there, regardless of what the end result may be. For many longtime community members, the controversy over the Lincoln Annex is reminiscent of what happened with the Redshaw School, where students were put in the warehouse school for nearly 10 years while the new facility faced significant delays in construction. In addition, for years, courageous parents throughout the city have been working to ensure that school facilities in New Brunswick have adequate air conditioning, which remains an ongoing problem. Parents in Unidos por Escuelas Dignas have put pressure on the Board of Education to retrofit school buildings with air conditioning, and they’ve made major strides in making sure that New Brunswick kids have access to comfortable and healthy learning environments. Today we are joined by Jenifer Garcia, a Rutgers student and an alumnus of the New Brunswick School system. Jennifer spent time in the warehouse school while Redshaw was under construction. We are also joined by Yolanda Moncada, president and founder Unidos por Escuelas Dignas, someone who has helped get the group off the ground and is an active member of the new coalition to defend the Lincoln Annex.

Recent amendments to the Code Blue law in New Jersey provided more specific stipulations as to what emergency warming shelters must provide to the homeless community. More significantly, the amendment changed the temperature and weather condition threshold to trigger a Code Blue Alert. Instead of below 25 degrees without precipitation and below 32 degrees with precipitation, the amendment to the law now requires all counties to call Code Blue when temperatures fall below 32 degrees, regardless of precipitation. However, the amendments provided no funding to account for the increased frequency of shelters being opened. The lack of funding to support the changes in the law demonstrate some of the limitations of a legal approach to social justice for the homeless. Homelessness is less so an issue of recognition under the law and more so a problem of distribution. In addition, these amendments fail to get to the underlying irrationality and dehumanization that guides emergency shelter policy in states like New Jersey. Laws like Code Blue demonstrate the unjust reality in which homeless people’s ability to find shelter and basic life necessities is ultimately determined by the arbitrary amount of mercury in a thermometer. And while politicians can continue to pat themselves on the back for realizing on paper what homeless activists and organizers have been saying for decades--that this is an exploding crisis demanding action--these people in power have done little to fundamentally restructure how government institutions approach the homeless community. Back in December, Newark filed a federal lawsuit against New York City for the city’s Special One-Time Assistance program, also known as SOTA, which had case workers pressure eligible people in shelters to move outside of New York City, primarily across the Hudson River in places like Newark and Jersey City. While the Newark government maintained that it was not concerned about the influx of low-income people themselves, but rather the living conditions they were placed in, the legal battle between the two cities illuminates the ways in which governments would rather fight with each other over who claims the responsibility to take care of the homeless than actually address the problem of homelessness itself. So, how do we ensure that legal reforms are actually materially supported? How can we provide the vital resources to the homeless community while also working against the systems and structures that render those same resources inaccessible for so many people? And can we move beyond the paternalistic or outright denialist frameworks that so many governments use in approaching homelessness and create meaningful mechanisms for redistribution and permanent supportive housing? We are joined by Walter Herres, founder and executive director of Supporting the Homeless Innovatively Loving Others (SHILO), a grassroots homeless organization based in New Brunswick. A formerly homeless person himself, Herres has built an organization that utilizes a unique organizing model, blending human rights advocacy, public and mental health support, interfaith engagement, person-centered case management, and direct, on-the-ground outreach and intake. SHILO has struck an effective balance between addressing the precarity and direct social needs of the homeless community, while also confronting the systems and structures that produce homelessness. In many ways, SHILO has filled the gaps in the legal and social support systems, working in the shadows. 70 percent of the homeless referrals in New Brunswick have come from SHILO. They are both strengthening the continuum of care and holding faith organizations, nonprofits, and government institutions to do their job within this continuum.

Earlier this week, Rutgers announced that Jonathan Holloway, former master at Yale University and current Provost at Northwestern University, will become the next president of Rutgers. Holloway will be the first Black president at Rutgers in the 254 year history of the university. A scholar with a PhD in history, Holloway’s research has centered around post-emancipation U.S. history, with a focus on social and intellectual history. In 2013, he published his second book, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America since 1940. Many people are commending this announcement, seeing it as a long-overdue correction in a university where issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion have historically been ignored, minimized, or outright denied. Holloway’s intellectual and leadership experience indicate the potential for a significant departure from the Barchi era, and changes are definitely in store for Rutgers. However, with enrollment at Rutgers more than tripling the size of both Northwestern and Yale, it is difficult to predict exactly how Holloway will govern a much larger university, one with an entirely different campus environment from the previous two schools he helped lead. However, what is clear is that Holloway will be forced to answer to the black students, staff, and faculty members at Rutgers who are demanding fundamental changes to a university that is still struggling with the legacy of racial discrimination on-campus. James Boyle and Thevuni Athalage sit down with three of these voices: Sydni Collins, secretary of Black Lives Matter Rutgers and a junior here at the New Brunswick campus, Jada Agree, the chair of BLM and a junior here at the university, and Bryan Matthew, the high school outreach co-chair for the Rutgers NAACP and a senior at Rutgers.

Mary Heyns speaks to Dr. David Robinson, a Rutgers professor and climatologist, about the connections between climate change, coastal sinking, and salt water intrusion.

Thevuni Athalage interviews Elizabeth Matto, an associate research professor at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers. Also serving as the director of the institute's Center for Youth Political Participation, Professor Matto highlights the different research and action projects she has led in relation to voting and youth participation. Matto and Thevuni discuss the importance of youth political involvement and the impact that such activism has in past, current, and future elections.

James Boyle talks to Ahan Sikri of Students for Justice in Palestine about the controversial reading of P is for Palestine at the Highland Park Library, which was met by 100s of protestors, some pro-Israel, others pro-Palestine. The conversation also revolved around a resolution that the Highland Park council is expected to pass next week that explicitly condemns the BDS movement and any critiques of Israel. Similar action is occurring at the state level in New Jersey, leaving many wondering how the BDS movement will move forward--and how far Israel will go to silence dissent to its increasingly violent apartheid policies. Sikri also discussed the legal backlash SJP has faced on-campus at Rutgers, including a re-opened investigation by the Department of Education into accusations that the university has fostered a climate of antisemitism.

New Brunswick's Lincoln Annex School, serving roughly 750 children in grades 4-8, may be shut down by the city and sold to Robert Wood Johnson to build a new Rutgers Cancer Institute building. Residents from across the community have expressed concerns about what the future could bring. At this point, the city has announced no contingency plan for the closing of the school. Students could very likely end up in a building over 2 miles away and outside of the fifth ward, in what has become locally known as the warehouse school, a rented warehouse structure that the school district has put to use during school renovations and other projects. If not the warehouse school, Lincoln Annex students could be relocated to the original Lincoln School, a building constructed in 1910 with no central air conditioning, limited technological capacities, and a school that is currently housing just four grade levels. James Boyle sits down with Charlie Kratovil of the Fifth and Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association to discuss how this fight over Lincoln Annex is situated against a larger backdrop of neoliberal redevelopment, the rise of an anti-democratic urban regime, and the strained relationships between the city's largest institutions and its most vulnerable community members.

Four representatives from Students for Environmental Awareness (SEA) at Rutgers discuss how their organization is raising consciousness around the environment and taking action. The SEA members highlighted various campaigns they are running on campus, including Students of Color for Environmental Justice, an initiative looking at the intersection of racial justice and climate activism, Take Back the Tap, a campaign focused on single-use plastic and expanding water fountains at the university, and RU Thrifty, a clothes-swapping program that is aimed at reducing textile waste. SEA discussed the plans they have for the next semester and how more students can get involved.

James Boyle sits down with Walter Herres, the founder and leader of SHILO (Supporting the Homeless and Innovatively Loving Others), a local grassroots homeless organization in New Brunswick. Herres discussed his recent trip to Washington D.C. for the Poor People's Campaign National Congress. Herres discussed the ways in which he wants to take what he learned at the congress into New Brunswick, particularly in order to address discrimination. Herres said he has plans for a homeless health services event, a community forum for poor people in the community, as well as a march to advocate for the needs of residents who face social and economic challenges.

James Boyle speaks with Rutgers CAPS (Counseling, Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program & Psychiatric Services) Director Steven Sohnle to discuss student mental health issues on-campus. Sohnle highlighted the different types of services that CAPS provides, including traditional counseling, group therapy programs, substance abuse rehabilitation programs, and a variety of other services. Sohnle also discussed mental health issues in larger society, particularly how the mental healthcare community needs to understand issues of social justice and better reflect the diversity of the larger population in order to combat disparities and stigma.

Matt Smith is the lead organizer of Food & Water Watch New Jersey. Smith discusses how community members in Edison just voted against a plan to privatize the town’s water and sewage system, becoming one of the first municipalities in the entire country to permanently ban water privatization. Smith also highlights how Piscataway will be voting on a citizens ordinance to get the town off of fossil fuels and onto 100 percent renewable energy. In addition to these campaigns, Smith also discusses the current statewide fights against new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, the importance of movement building, and getting more involved in organizations like Food & Water Watch and the Central Jersey Climate Coalition.

Tina Weishaus is on the steering committee of 350NJ, which is part of the Divest NJ Coalition, an alliance of environmental and community organizations that is organizing to get the New Jersey state pension plans to divest from fossil fuel investments. Weishaus spoke with James Boyle, highlighting the broader trends in the fossil fuel divestment movement and the global climate justice movement, along with how she got into climate activism. In addition to her work at 350NJ, Weishaus discussed her leadership at Sustainable Highland Park, which recently implemented a plastic bag ban in the borough. Weishaus noted the challenges that come with both community-based organizing and going up against large institutions like the state government. She also gave advice to listeners looking to start their own environmental initiatives in their communities.

Walter Herres is the founder and leader of SHILO (Supporting Homeless and Innovatively Loving Others). Herres discusses his own experiences as a formerly homeless person, as well as how he got into activism and started SHILO. He emphasizes the effectiveness of addressing homelessness from a human rights/social justice framework, rather than a charitable/philanthropic approach. In addition, some of the root causes of homelessness are analyzed, including a lack of support for public housing, bureaucratic discrimination, as well as a the diminishing of economic and social safety net structures in the larger society. Herres advises how Rutgers students and community members can get involved in SHILO and other local organizations working around homelessness.

James Boyle speaks with three representatives from the Rutgers chapter of American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT): Physics professor Troy Shinbrot, journalism and media studies professor Teresa Politano, and graduate assistant Soili Smith. The three discussed different structural issues at Rutgers that are affecting many faculty members, including the university's increasing exploitation of a contingent labor force in the form part-time lecturers, lack of diversity among faculty, unequal access to healthcare and benefits (especially for PTLs and TAs/GAs), and the over-funding of the athletics department at the expense of academics. In addition, they highlighted the importance of standing in solidarity in this fight, and informed students and community members how they can get involved and support the union.

James Boyle and Thevuni Athalage speak with two representatives from the Rutgers chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. They discuss the response to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's criticisms of AIPAC, the threats they've faced from other organizations on-campus, the problematic framing of a "two-state solution" in Palestine, and the growing movement calling for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against institutions perpetuating apartheid.

James Boyle speaks with Tate Potts and Olivia Wischmeyer of Rutgers USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) and End Assault at Rutgers. Potts and Wischmeyer discussed the work that USAS is doing on-campus, including their work around the Fight for $15 Movement. In addition, they addressed the backlash the organization has faced from administration, and the impact that this kind of response has had on the larger activism and social justice community at Rutgers. Potts and Wischmeyer also described the origins of End Assault at Rutgers, as well as the demands the coalition is making to fire Nabil Adam, an alleged rapist and administrator in the Rutgers Business School. End Assault is working to remove all harassers, rapists, and people complicit in the university, and institute systemic and structural changes that protect people and empower survivors.

Thevuni Athalage speaks with Rutgers political science professor Lisa Miller about her experience in politics and how the university can better empower students to get into politics. Miller touched upon the importance of engaging with voters beyond election cycles and conducting regular outreach efforts in order to better understand the needs and desires of community members. She highlighted that students with degrees that are seen as outside of the political sphere may actually play important roles on campaigns and shaping public policy.