the janus forum

2012 Executive BoardRaaj Parekh ‘13Anish Sarma ‘12Co-Executive Directors

Kathleen Hill ‘14Haakim Nainar ‘14Fellows Directors

Rafael (Harpo) Jaeger ‘14JPU Director

Samuel Gilman ‘15Steering Committee Director

Maja Czemier-Wolonciej ‘13Marketing Director

2011 Steering CommitteeOliver HudsonBrown Spectator

Kevin CartyBrown Democrats

Jared MoffatStudents for a Sensible Drug Policy

Mara Freilichempower

Sam MargoStudents for Education Reform

Michael Robinson College Hill for Christ

Spencer AndersonBrown Republicans

Joey ResnickHillel

Alex MechanickBrown Debating Union

Hannah KopinskiDemocracy Matters

Zoe BeiserHealth Leads

Bradley SilvermanACLU

Andrew WhittumCHAP

Annika LichtenbaumAt-Large

Austin MertzAt-Large

Joe SacksAt-Large

Ria MirchandaniAt-Large

Janus FellowsAnna Jouravleva ’12

Sarah Julian ’12

Robert Black ’13

Alexander Fujinaka ’13

Alexi Diplas ’14

Todd Harris ’14

Oliver Hudson ’14

Sam Levison ’14

Dave Rosen ’14

Dana Schwartz ’15

Sheza Atiq ‘14

Jose Araujo ‘15

Alex Constantino ‘15

Alex Friedland ‘15

JPU MembersAlyssa Garrett ‘15

Ayane Ezaki ‘13

Ben Wofford ‘15

Ivan Yanev ‘14

Jules Kortenhorst ‘15

Michael Yanigisawa ‘13

Najma Yakob ‘14

Rebbeca Mears ‘15

Siavash Naderi ‘15

Thompson Warren ‘15

Political Theory Project at Brown UniversityJohn TomasiDirector

Dina Egge Program Manager

Laura Joyce Program Assistant

T H E J A N U S F O R U M L E C T U R E S E R I E S | B R O W N U N I V E R S I T Yw w w . p o l i t i c a l t h e o r y p r o j e c t . o r g

TEACHERS’UNIONS:

The Problem or the Solution?

With Featured Speakers: Rod Paige and Randi Weingarten

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Janus Forum Steering Committee is composed of representatives from Brown’s political student organizations. The SteeringCommittee proposes topics, researches issues, and invites experts to take part in the lecture series. To get more information about joining the Janus Steering Committee, email JanusForum@gmail.com .

Our union’s mantra is “what is good for kids and what is fair forteachers.” If teachers’ unions were to blame for failing schools, thenplaces like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, who have relatively fewunionized teachers, would do much better than the states with themost densely unionized teachers—Massachusetts, New York,Maryland. But those are the states whose schools do best…So there areproblems to solve, one of which is poverty. And I would argue thathaving a strong union, an entity that will look at what is done right andwhat is wrong and solve things and change things, is the way to go.

Randi Weingarten, Newsweek, March 18, 2010

Teachers’ unions represent the most dominant political force inAmerican education—highly financed, highly organized, mammothorganizations. The National Education Association has 3.2 millionmembers, 14,000 locals, and in 2007 they collected about $400million from their members. In America about 12 percent of theworkforce is unionized, but in education it’s 38 percent. Teachers’unions sit on both sides of the negotiating table in many cases. Theyhave representatives on the school boards, so they’re negotiating withthemselves…You heard a lot about children. Don’t be fooled: teachersunions’ main interest is the welfare of their members.

Rod Paige, Newsweek, March 18, 2010

Rod Paige served as US Secretary of Educa-tion from 2001-2005. During his tenure asSecretary, he spearheaded the implementa-tion of the historic No Child Left BehindAct, with its goal of reinvigorating America’seducation system.

Paige began working with students early inhis career as a teacher and a coach. Heserved for a decade as dean of the College ofEducation at Texas Southern University(TSU). He also established the University’sCenter for Excellence in Urban Education, aresearch facility that concentrates on issuesrelated to instruction and management inurban school systems. Paige was sworn inas a trustee and an officer of the Board ofEducation of the Houston IndependentSchool District (HISD) in January 1990. In1994, Paige left TSU to become superin-tendent of HISD, the nation’s seventhlargest school district.

Paige is an active member of the Thomas B.Fordham Foundation, the Broad Founda-tion, the American College of Education, theNew England College of Finance and Busi-ness, and the National Council on EconomicEducation’s Commission on the Skills of theAmerican Workforce. He earned a bache-lor’s degree from Jackson State Universityand both master’s and doctoral degrees fromIndiana University.

Randi Weingarten is president of the Ameri-can Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO (AFT).She was elected in July 2008, follow ing 11years of service as an AFT vice president. Withher leadership as AFT president, the unionhas pursued an agenda that reforms educationby holding everyone accountable, revampinghow teachers are evaluated, and ensuring thatchildren have access to broad and deep cur-riculum as well as wraparound services.

Weingarten served for 12 years as presidentof the United Federation of Teachers (UFT),AFT Local 2. For 10 years, Weingartenchaired New York City’s Municipal LaborCommittee, an umbrella organization for thecity’s 100-plus public sec tor unions, includ-ing those representing higher education andother public service employees. From 1986to 1998, Weingarten served as counsel toUFT president Sandra Feldman.

A history teacher in Brooklyn’s CrownHeights from 1991 to 1997, Weingartenhelped her students win several state and na-tional awards debating constitutional issues.Elected as the local union’s assistant secre-tary in 1995 and as treasurer two years later,she became UFT president after Feldman be-came president of the AFT. Weingarten holdsdegrees from Cornell University’s School ofIndustrial and Labor Relations and the Car-dozo School of Law.

Janus Forum Lectures are sponsored by Brown’s Political Theory Project. The Lectures are

part of the Project’s Janus Forum, a student-run initiative that encourages open-minded

debate about political ideas. The Janus Forum seeks to actively promote critical thinking

and discourse by exposing students to a variety of perspectives regarding controversial

social and political issues. Under the sponsorship of the Political Theory Project, the

Janus Forum organizes a number of political events, including: Janus Conversations,

Open Seminar Luncheons, and Janus Political Union Debates.

T H E J A N U S F O R U M L E C T U R E S E R I E S | B R O W N U N I V E R S I T Y w w w . p o l i t i c a l t h e o r y p r o j e c t . o r g

Audience members from theJanus Hip Hop Lecture, photo by Scott Kingsley