General Assembly 10/16/2011

Occupy UMD

October 16, 2011

1.     Agenda
     a.     Do we want specific demands
          i.      Economic injustice
          ii.      Social injustice
          iii.      Political injustice
          iv.      Etc.
     b.      Talk about our identity
     c.      Presence on Maryland
          i.      Should we have an identity here?
     d.      What is different about Maryland rather than Washington DC
     e.      Is there a cultural aspect to the movement?
          i.      A culture of materialism
          ii.      Individualistic
          iii.      Reliance on the system
     f.      How much are we a slave to the boundaries of the University of Maryland?
     g.     University of Maryland as a corporation
          i.     3 adjuncts and 1 professor – who’s teaching you?
          ii.     College is deeply rooted in our high schools, culture and past
          iii.     Graduate school is becoming a necessity
          iv.     Is a bachelor’s degree
          v.     Should colleges take responsibility with student loans?
               1.     Subsidies from student loans
               2.     Grants for students?
               3.     Is the University responsible for the loans they get paid from the banks
          vi.     Our University is separated from the rest of the greater College
Park town
          vii.     University, though state run and public, why is it so expense?
          viii.     Government is not making the University a public school
option.
     h.     There’s no international standards to keep the corporations from exporting jobs for cheaper labor
     i.      Who are corporations accountable to?
          i.     Shareholders
          ii.     Who should they be accountable to:
               1.     Consumers
               2.     Employees
     j.     Should the University be more accountable to it students?
     k.     Where is the University putting it’s money
     l.      Why is there underemployment
          i.      We want to know what’s happening with our money?
     m.      Profit driven individuals rather than an ethically driven individual
     n.      People that are living as individuals rather than a more communal lifestyle
     o.      Sustainability and balance
     p.      Handicapped and disability mistreatment
     i.      Make the information accessible as well as disability
     q.      Demands
          i.      Disability concerns
          ii.      Food concerns
     r.      What is the administration doing with all the money

2.      Are we occupying AT the University or occupying the University of Maryland?
     a.      An outreach for the entire movement
     b.      Administration will not like what is going on if we specifically are in protest of the University

3.      Media with an agenda rather than media for the sake of the news

4.      Corporate funding of elections

5.      Once money becomes free speech, we have less free speech than others

6.      We need the recreation of the political far left
     a.      Why would or will Obama listen to us if he knows that he’s going to have all of our votes

7.      Attain Ideological Goals
     a.      Real Democracy
          i.      Vast majority of people in power rather than the elite
          ii.      Bring Democracy home
     b.      Education
          i.      Accountability of teachers
          ii.      Better job security for professors
          iii.      Property Taxes
     c.      Sustainability and Balance

8.      Next Meeting Tuesday – 3:30 Sundial

9.      Who is willing to consider camping

10.      Have word of mouth conversations to spread the idea and the movement