Inspired by WNBA and NBA players who went on strike, Anthea Butler and Kevin Gannon began to work together to form Scholar Strike. In an article from CNN, Butler and Gannon describe Scholar Strike as “a movement designed to bring recognition to the mounting numbers of deaths of African Americans and others by excessive use of violence and force by police.”
The movement took root after Butler tweeted, “I would be down as a professor to follow the NBA and Strike for a few days to protest police violence in America,” and now includes thousands of professors and students from across the US and Canada. #ScholarStrike took place Sept. 8-9 in the US and Sept 9-10 in Canada.
“Even though it was just two days,” says Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Kimberly Flint-Hamilton, “this is a community of scholars throughout the nation who took time and did something for themselves to raise awareness and took their students along too.”
Participating in a teach-in is one course of action professors took when addressing police brutality with their students. Butler and Gannon drew from teach-ins during the 1960s and provided educational videos through YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Flint-Hamilton explained that teach-ins also involve professors suspending their course material during, and instead discussing injustices in the world today. Teach-ins also offer the opportunity to think about how we can work together to make a difference, she continued. “But if we’re not attentive and don’t pay attention and don’t try to work together then the inequities will continue or get worse,” stated Flint-Hamilton.
However, not every participant in Scholar Strike may have been able to hold a teach-in or take some form of direct action. There are various ways in which scholars and students can take action, states Flint-Hamilton. An indirect form may have involved participants thinking and reflecting deeply about what they could do to raise their own awareness of social injustices, she explained.
While Scholar Strike was officially two days in both the US and Canada, the movement extends beyond those scheduled dates. As Flint-Hamilton states, “the challenges that resulted in Scholar Strike did not end on Sept. 10.” Therefore, recognizing and addressing police brutality must continue.
Flint-Hamilton further explains that the four years students spend at St. Lawrence University isn’t just about gaining knowledge. “It’s about what students do with that knowledge and how they produce that knowledge,” she says, “and ideally, making the world a better place.”