As part of its contribution to Campus Equity Week 2013, the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education has sponsored the videotaping of a one-act play, “For Profit,” to be offered for viewing on college campuses around the country during the week of October 28-November 2.

The play provides a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and community members to discuss a wide range of current issues in higher education—not just the for-profit college industry, but also the broader “for profit” mindset towards higher education today that is behind so many problems facing us, our students, and our society’s educational future. 

CFHE is proud to sponsor this play and the rich discussions it will engender about student debt, the defunding of public higher education, the employment practices in our colleges, and many other issues.  We believe these events will help us all learn more about what is happening in higher education today; it is our hope they will also inspire us to work for change.

About the Artist

Aaron Calafato is a performing artist and activist who creates theater for social change and a Cofounder of Student Debt Crisis (a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to reforming funding for higher education in America). Aaron is a recipient of a 2012 Emerging Artist Grant from The Puffin Foundation for his Solo-Theater for Social Change. 

About The Play

“For Profit” is a vibrant solo-portrayal of “the exploitation of the American college student,” told through the lens of an unwilling admission adviser at a for-profit institution.

Summary:

Months into his job as an admissions counselor at a for-profit college somewhere in the Midwest,  Aaron Calafato began to grow increasingly conflicted. Responding to the college's pressure, he says, he was signing up poorly prepared students for expensive degree programs that would leave them heavily in debt, all so he could make sure he himself had money he needed to keep paying off his own student loans.

Aaron Calafato's “For Profit” is an inside look at the for-profit educational industry and a

vibrant portrayal of the exploitation of the American student.

In addition to being accepted to the NYC Fringe Festival, “For Profit” has been featured in:

 WKYC Channel 3, NPR (wcpn), Cleveland.com, The Nation; The Huffington Post;  The Chronicle; Campus Progress; International Political Forum; NPR; (NPR) MPBN; NPR (WYSO); WEWS ABC Channel 5; Mobilize.org; Portland Press Herald; WCPN; Washington Monthly ; and the Digital Journal.  Aaron’s work has even caught the attention of CNN's Van Jones, whom Aaron will be collaborating with in the 2013/14 academic year. 

You can see an overview of the play (with some key scenes) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag5LX051q9Y 

Another clip is available here: http://digitaljournal.com/article/346547.

Sponsoring the Event on Your Campus

The fee for a viewing of the filmed performance is $250.  It runs roughly 60 minutes.

For viewing, you will need an internet connection to access the link to the filmed performance.

In addition to the play itself, the artist has taped a segment to open a discussion among the audience.  A “study guide” and supporting materials will also be provided to the event organizer for possible use in the discussion session.

We will also provide a template poster/flyer you can use (with space for you to add details about time and place, sponsoring organization, etc).

For more information on sponsoring this event on your campus, contact:  info@futureofhighered.org.

Dear California AAUP Members,

This year, Campus Equity Week, a week of education and activism on college campuses, will be the week of October 28 - November 1, 2013.  Among other issues, Campus Equity Week draws attention to the working conditions of contingent / adjunct / lecturer faculty working temporary, low-paid contracts.  These workers now constitute over 75 percent of the professoriate in the United States.  This will be a unique opportunity for you to show your solidarity with contingent faculty, students staff, and community members.

The overarching goal of Campus Equity Week is to shine a spotlight on the current trend toward an increasingly stratified higher education system, one that we believe will decrease meaningful access to higher education for millions robbing them and our society of many of the benefits quality higher education can provide.

CA-AAUP is a member organization of the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) (http://futureofhighered.org/), which has endorsed Campus Equity Week.  We of the Steering Committee of the California Conference are excited about Equity Week, and we would like you and/or your AAUP chapter, or another faculty organization, to join with us!  We encourage you to organize events on your campus that will highlight equity issues for contingent faculty and staff and other inequitable aspects of higher education today.

Event ideas include film showings, lectures leafleting, flash mobs, teach-ins, and rallies or marches.  Consider organizing campus events about: equity issues for students staff, and/or faculty of color; contingent faculty and the Affordable Care Act; equity issues in curriculum "reform;" equity issues in MOOCs/online education; declining public investment in higher education and the concomitant spiraling of student debt; and equity issues in "for-profit" institutions, to name just a few possibilities.  Consider showing the short Campaign for the Future of Higher Education film For Profit.  For Profit is a one-act play that combines an inside look at the for-profit educational industry with a searing protrayal of the exploitation it promises American students.  CA-AAUP may be able to provide with funding to support showing For Profit to your campus during Equity Week, and/or helping with other Campus Equity Week activities on campus to speak on equity issues.  Please contact us if you are interested in this option.  We'd love to meet you!  westcoast@aaup.org

Whatever you decide to do, please send details to CFHE as soon as possible so that CFHE can help you maximize your media outreach and help make your events as effective as possible.  Please send your plans to info@futureofhighered.org and to Craig Flanery of the New Faculty Majority at craig.flanery@newfacultymajority.info, which is coordinating Campus Equity Week events.  You can also check out www.campusequityweek.org/2013/ for more information.

The more events and organizations participate in Campus Equity Week, the more newsworthy our activities become and the greater the spotlight we will shine on equity issues.

Sincerely,

Steering Committee of the California Conference of the AAUP

Secretary/Treasurer and Acting President
May Ann Irwin, Diablo Valley College (2013-2014)

Vice President for University of California:
Ivan Evans, University of California, San Diego (2013-2014)

Vice President for California State University:
John Halcón, California State University, San Marcos (2012 - 2014)

Vice President for California Community Colleges:
Samantha Francois, Diablo Valley College (2013-2014)

Vice President for Private Colleges and Universities:
Robin Balliger, San Francisco Art Institute (2012-2014)

California Faculty Association North:
Wendy Ng, San Jose State University (2012-2014)

California Faculty Association South:
Kimberly King, California State University, Los Angeles (2011-2015)