0.1. In the Fall of 1998, after
18 months of conflict, the
administration at Southampton College of
Long Island University
terminated their maintenance contract with
Laro Service Systems
and rehired the custodial unit whose jobs
they had outsourced
just a year and a half earlier. After
countless protests,
sit-ins, educational campaigns, and a variety
of strategical
political interventions, the Southampton
Coalition for Justice
[CFJ] succeeded in pressuring the administration
to cancel the
Laro contract. Although CFJ discussed
other campus and community
issues including organizing adjunct faculty,
campus recycling,
the democratization of campus governance,
etc., the group
(comprised of college faculty, students,
staff, community members
and the custodians themselves) focused mostly
on ending the Laro
contract. And we won. In September
of 1998, the provost
announced to the press that Southampton College
was rehiring the
custodial unit intact, and that the campus
remained a "caring
community." He expressed the hope that
custodians wouldn't see
the decision as "a victory" per se.
But, in a CFJ meeting
following the announcement, custodians explained,
"it feels like
a victory to us."
0.2. I have written widely about the CFJ (Dolgon,
2001; 2000a;
2000b; 1999; 1998; 1997) and I feel strongly
that it stands as an
excellent contemporary model for coalition
building on college
campuses. But what I want to discuss
in this article is the
impact that the group's organizing had on
the larger, extended
community of the Hamptons. I contend
that the issues raised, the
institutions engaged, and the visions created
by the CFJ left a
lasting impression on the area's political
landscape. While this
paper will describe some of the Coalition's
history and actions,
I want to focus on the enduring ways in which
the group's
campaign for social justice created the necessary
political and
social space for continued struggles that
are directly and
indirectly related to the initial circumstances
of the
outsourcing. Specifically, I examine
how the Coalition's
emphasis on issues of race and community
identity became
particularly salient for the Town of Southampton
with its unique
history and current demographic changes.
The College and the Community
1.1. Administrative decisions to contract
out service employees
are now commonplace among university officials,
who believe that
the problems of higher education can be solved
by downsizing and
privatization. A 1997 opinion piece
in the Chronicle of Higher
Education, written by Richard Maloney--the
"Distinguished
Corporate Executive in Residence" at Washington
University--extolled the virtues of applying
corporate downsizing
techniques to university management.
He called on universities
to reinvent themselves just as corporations
had by privatizing
"non-essential" tasks and terminating "non-productive"
people.
While many have argued that stronger links
between higher
education and corporations have evolved steadily
since the early
20th century (Geiger, 1997 & 1986; Noble,
1979), the infusion (if
not complete saturation) of educational practices
and policies
with corporate, bottom-line mentalities now
appears hegemonic
(Soley, 1995; Nelson, 1997; White, 2000).
1.2. For over a decade before 1996, Southampton
College had run a
deficit; its enrollment had dropped steadily
and it had no
endowment to speak of. In response,
the administration did what
many institutions do: they conflated education
with management
and hired more administrators. They
also initiated regular
breakfast meetings with regional corporate
executives to
determine ways in which the institution's
curriculum and policies
could address the "educational and training
needs of area
businesses." And when the College was
charged with hurting local
business because it sponsored large retail
warehouse sales for J.
Crew and the Maslow Group in its gymnasium,
the Provost
responded, "[We are] an enormously powerful
economic force,
bringing in at least $30 million worth of
business to the East
End.... The broader perspective is
that we are decidedly
pro-business" (Southampton Press, 1998).
Contracting out
custodial workers, however, was perhaps the
most blatant act of
corporate banditry, as even LARO executives
admitted they were in
the business of cutting wages and benefits
and busting unions.
LARO Vice President, Lou Vacca Jr., explained
to the New York
Times that LARO gets hired because
they can do it cheaper and
the only way to do it cheaper is to "take
it out of labor."
1.3. Just as downsizing and privatization
are no longer new to
higher education, the exploitation of low
level, service workers
(especially people of color) is not new to
Eastern Long Island.
Southampton has been a famous summer resort
area for some of New
York City's trendiest elite since the late
1800s. While many
long-time European American residents either
made fortunes by
selling property and starting service companies
or established
themselves as well-paid craftspeople and
"skilled" service
providers for metropolitan blue-bloods, the
local Native American
and African American population took on the
jobs of low paying
service work. Because of the seasonal
nature and racial
bifurcation of the summer-colony economy,
major unions ignored
the area, few unions formed and workers of
color remained
disenfranchised, the last hired and first
fired, and concentrated
in the most dirty, difficult and demeaning
jobs in town (Breen,
1989; Dolgon, 1999).
1.4. But the past two decades have produced
a shift in political
economy as changes in financial markets,
transportation and
telecommunications have allowed more wealthy
New Yorkers to enjoy
the Hamptons on a year-round basis.
In part, according to
historian, Stephen Gaines, young Wall Street
millionaires wanted
"not only second homes but an arena in which
to compete
socially. And so with pockets stuffed
with cash, a generation of
arrivistes invaded the East End" (Gaines,
1997). But local
planning documents, surveys, and realtors
claim that the majority
of new, year-round residents are those wealthy,
mid-thirties to
mid-forties couples who want to raise families
far from city
decay and the fortress aesthetic that now
dominates "downtown"
urban life (Southampton Planning Commission,
1997; SCIRR, 1997;
Interview with Homes and Lands publisher,
Linda Miller-Zellner).
Whatever the primary motivation, this migration
has now combined
with an eastward movement of developers'
capital pouring into one
of the few areas on Long Island where significant
open space
remains. Meanwhile houses and condominiums,
megastores and
outlet centers, are sprouting rapidly throughout
the Hamptons.
The region is quickly becoming not so much
a summer resort or a
suburb where people commute from everyday,
but more a distant
borough of New York City where executives,
attorneys, and
entertainers send faxes, e-mails, and run
teleconferences.
1.5. These changes have also been accompanied
by global capital's
new labor relations and migrations, as Latino(a)
workers from
Central and South America comprise the fastest
growing segment of
the low wage service sector. The East
End is likewise
experiencing another new migratory trend:
the immigration of
international workers (predominantly Latino(a)
directly to
exurban and suburban areas (Mahler, 1995).
And the evolving
niche for year-round, low wage agricultural
(gardening and
landscaping), construction and service work
has inspired a
growing population of permanent Latino(a)
residents whose local
numbers have increased over 600% since 1980
and now comprise
between 10 and 15% of the Hamptons public
school population.
Even more noticeable is the evolution of
an extensive informal
economy of "off-the-book" house cleaners,
groundskeepers,
dishwashers, and both skilled and non-skilled
day laborers. One
local paper explained as early as 1990 that,
"the Hispanic
community has, for the most part, come here
to fill in the gaps
of our service economy ... [and] represents
a crucial part of the
workforce" (East Hampton Star, 13/1/90).
Although this "informal
economy" builds on previous seasonal and
migratory labor
relations, the rapidly expanding nature and
ethnic make-up of the
area's low-wage workforce represents what
Portes and Castells
claim is a "realignment of class structure"
(Portes and Castells,
1989). The Hamptons stand as a unique
place where the two
extremes of class reformation (the newly
wealthy and
disenfranchised immigrants) have begun the
process of stabilizing
and solidifying new footholds on the fields
of global capitalism.
1.6. While neither of these trends was directly
evidenced on
campus before the outsourcing, both were
important in shaping a
new set of dynamics: one for the administration's
decision to
outsource, and the other for the cultural
and political work of
CFJ. The administration knew that economic
conditions were
driving wages down and, in fact, LARO's own
success was based
almost entirely on the use of low wage, non-unionized,
Latino
immigrant labor. But the Coalition's
work challenged this
dynamic of service sector rationalization
by questioning the
"marketplace" hegemony prevalent among administrators.
In
essence, the group attacked a contradiction
that rose from the
College's corporate practices being at odds
with its proclaimed
social mission, that of building a "caring
and compassionate
community." As CFJ brought its protests
to the wider Hamptons
community, it also challenged the domination
of visions of
community and area identity by the older,
established white,
middle class and the newly rich. CFJ
not only tried to recast
the political and social segregation of campus
relations by
bringing together students, faculty, custodians,
and supporters
from the larger community, it also explored
a model of democratic
process and practice that countered the increasing
bifurcation of
economic and cultural politics in the Hamptons.
The Coalition
2.1. While outsourcing was a "trigger event,"
Southampton College
custodians were angry about the way that
they had been treated
for a long time. They wanted to act
in some way, and appreciated
the support from others on campus and in
the community. While
all of the early coalition members (students,
faculty, community
members and the custodians) agreed that the
outsourcing was
economically motivated, it was the custodians
who explained to us
the salient place that racism held within
the administration's
mindset. The custodial unit was the
only one on campus comprised
of predominantly people of color. In
fact, under the leadership
of a new shop steward, the custodians had
finally started
pressuring the administration to create what
they called a
"promotional pipeline." For 30 years,
only two custodians had
ever been promoted to the next highest level--mechanic--within
the Physical Plant Department, and neither
of them had been
people of color. Custodians were sure
that this pressure had
inspired the administration to find a private
management company
and, in the words of the Physical Plant manager,
"Wash our hands
of all of you."
2.2. CFJ organized a publicity campaign to
educate the campus and
community as well as place pressure on the
College. This concern
with publicity was especially salient since
the College was
embarking on a campaign to build its endowment
by taking
advantage of the local community's staggering
wealth. Another
early CFJ strategy was to involve the Town
of Southampton's
Anti-Bias Task Force (ABTF). During
the Coalition's second
meeting, a local community activist and ABTF
member suggested
that a couple of custodians attend an ABTF
meeting and ask for
assistance in challenging the College's discriminatory
employment
practices. The ABTF initially responded
with outrage at the
College's past practices as well as its recent
decision to
outsource custodians. Soon after, however,
more conservative
ABTF members met with the College's provost
and he assured them
that no racism was involved in employment
decisions. Thus the
ABTF backed off.
2.3. Over time the ABTF would shift back and
forth from a
conservative and defensive position, where
some members claimed
no interest in "getting involved with College's
business," to an
active, progressive role in trying to negotiate
a resolution
around issues of promotion and hiring.
More importantly for the
ABTF (and the Town itself), the groups ultimately
recognized that
institutionalized discrimination existed
both on campus and in
the larger community. As the local
papers increased their
coverage of the CFJ's charges of racial discrimination,
the ABTF
became a more visible agency. The combined
pressure to address
the "College problem" and become a more viable
and active group
in the community led to the resignation of
many conservative ABTF
members and ushered in a more progressive
and activist leadership
for the Task Force.
2.4. CFJ's most successful strategy involved
challenging the
College's attempt to raise funds from the
Town of Southampton for
a swimming pool. The College proposed
to make the pool available
for public use (with a $500/year family membership)
but it would
be located at, and operated by, the College.
CFJ informed the
College that it would publicly oppose the
pool project because
the College had acted as poor local citizens
by negatively
affecting the employment conditions of residents.
In fact, we
argued that the College's policies could
influence a downward
spiral for employment conditions throughout
the region if the
wages and benefits fell for unionized workers
in maintenance and
service positions. In response, the
College offered numerous
concessions to the custodians: 1) restoring
tuition remission; 2)
revisiting the promotional pipeline issue;
and 3) incorporating
the Coalition in the College's evaluation
of LARO's performance.
The Coalition accepted these concessions
and decided not to
publicly oppose the pool project. This
decision was difficult,
however, as some members of the group believed
the issue
represented a very important opportunity
to expose the
administration's duplicity. While administrators
claimed to be
"good citizens" and part of a "caring community"
on the one hand,
they were treating custodians (as one said)
"like slaves on the
auction block." In the end, however,
it was the custodians
themselves who swayed the rest of the Coalition
to accept the
concessions and back off of the pool project.
The workers
believed that students and faculty wanted
the pool and that
public opposition would damage the Coalition's
support on campus.
2.5. One of the first major impacts of the
struggle was the
demand of student CFJ members (many of whom
were enrolled in
College's Friends World Program) for a course
in social
activism. The Program responded by
hiring Bob Zellner, a
long-time Civil Rights activist who had begun
his political work
as the first white field secretary for the
Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee in the early 1960s.
Zellner had moved to
the Hamptons about 16 months earlier, and
had gotten involved in
local issues including CFJ and the ABTF.
In constructing a
course on activism, Zellner wanted to introduce
students to a
variety of social and political movements
and how they shaped the
contours of American life. He also
had an important action
component that required students to engage
in some form of
community activism. According to Zellner,
this element addressed
the FWP emphasis on experiential education
and forced students to
contemplate the practical and emotional dynamics
of political
work. Many of the students in his Fall
1997 course ended up
getting involved with the Coalition, thus
refueling its efforts.
2.6. Maggie King, a first year student from
Texas, went to a
Coalition meeting and said that she was "really
upset and
disgusted" at the way custodians were treated
by the College.
She was inspired to take action and join
the Coalition. Another
student who attended wrote in her journal
that the custodians'
situation was part of a larger problem with
racism and
segregation on campus. She explained:
Since my first days at LIU I have
been aware of the lack of
minorities within the student body and the
faculty and the
segregation within the dorms. I have
seen rent-a-cops [campus security], and I have yet to see one of them be
a minority. Onmore than one occasion I have seen them pull aside
an African American man from a group to check for ID with no apparent reason.
2.7. The Coalition agreed that students should
form a separate
"task force" to take on particular actions
that the Coalition
could support but might be too risky for
custodians and other
employees to participate in directly.
The desire to be more
active would be a growing source of frustration
for students,
especially new ones. Some custodians
had "settled" into their
new roles as LARO employees, since CFJ maintained
a presence to
protect them from LARO's intimidation tactics.
Many students,
though, wanted the College to terminate the
LARO contract
immediately and were impatient to organize
direct actions that
might force the administration's hand.
2.8. In essence, CFJ activity had inspired
students to think
critically about larger issues of campus
democracy. While
students were still focused on the custodial
situation, they also
questioned status quo power relationships
and the lack of real
participation in making important campus
decisions. Students
were not only recognizing their own responsibility
as local
citizens, but developing what Francis Moore
Lappe and Paul Martin
Dubois call a "relational self-interest"
(Lappe and Dubois,
1994). The connection between the custodians'
own self-interests
and the students' raised larger questions
of social justice such
as: who should have power and authority to
make decisions in a
democratic society, and how might we actually
democratize our own
community to raise the level of control and
dignity in peoples'
lives? Environmentally conscious students
theorized that any
effective campus recycling program would
have to include
custodians from design to implementation
process. The college's
womens' issues collective recognized that
the lack of student and
staff power in policy making stood in the
way of adequately
addressing sexual harassment issues.
The entire campus community
was developing a critical consciousness about
power and
democracy.
2.9. The CFJ struggle continued throughout
the Winter and Spring
of 1998 with little movement, but much angst
on the part of the
College's administration. It did, however,
promote the first
African American custodian to mechanic.
It also tentatively
agreed to establish a system for promotion
that included stipends
for training and licensing courses.
In the summer of 1998, the
custodians affiliated with the Teamsters
Union. This decision
represented a new level of solidarity among
custodians, who
had never been able to replace their union,
despite much
discontent with the way they were represented
by the
organization. Meanwhile, the Coalition
held meetings to plan for
Fall demonstrations and publicity.
Intimidated by the prospect
of another barrage of bad press and keen
on renewing their local
fundraising drive which would undoubtedly
demand an untainted
public image, the College agreed to terminate
the contract and
rehired the entire custodial unit under the
same terms they had
before the outsourcing. The new custodial
contract, which would
come up for negotiation in late Fall of 1998,
would be bargained
with Teamster representation. It felt
like a victory for all of
us.
2.10. The CFJ, however, had already gained
quite a bit of support
from local community groups and activists
and wanted to build on
its success. During the first meeting
in September of 1998, the
Coalition decided to put on a conference
that focused on local
and regional community organizing and would
pull in a wide range
of groups interested in a variety of issues.
The group also was
concerned that, without the custodial issue,
it might not be able
to focus on some of the broader concerns
raised during the
struggle, such as the fragmentation and hierarchy
of power in
campus governance; the lack of minority representation
in faculty
and staff; the need for adjunct faculty to
organize; and the
desire to have an environmentally safe and
sustainable campus.
While all of these issues had been discussed
at meetings and
demonstrations, the CFJ itself had rarely
done any specific work
or crafted any particular strategy to deal
with them. The group,
now led mostly by students and ad-hoc gatherings,
continued to
organize the conference, but it became increasingly
clear that
the Coalition itself would probably cease
to meet once the
conference was over.
2.11. The conference itself was quite successful
as over 100
people attended sessions on youth organizing,
environmental
sustainability, a national demonstration
against the School for
the Americas (which had been attended by
some CFJ students),
Anti-Bias activism, and a variety of other
local issues. Over
the ensuing months, a number of local activists
would credit the
CFJ with raising the community's consciousness
about race and
class issues and bringing together activists
to network and
strategize on a number of different topics.
On campus, adjunct
faculty continued to organize and students
held a demonstration
and sit-in in the provost's office to protest
the school's lack
of an official policy on sexual harassment.
Many of the students
who led the sexual harassment protest had
been involved in the
Coalition's efforts. As one student
explained, "the Coalition
still remains with each person who participated
in it. The group
and the experience is part of us and we bring
it to other places
and groups of people."
From College to Community
3.1. On a frigid winter's day in January of
2000, over 100 people
marched through the streets of Southampton
to protest the Town
Board's violation of Affirmative Action policies.
The
demonstrators nailed a three page list of
demands on the door to
Town Hall calling on the local government
to diversify its staff
positions--only 29 of 345 government workers
were African
American and two-thirds of those workers
were in the lowest pay
grades. The key incident triggering
the march occurred when the
Board hired 5 new Town attorneys, all of
them white, despite the
application of a highly qualified Black woman,
Judith Mitchell.
Many leaders from various communities of
color addressed the
crowd. Lucius Ware, president of the
Eastern Long Island NAACP
chastized the Town's long history of racism
and discrimination,
while Sherry Blakey-Smith, Director of the
Shinnecock Indian
Reservation's Community Learning Center observed
that, "People
are coming together and waking up.
We need to go on, to stand up
and say we want a better community.
Everyone needs to be a part
of this. Let's get those people out
of their mansions and into
this kind of forum."
3.2. One week later, Ware was back in front
of the Southampton
District School Board. As part of the
NAACP's annual address to
the board, Ware lambasted the group for not
hiring more African
American and other teachers of color.
Citing figures once again,
he noted that only 9 of 144 teachers were
Black, fewer were
Latino or Native American, and only 2 of
21 professional staff
were minorities. Ware was joined at
this presentation by Sharon
Saunders, the founder of the local youth
group THANKU (The
Hillcrest Neighborhood Kids Union).
The Hillcrest area is the
largest black community within the Village
of Southampton and
Saunders has become the neighborhood's strongest
youth
advocate--directing after-school activities,
learning groups, a
partnership with a local organic farmer,
and a host of music and
theater projects. At the Board meeting,
she argued that "it
should be against the law to deprive African
American children of
having Black teachers.... It's important
to see someone who
looks like you behind the desk, teaching
you and showing you that
you can succeed, too." Both Ware and
Saunders mentioned the
increasing need for more Latino instructors
to meet the
burgeoning population of year-round Latino
residents.
3.3. In April of 2000, a group of Shinnecock
activists blocked
developers' attempts to start bulldozing
property across the
highway from the Reservation. Claiming
the land was an ancient,
ancestral burial ground, dozens of people
tried to keep work
crews from clearing trees and digging foundations
for a housing
development. The Shinnecock had filed
a lawsuit seeking an
injunction against the development, but were
turned down because
they missed a 30-day deadline following the
Town's approval of
the project. While they awaited an
appeal, the developers tried
to move in, hoping to make any subsequent
court decision moot.
As Shinnecock and their supporters showed
up to stop the
bulldozers, State police arrived, and within
minutes had arrested
three demonstrators. Meanwhile, Shinnecock
residents and student
supporters from Southampton College had built
a teepee on the
grounds of the College across from the proposed
development.
After several days College Provost Tim Bishop
requested that the
teepee be removed. He stated that,
"The teepee represented a
symbol that the college was taking a position
in this matter, and
we're not taking a position." While
it may have been wise to
avoid land disputes with the Shinnecock who
have for years
claimed that Southampton College itself sits
on land stolen from
the Tribe, Bishop's claim seems disingenuous
given earlier
statements concerning the institution's "decidedly
pro-business"
position.
3.4. This was not the first land-use protest
by Shinnecock
residents in Southampton, but it marked the
first time that
Native Americans were joined by members of
the Town's Anti-Bias
Task Force and the NAACP. In fact,
one of the first people
arrested during the civil disobedience was
Bob Zellner, who had
become the ABTF Co-Chair. A few days
later, Ware again addressed
the Town Board, this time arguing for a policy
that would notify
Shinnecock leaders of pending development
applications for any
lands bordering the Reservation and other
contested areas. He
explained, "These lands have been taken,
stolen, over the years.
This town needs to immediately take it upon
itself to properly
code the disputed lands and put into law
means that would
directly notify the Indians of any development
on property that
would remotely be linked to Indian ownership."
What was new
about this particular land dispute between
the Shinnecock and
Town-supported developers was the evolving
coalition of groups
that formed to support the Tribe's protest.
3.5. According to Bob Zellner, it would be
hard to imagine this
type of activist climate without the Coalition
for Justice's
struggle two years ago. Zellner explains:
When the Coalition came to the Anti-Bias
Task Force, it forced the group to address real issues of racism in the
community. Before the custodians' fight, the task force was mostly
made up of apologists and people who wanted to celebrate `diversity.'
Only a few people wanted to challenge long established structuresof racial
and economic oppression. The Hamptons (Southampton College included)
really looked like a modern day plantation society.
3.6. As the Coalition pressed the ABTF to address
the custodial
issue, the more conservative leadership came
under fire for
backtracking on promises and for holding
secret and exclusive
meetings with College administrators.
As the leadership lost
credibility, they stepped away from the task
force, as did other
conservative members who tired of heated
discussions that became
commonplace. In their place came a
newer group of more
activist-oriented members.
3.7. Lucious Ware was not a "new" attendee
to ABTF meetings--he
had been a member in the past. But
Ware conveyed that when
Zellner became co-chair and started "making
waves," he decided to
return and become an active member of the
group. Soon, the task
force also attracted people who had been
quietly active in
neighborhood or school issues (Hazel Saunders,
for example), and
were now beginning to speak out on larger
issues. In fact,
Saunders is currently organizing the Hillcrest
area residents
(with the aid of the NAACP and the ABTF)
to block the building of
an 86,000 square foot nursing home facility
in the middle of the
neighborhood. Despite local environmental
groups' concerns over
pollution and traffic, the Town Board has
given the developers
approval for the construction. But
Saunders argues that it's an
act of environmental racism because, "the
Town would never have
given such a zoning exemption to developers
to build in a white
community." She continues, "We are
going to stop this by any
means necessary--any means necessary, you
understand. I'm
rounding up local activists, appealing to
the state legislators,
Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.
I talked to Jesse
Jackson last week, and if we have to conduct
sit-ins or
demonstrations, people in this neighborhood
and others will do
it." And Saunders will get help from
a variety of local
activists, the ABTF, and Shinnecock leaders
who have pledged
their support.
3.8. In November 2001 Bob Zellner lost an
election for
Southampton Town Supervisor. His work
as Co-Chair of the ABTF
had placed him sufficiently in the public
eye to be chosen as the
Democratic candidate for Supervisor.
Given his uphill battle in
an overwhelmingly Republican region, Zellner
did much better than
any recent Democratic candidate for the position.
By running for
office, Zellner was able to promote a platform
that both
criticized the history of racism and prejudice
in the area and
recognized the need to address the result
of changing local
demographics. Thus he called for continuing
affirmative action
in support of the growing low-income population.
He also spoke
about increasing bilingual programs for the
growing population of
Latino and Asian children in the public schools.
Zellner got
almost unanimous support from Latino, African
American and Native
American voters.
3.9. I do not want to claim that, without
the CFJ's work, none of
this community activism would have occurred.
Struggles over
racial discrimination and inequality in Southampton
have arisen
in the past. But the unique social
and economic dynamics of the
community made these past protests brief,
limited and localized
moments of action. For the first time
in the Southampton's
history there is a prolonged conversation
on issues of race,
discrimination, and economic and social justice.
Two years ago
the pressures from communities of color and
from progressive
white activists fueled the return of two
Democrats to the
previously all-Republican Town Board.
This year, despite
Zellner's defeat, another Democrat was elected
to the Board,
giving Democrats a 3-2 majority. While
the Democrats have
promised to be more accessible and sensitive
to issues of racial
discrimination and bias, none of the activists
interviewed or
observed seem prepared to rely on pledges
made by politicians.
The new climate of organizing, demonstrating,
and civic
engagement is not likely to be quelled easily.
3.10. I would like to conclude by saying that
this invigorated
spirit of political participation and progressive
activism comes
in a unique period. With new populations
vying to establish
identities as legitimate residents of the
Hamptons, and older
"settlers" in the area also struggling to
maintain their control
over the region's character and landscape,
struggles over issues
of racial and economic equality have an enormous
potential to
make a significant impact on the future.
Specific and explicit
discussions and debates about racism and
discrimination won't
guarantee a more equitable, democratic and
just society in the
Hamptons, but a continued silence on these
issues would most
certainly have guaranteed their impossibility.
I am confident
that the campus struggle of a small coalition
has helped to break
that silence.
References
Breen, T.H. 1996. Imagining the Past:
East Hampton Histories.
Atlanta: University of Georgia Press.
Dolgon, Corey. 2001. "Building Community
Amidst the Ruins:
Strategies for Struggle from the Coalition
For Justice at
Southampton College." Forging Radical
Alliances Across
Difference: Coalition Politics for the
New Millennium. Edited
by Jill Bystedzienski and Steven Schacht.
Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Dolgon, Corey. 2000a. "Politics
on Campus: The Sociologist and
the Janitors." Applying Sociology:
Making a Better World. Ed.
William Dubois. New York: Allyn &
Bacon.
Dolgon, Corey. 2000b. "Janitors
For Justice: Building Campus
Movements for Social Change" in Campus,
Inc.: Corporate Power in
the Ivory Tower. Ed. Geoffry
D. White. New York: Prometheus
Books.
Dolgon, Corey. 1999. "Universities
in Crisis; Workers in
Struggle: The Knowledge Industry, Political
Solidarity and
Applied Sociology." Journal of the
National Social Science
Association (12:2).
Dolgon, Corey. 1998. "Anatomy
of a Victory." Z Magazine
(December).
Dolgon, Corey. 1997. "Coalition
Organizing: Cleaning Up the
Hamptons." Z Magazine (June).
Gaines, Stephen. 1997. Philistines
at the Hedgerow: Passion
and Property in the Hamptons.
New York: Little, Brown & Co.
Geiger, Roger. 1997. Research
and Relevant Knowledge: American
Research Universities since World War
II. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
___________. 1986. To Advance
Knowledge: The Growth of
American Research Universities, 1900-1940.
Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Nelson, Cary. 1997. Will Teach
For Food: The Crisis in
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Noble, David. 1979. America
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Soley, Lawrence. 1995. Leasing
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White, Geoffry D., ed. 2000. Campus,
Inc.: Corporate Power in
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Corey Dolgon (cdolgon@worcester.edu)
is Chair of the Sociology Department, Worcester State College, Worcester
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