Imagining America and The Community-based Global Learning Collaborative (formerly globalsl) hosted a conversation between Professors Jack Tchen and Wayne Yang on May 6. The dialogue focused on Yang’s book, A Third University is Possible, and its implications for this moment. Tchen began by recognizing the quote that precedes the text:  Even when they are dangerous examine the heart of those machines you hate before you discard them —Audre Lorde The full video of the event is linked below. As it kicked off, more than 200 zoom participants acknowledged the land on which they were based – one of several moments that played with a question at the core of Yang’s book. How are we able to adapt colonial structures and technologies  toward decolonizing efforts? The conversation soon turned to reference the ways in which we may be within a transformational moment, as recognized by Arundhati Roy in The Pandemic is a Portal:  Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with…

Building on a decade of collaboration, the network of educational institutions and community organizations formerly known as The Globalsl Network has become The Community-based Global Learning Collaborative.  The Collaborative is a network of educational institutions and community organizations that advances ethical, critical, and aspirationally de-colonial community-based learning and research for more just, inclusive, and sustainable communities. The Collaborative does this through several specific mechanisms:  Interdependence: Global Solidarity and Local Actions – a new, growing, and adapting collection of online learning activities and critical civic tools designed to deepen college-level learners’ understanding of  and engagement with ethical interdependence. The resources include tools that support ethical engagement across cultures and power differentials as learners, researchers, and organizers. We’re building this right now, eager for additional collaborators, and iterating all summer long as we work with the first cohorts of students using this approach.  The Global Engagement Survey, a multi-institutional study that examines the outcomes of high impact programming, such as engaged learning…

Dick Cone died earlier this month. From 1980-2002, Dick led the Joint Educational Project at the University of Southern California. During that time and right through his final months, Dick was a powerful voice for the public purposes of higher education and for the role of experiential community-based learning in realizing those purposes. A more detailed account of Dick’s life and contributions has been posted by California Campus Compact, which for years has recognized his contributions to our movement by presenting the Richard E. Cone Award for emerging leaders in community engagement. Here I want to share some personal reflections about Dick and his influence. I got to know Dick Cone before I had ever met him. We got connected through an intersecting series of email exchanges over a period of about two years. Some of those exchanges included others and some were just between the two of us. They showed me many—though not all—of Dick’s significant characteristics. Dick originally…