Reorientation Teaching Guide: Season 3 Episode 7
Learning Objectives
Students will understand the cyclical nature and the links between historic and contemporary protests.
Students will understand the role of the security state and its impact on protesting.
Students will understand the challenges with labeling a protest as successful or unsuccessful.
Podcast Questions
Why and/or how are protests and protesting at UW cyclical? What implications or takeaways can be drawn from this?
Why would the university initially defend the fan who dressed as Obama with a noose as protected by “free speech,” then backtrack and ban them?
How are the demands from 2020 “eerily similar” to those from 1969? Why would they be so similar?
How were the anti-Apartheid divestment movement and the Israeli divestment movement similar and different?
How is protesting today different from it was in the past? Think about the means, ability, and consequences surrounding protest.
Why is protesting part of a healthy democracy?
Recommended Primary Sources
Thirteen Demands: “Thirteen Needs Explained,” Box 13, Folder 1, Afro-American & Race Relations Files, UW–Madison Archives, UW–Madison Libraries.
Koehn, Harold. “…and Apartheid.” The Daily Cardinal, November 25, 1987.
Recommended Secondary Sources
Pat Schneider, “#TheRealUW: A social media movement is forcing UW–Madison to confront its race problems.” The Capital Times, April 20, 2016.
Becky Jacobs & Allison Garfield, “Police descend on Gaza war protesters at UW–Madison, begin arrests.” The Capital Times, May 1, 2024.
Teymour Tomsyck, “Blank apologizes for handling of Camp Randall noose incident.” The Badger Hearld, November 18, 2016.
Additional Resources
Guterl, Matthew. “What Today’s University Presidents Can Learn From the First Modern Expulsion Over Hate Speech on Campus.” Time: Made by History, December 19, 2023.