Book review of Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the Occupy Movement, edited by Anthony J. Nocella II and David Gabbard (2013)

Combs, Sandra L.

English

VCU Scholars Compass

    JOURNAL OF HIP HOP STUDIES   .     performances to classical performances with the ballet. That is the gist of chapter four – diverse contributions in Hip Hop film. While men were featured performers in most Hip Hop musicals, Monteyne notes the impact women had behind the scenes. The author names specific women who were important in the breakdance choreography for these film.  All four chapters of Hip Hop on Film include pertinent details that ascribe to the relevance of Hip Hop musical history. The diversity aspect is evident as Monteyne discusses race, gender, socio-economic background and social and political stances. The book is an informative read of historical value to a variety field of studies. Monteyne makes a persuasive case for the Hip Hop musical in this well-researched text.   Renette Smith McCargo is an Academic Advisor and Career Coordinator for the College of Media and Communication and adjunct instructor in the Department of Media at Arkansas State University. Her research interests include the portrayal of print literacy in children’s television programming, eWord of Mouth or consumer-generated content in social media and cyberbullying.   Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the Occupy  Movement. Edited by Anthony J. Nocella II and David Gabbard. New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, 2013. Pp. vii, 223. Paperback $39.95  In fourteen chapters there is solid evidence of there being increased policing and surveillance on college and university campuses in California, Indiana, Virginia, Illinois and across the nation. Some of the documented evidence shows the policing of campuses to the point of arrests, tasers, and pepper spray.  This evidence also shows the increase in the use of surveillance cameras along with campus-wide alert systems that also can be used for surveillance. Jason Del Gandio, one of the article researchers, wrote, “…it is obvious that student protets are commonly met with police repression. More times than not, school administrations authorize such repression” (p. 6). First, the photo on the cover of the book gives a clear indication that police and law enforcement are pretty much the bad guys, the terrorists, in these case studies and articles. The photo is of a police officer pepper spraying some students who are sitting on the sidewalk. The photo also shows how any and everybody with a camera these days can capture what is happening. There are four cell phones and tablets and three cameras visibly capturing the event.   Also, the book’s dedication sets the tone for the body of work. In part it says, “This book is for all of those who demand a free democratic critical inclusive education for social justice, void of guns, police, security, and surveillance.” 1Combs: Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the OPublished by VCU Scholars Compass, 2015    BOOK REVIEW   .     The book’s Foreword is written by Christian Parenti, a correspondent for The Nation who has a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics. Co-editor David Gabbard wrote the Introduction (“Canary in the Coal Mine?”) that shows how insightful political journalist Hunter S. Thompson was about criminalizing college students who were activists and dissidents on college and university campuses. Meanwhile, the book is divided into three parts. Part I, Campus Police, has five articles that include topics about the arrests of student activists, many times after surveillance and instilled fear. Part II, The Surveilled Campus, also has five articles, which focus on the erosion of privacy for students because of increased and technologically savvy police scrutiny. Four articles are in Part III, From Defending Public Education to the Occupy Movement, and include discussions about the Occupy Movement that began on Wall Street in New York City, and heavy-handed policing tactics on college campuses. Nevertheless, this compilation of research articles gives a thorough overview of what has been happening on college and university campuses in Iowa, New York, Minnesota and across the nation since the overall increase in surveillance.  Sandra L. Combs is an Assistant Professor of Multimedia Journalism at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. The veteran journalist’s research interests include race, gender, media and diversity issues.   The End of Prisons: Reflections from the Decarceration Movement. Edited by Mechtild E. Nagel, and Anthony J. Nocella. New York, N. Y.: Rodopi, 2013. Pp. xv, 248. paperback $63.86.   This collection of essays distinguishes itself from similar publications in both its focus and scope in two significant ways. First, while its contributors, as part of the Decarceration Movement, share an interest in prison reform (meaning improved conditions and treatment of incarcerated populations), they are far more concerned with the total abolition of prisons in the U. S. and abroad. Secondly, much like Michelle Alexander’s renowned monolith, The New Jim Crow, many of its contributors are also concerned with the logistics of incarceration (i.e. which populations are incarcerated, the implications of incarceration on social justice issues, etc.). However, in The End of Prisons, the prison industrial complex and racial injustice are only the proverbial tip of the prison iceberg.  Perhaps its boldest intervention is to redefine “the carceral,” not in terms of brick and mortar buildings with bars, but rather as any site of social control. Drawing from the likes of Michel Foucault, Angela Y. Davis, W. E. B. DuBois, et.al, each selection conceptually enlarges our understanding of “prison,” thus enabling each scholar/activists to address myriad overlapping and intersecting social justice issues, their origins, capacity, and potential solutions.  The scholarship of the editors, Mechtild 2Journal of Hip Hop Studies, Vol. 2 [2015], Iss. 1, Art. 10https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jhhs/vol2/iss1/10

Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the Occupy Movement

    JOURNAL OF HIP HOP STUDIES   .     performances to classical performances with the ballet. That is the gist of chapter four – diverse contributions in Hip Hop film. While men were featured performers in most Hip Hop musicals, Monteyne notes the impact women had behind the scenes. The author names specific women who were important in the breakdance choreography for these film.  All four chapters of Hip Hop on Film include pertinent details that ascribe to the relevance of Hip Hop musical history. The diversity aspect is evident as Monteyne discusses race, gender, socio-economic background and social and political stances. The book is an informative read of historical value to a variety field of studies. Monteyne makes a persuasive case for the Hip Hop musical in this well-researched text.   Renette Smith McCargo is an Academic Advisor and Career Coordinator for the College of Media and Communication and adjunct instructor in the Department of Media at Arkansas State University. Her research interests include the portrayal of print literacy in children’s television programming, eWord of Mouth or consumer-generated content in social media and cyberbullying.   Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the Occupy  Movement. Edited by Anthony J. Nocella II and David Gabbard. New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, 2013. Pp. vii, 223. Paperback $39.95  In fourteen chapters there is solid evidence of there being increased policing and surveillance on college and university campuses in California, Indiana, Virginia, Illinois and across the nation. Some of the documented evidence shows the policing of campuses to the point of arrests, tasers, and pepper spray.  This evidence also shows the increase in the use of surveillance cameras along with campus-wide alert systems that also can be used for surveillance. Jason Del Gandio, one of the article researchers, wrote, “…it is obvious that student protets are commonly met with police repression. More times than not, school administrations authorize such repression” (p. 6). First, the photo on the cover of the book gives a clear indication that police and law enforcement are pretty much the bad guys, the terrorists, in these case studies and articles. The photo is of a police officer pepper spraying some students who are sitting on the sidewalk. The photo also shows how any and everybody with a camera these days can capture what is happening. There are four cell phones and tablets and three cameras visibly capturing the event.   Also, the book’s dedication sets the tone for the body of work. In part it says, “This book is for all of those who demand a free democratic critical inclusive education for social justice, void of guns, police, security, and surveillance.” 1Combs: Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the OPublished by VCU Scholars Compass, 2015    BOOK REVIEW   .     The book’s Foreword is written by Christian Parenti, a correspondent for The Nation who has a Ph.D. in sociology from the London School of Economics. Co-editor David Gabbard wrote the Introduction (“Canary in the Coal Mine?”) that shows how insightful political journalist Hunter S. Thompson was about criminalizing college students who were activists and dissidents on college and university campuses. Meanwhile, the book is divided into three parts. Part I, Campus Police, has five articles that include topics about the arrests of student activists, many times after surveillance and instilled fear. Part II, The Surveilled Campus, also has five articles, which focus on the erosion of privacy for students because of increased and technologically savvy police scrutiny. Four articles are in Part III, From Defending Public Education to the Occupy Movement, and include discussions about the Occupy Movement that began on Wall Street in New York City, and heavy-handed policing tactics on college campuses. Nevertheless, this compilation of research articles gives a thorough overview of what has been happening on college and university campuses in Iowa, New York, Minnesota and across the nation since the overall increase in surveillance.  Sandra L. Combs is an Assistant Professor of Multimedia Journalism at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. The veteran journalist’s research interests include race, gender, media and diversity issues.   The End of Prisons: Reflections from the Decarceration Movement. Edited by Mechtild E. Nagel, and Anthony J. Nocella. New York, N. Y.: Rodopi, 2013. Pp. xv, 248. paperback $63.86.   This collection of essays distinguishes itself from similar publications in both its focus and scope in two significant ways. First, while its contributors, as part of the Decarceration Movement, share an interest in prison reform (meaning improved conditions and treatment of incarcerated populations), they are far more concerned with the total abolition of prisons in the U. S. and abroad. Secondly, much like Michelle Alexander’s renowned monolith, The New Jim Crow, many of its contributors are also concerned with the logistics of incarceration (i.e. which populations are incarcerated, the implications of incarceration on social justice issues, etc.). However, in The End of Prisons, the prison industrial complex and racial injustice are only the proverbial tip of the prison iceberg.  Perhaps its boldest intervention is to redefine “the carceral,” not in terms of brick and mortar buildings with bars, but rather as any site of social control. Drawing from the likes of Michel Foucault, Angela Y. Davis, W. E. B. DuBois, et.al, each selection conceptually enlarges our understanding of “prison,” thus enabling each scholar/activists to address myriad overlapping and intersecting social justice issues, their origins, capacity, and potential solutions.  The scholarship of the editors, Mechtild 2Journal of Hip Hop Studies, Vol. 2 [2015], Iss. 1, Art. 21https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jhhs/vol2/iss1/21

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=jhhs

Policing the Campus: Academic Repression, Surveillance, and the Occupy Movement

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

VCU Scholars Compass

VCU Scholars Compass

VCU Scholars Compass

VCU Scholars Compass

VCU Scholars Compass

VCU Scholars Compass