Present: Ryan (facilitating), Enda (minutating), Helen, Rachel, Possum, John, Nick, Mark, Christian, Ali, Rob, Darren, Tim, Will.

AGENDA

* Report back on classes * New course proposals (2) * Planning and visioning meeting * Party * Campus presence and funding

Course Check-In

Courses seem to be going along well!

New Course Proposals (2)

Helen and Rachel proposed a course called "The Generosities Project," for which they circulated an outline. Broadly, according to the (in-progress) outline, the class aims to "explore the ways the appropriation of generous practice by the state has helped to diffuse and redirect our ability to act generously (in the infinite variety of forms these acts can take), and how deference to centrally planned institutional solutions to local deficits serves to effectively absolve us of our responsibility to consider the ways we can act generously in our communities." It will have both theoretical and activity-based components, and will take place April 29th – June 24th on Sunday afternoons from 3pm – 6pm. The course was accepted and an outline will be posted on the website as soon as it is fine-tuned.

Christian proposed a course called "New Waves: Science Fiction and Architecture." He read an outline of the course, which aims to draw connections between architecture and environmental sustainability through readings of science fiction. Participants will read two science fiction books out of a possible four Christian proposed, and classes will have a "lecture" component and a discussion component, with the first addressing scientific research into architecture and environmentalism and the second involving a discussion of these issues through the science fiction readings. The course was approved pending a more defined version of the course outline.

Visioning Meeting

The sub-committee organizing the event met and come up with a rough plan for two days worth of activities in April. Rob's minutes for this meeting are posted below in their entirety. But the key points passed along by Rob were:

The Meeting was initially being planned as a 2 day event (but this may change, see below) to be held at 519 Church Street Community Centre on Saturday April 14, 2:30 - 5 pm, and Sunday April 15, 10 AM – 5 PM.

The following sessions were planned:

First Day

1. Introduction to the AFU: Philosophy, organizing structure and practice (0.5 hours)
2. General Facilitated Discussion: What is your own interest in a project like the AFU? What are your own ideas about creating a free university? (1 hour)
3. Realizing your Desires: What kind of courses, workshops & learning spaces do you want to create or be part of at the AFU? What is your wish list of courses and/or projects? (1 hour)

Second Day

1. Introduction to AFU (history & organizing practices) and Recap discussion from previous day (10 – 11 am)
2. Participatory anti-oppression workshop (11 – 12:30 pm) 12:30 – 1:30 pm (Provided by AFU collective)
3. Anarchism 101 Workshop (Ryan and Tobie) (1:30 –2:30)
4. Free Schools: history, what does it mean? (2:30- 3:30) Rob and someone else from AFU can do this.

COFFEE BREAK (3:30 – 3:45)

1. Consensus Decision making and conflict resolution workshop (outside facilitator?) (4 – 5 pm)
2. What kind of project are we? Are we an oppositional project and if so what does that mean? (5 – 5:30) We ran out of time!!!!!
3. Suggestion: Fold this discussion into workshop number 4 above.

Discussion:

Rob suggested that since the sub-committee meeting some questions had surfaced about having a two day event in terms of people's ability to commit this much time to the event. People tended to agree with this. One suggestion on how to deal with this was to roll in some of the events planned for the first day into the time before the party that is planned. The space has been booked for the Sunday however, and the sub-committee will meet again and smooth out these issues as well as outstanding ones (like finding external facilitators for the anti-oppression and consensus workshops).

Another issue that was brought up was the AFU's approach to disability and accessibility issues. There was some discussion on how best to incorporate this concern into AFU's activities, from the monthly meetings to individual courses. There were proposals on how to address this ranging from trying to make it a part of the culture of AFU to developing practices for particular situations. People generally felt that having a proactive approach to disability issues, rather than a "service" approach, was a better way to deal with the issue. This could include actively encouraging participation in AFU's projects from people from various communities with disabilities. People decided that a good first step was to develop a statement at the visioning meeting that reflected this concern on the website.

Party

A quick committee was set up for the 2nd Dance Dance Revolution: Chris, Ryan, Darren, Possum. Since the last DDR was a success there was some thought to having it at the Legion again. Flags beware, the AFU will be back!

Campus Presence and Funding

AFU Student groups at various universities: In an attempt to increase presence on university campuses across Toronto, there was some thought at setting up/resurrecting various AFU student groups. Tobie, Ryan, John and Rachel have decided to take on the University of Toronto and resurrect the group that Dave started last year; while Ryan and Enda said they would look into the York University and the CUPE 3903 union for support. Although there was some reservations about working with formal education institutions, most agreed that the resources available would benefit the AFU. Once these groups are started and confirmed, another discussion will be held about their exact nature--in terms of autonomy and operations--in relation to the AFU as a whole.

AFU Sub-committee Meeting Planning Meeting for full-day AFU Workshop in April

11 March 2007

Present: Tim, Will, Ryan, Tobie, Possum, Rob

AGENDA -purpose -logistics -a social gathering or party -itinerary

We started with a general discussion on ideas about our purpose, goals and aims for an all-day planning and visioning workshop day for the AFU. Ideas thrown out were:

-basic idea is to create a space for a participatory discussion about the direction and future of the AFU -provide cool courses and an alternative way to learn -to include new and established participants in the process of foundational discussions; an attempt to mitigate hierarchies due to history of engagement. The process of the discussions itself is the point. -provide information about a history and organizational structure of the AFU and a discussion of our vision, philosophy and practice. -how to avoid, deter or prevent inappropriate or counter-productive behaviour -do we want to codify rules? Produce a mission statement or a clear description of our aims? Or do we want a more open and process-oriented approach to our philosophy, etc. -workshops on consensus decision making processes -facilitator training; conflict resolution training; anti-oppression framework -ideas about what a free school is? What is the purpose of free education? What are anarchist ethics?

We sketched out an itinerary as such:

Two Day workshop VisioningMeetingSchedule:

*DRAFT*

LOCATION: 519 CHURCH STREET COMMUNITY CENTRE

FIRST DAY (Dates to be confirmed)

SATURDAY APRIL 14, 2007 2:30 - 5 PM

1. Introduction to the AFU: Philosophy, organizing structure and practice (0.5 hours)

2. General Facilitated Discussion: What is your own interest in a project like the AFU? What are your own ideas about creating a free university? (1 hour)

3. Realizing your Desires: What kind of courses, workshops & learning spaces do you want to create or be part of at the AFU? What is your wish list of courses and/or projects? (1 hour)

(NOTE: I have a feeling that no. 2 and 3 are kind of fuzzy and may end up folding in to each other in practice. Thoughts?)

SECOND DAY

SUNDAY APRIL 15, 2007 10 AM – 5 PM

1. Introduction to AFU (history & organizing practices) and Recap discussion from previous day (10 – 11 am)

-facilitated by a member(s) of AFU; gender-parity.

2. Participatory anti-oppression workshop (11 – 12:30 pm) -find an outside facilitator who has a social movements or social justice background? (pro-bono?).

LUNCH 12:30 – 1:30 pm

Provided by AFU collective. -anticipate 20-30 people Vegan black-bean wraps, juice, and hummus and pita bread. Can participants bring their own drinking mugs and/or cups?

3. Anarchism 101 Workshop (Ryan and Tobie) (1:30 –2:30)

4. Free Schools: history, what does it mean? (2:30- 3:30) Rob and someone else from AFU can do this.

COFFEE BREAK 3:30 – 3:45

What do we do about coffee? Does the 519 have a coffee maker? Do we want to have a coffee break? OR just have it there on an ongoing basis?

5. Consensus Decision making and conflict resolution workshop (outside facilitator?) (4 – 5 pm)

6. What kind of project are we? Are we an oppositional project and if so what does that mean? (5 – 5:30) We ran out of time!!!!! Suggestion: Fold this discussion into workshop number 4 above.

NOTE: please check the above times. Did I get the times and discussions right? Not sure why we ran out of time. Any suggestions?

EVENING SOCIAL GATHERING:

6 pm till LATE?

At the VICTORY CAFÉ, upstairs. (On Markham Street near Bathurst/Bloor). Ryan suggested this space and can see about its availability. Underused on Sundays – a large group can use the upstairs space and not everyone has to buy something to be there.

NEXT STEPS:

Confirm workshop dates and outside speakers. Present outline to AFU monthly meeting on Sunday March 18.