My own main argument for having tent city on campus is that it is another form of teaching. That said, I feel guilty abut how little I expect the UW to actually do about the underlying issues. I may recommend reading Major Barbara before reading the exchanges here about the Tent City.
There has been a debate on the AAUP listserv, mainly between Amy Hagopian and Cliff Mass. Amy is a very vocal activist, perhaps best know for her efforts to bring a union ot the UW faculty. Cliff is the single person most responsible for freeing KPLU from the unfortunate effort by the UW to buy out and close the Tacoma Pubic radio station .
Wow, Cliff. This is a very regressive and intolerant set of views about our Tent City neighbors. Have you ever visited a Tent City in Seattle? I was just at Tent City 3 last night with a student who is doing a project there. We were invited to attend their weekly meeting where residents discuss issues, make policies, solve problems, assign tasks, and generally go about the business of self-governance. To me, that is the feature of Tent Cities that makes them such attractive living communities, by comparison to social-service run shelters that set externally imposed rules and regulations (which typically exclude pets, couples living, and set restrictive hours). Obviously, it would be better if everyone had a real home with a door and a roof and a kitchen. That requires some serious alterations to the corporate capitalist political system we have now, which prohibits raising taxes even for K-12 education, let alone housing for all. [There were 10,000 homeless in Seattle during the last count (and by the way, participating in the count is always an educational experience—I take a team of students every year).] When you’re ready to organize the revolution, I’m ready. TC3 is currently at the corner of 15th and 45th, in the University Congregational United Church of Christ lot. They’re moving this weekend to St. Joseph’s on Capital Hill. The city’s consent decree on Tent Cities, negotiated in 2002, has expired but seems to live on. You can find it online, and actually the Wikipedia page on Homelessness in Seattle has some good references in general. Meantime, I’m grateful to UW leadership for showing the wisdom to provide a safe space for the amazingly well run Tent City 3. See their website here: http://www.sharewheel.org/tent-city-3 I contribute to SHARE/WHEEL through payroll deduction to support the effort.
Here at the UW we should be working on innovative and effective NEW solutions to societal problems. But now the UW is trying a tired, and clearly ineffective, approach to dealing with homelessness: tent cities. We have had these tent cities for years, and the problem of homelessness gets worse. And then there is the ethical element. Is it ethical and humane to deal with homeless folks (many with drug and mental health issues) by having them live outside in the cold and rain? I don’t think so. So instead of the UW doing something that clearly doesn’t solve the problem and facilitates our unfortunate brethren to live outside, can we think a bit out of the box and do something that might really change the game? Personally, I think there should be a zero-tolerance for outdoor living in public places, while we create massive facilities (with say a few thousand beds), which homeless can be warm, safe, and provided decent meals and clean bathrooms/shower facilities. Living outside on the street would NOT be an option.
As I see the issues Cliff identified, the problem with the UW Tent City is the question of whether we are celebrating our liberalism at minimal cost to any of us as individuals.
Condescension has always been a sin amongst the pious. For example, I admire Amy Hagopian’s activism but it seems to me to be a bit to easy for her to hold forth about the camps. For example, she cites data from a one day survey about how many people are living there. My understanding is that there are about 4000 homeless in Seattle, not the 10,000 she cites. Moreover, I have also been told that about 1/2 of these people have more need for mental health care than they do for housing.
Do the camps serve to make us feel good rather than offering real care?
The groups running Nickelsville are the SAME PEOPLE who will be running Tent City at the UW.