AAUP–Penn organized “Community Justice and the Ivory Tower,” featuring Davarian L. Baldwin (author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering our Cities (Bold Type Books, 2021), in conversation with Krystal Strong, Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, and Jolyon Baraka Thomas. This panel discussion with faculty and community activists addressed the university’s role in gentrifying and policing neighborhoods in cities across the country, with a focus on Penn and West Philly.

Davarian L. Baldwin is the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut

Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad is a Philadelphia-born organizer, writer, and co-founder of the Black and Brown Workers Co-op

Jolyon Baraka Thomas is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Penn and an organizer with Penn for PILOTs

Krystal Strong is Assistant Professor of Education at UPenn and an organizer with BLM Philly

Organized by AAUP-Penn, the University of Pennsylvania chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Sponsors: Civic House, Wolf Humanities Center, SNF Paideia

Penn Co-sponsors:  Penn for PILOTS; Police Free Penn; Fossil Free Penn; Latinx Coalition; Asian Pacific Student Coalition; Penn Association for Gender Equity; Lambda Alliance; United Minorities Council; UMOJA Coalition; Penn Community for Justice; GET-UP; University of Pennsylvania YDSA

Community Co-sponsors:  The Paul Robeson House; Scribe Video Center; Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture; People’s Emergency Center