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Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Campus Protests, Campus Safety, and the Student Imagination

According to the LA Times, students at Cal Berkeley, San Jose State, San Francisco State, and the University of San Francisco plan to hold coordinated protests on their campuses tomorrow. These actions are a continuation of this year's earlier protests against Israel's atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza--which have been backed by the United States, through arms deals and federal funding.

With the US-backed genocide expanding to the West Bank and Southern Lebanon, there will certainly be student resistance despite administrative and police efforts to make campus occupations and other forms of protest (even free speech and freedom of assembly) difficult.

The greatest threat so far from these protests has been to the reputations of elite universities and their endowments, rather than to campus safety. And the greatest perceived threat to administrators is that students and their allies have the imagination to resist in novel ways--without violence.   

Students have already gained partial victories with a handful of universities which have offered to review investment strategies complicit with genocide. These progressive schools include Brown University and San Francisco State. At the University of Michigan, pro-Palestinian students organized as the Shut it Down Party have won student elections.       

Coordinated and Secret Crackdowns

The crackdown measures that schools have already made to reduce free speech and other freedoms, and to stoke fear, are too numerous to list. Some of these measures, like increased surveillance are not even known by students, faculty, staff, and community folks. Just understanding that secret mass surveillance is possible helps administrators who want to quell good trouble. 

What are the real threats to campus safety? 

We hope these protests (and any other actions) will be nonviolent and have published a list of nonviolent methods for resistance as a starting point for discussion. Violence is not a good excuse even in crackdowns of this type, and it's a losing strategy for all sides--other than the right wing--who want chaos and hope to bait others. It takes great planning, discipline, and strategy not to take the bait. At the same time, we hope campus administrators will take the problems of sexual assault, hate crimes and other forms of violence, as well as the threats of mass shootings, more seriously than they have.

Related links: 

Democratic Protests on Campus: Modeling the Better World We Seek (Annelise Orleck)

Methods of Student Nonviolent Resistance

Wikipedia Community Documents Pro-Palestinian Protests on University and College Campuses

Dangerous Spaces: Sexual Assault and Other Forms of Violence On and Off Campus

One Fascism or Two?: The Reemergence of "Fascism(s)" in US Higher Education

A People's History of Higher Education in the US?

Letter to an incoming freshman

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Cornell University Workers Strike Deal For A Better Life (United Auto Workers Local 2300)

Updated September 3, 2024. UAW 2300 has reached a deal with Cornell University management after the longest strike in the university's history. The deal includes wage increases from 21 percent to 25.5 percent over the four years of the contract, a cost of living adjustment, and the elimination of the two-tier wage system. The agreement also introduces improvements to policies on time off, uniforms, inclement weather, and safety protections. HEI thanks Jimmy Jordan at the Ithaca Voice for his valuable contributions to this story.

Background

The Cornell University workers-UAW strike was part of a long tradition of labor action in US higher education. Workers at Cornell won the right to unionize in 1981, in a 15-year struggle documented by Al Davidoff. Cornell graduate students are negotiating their contract after voting for a union last year. And Weill-Cornell postdocs in New York City are attempting to negotiate with management after forming a union in February.

A listing of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions related to Cornell University, dating back to 1970, is here.  

Cornell University holds more than $17B in assets and about $4B in liabilities. A great deal of its initial assets were from land stolen from the Cayuga nation. The university still benefits enormously from this theft. 

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has been involved with academic labor since the 1990s, and is seriously involved in the most recent labor movement in higher education. The union holds a sizable strike fund. More information about the current strike at Cornell is at the UAW website.  

This story is not just about Cornell University workers and Cornell University management, but also about Ithaca, New York: a progressive town that faces gentrification and high housing costs for working-class folks who feel the economic squeeze. 

Recent Labor Victories Covered By the Higher Education Inquirer

In 2022, about 48,000 workers, including those represented by the UAW, had a major victory against the University of California System--and the Higher Education Inquirer documented much of it. HEI also covered the Rutger's University Strike that followed it, with guest author Hank Kalet.

Timeline of the Strike 

 

August 16, 2024 

After months of trying to negotiate with Cornell University management, hundreds of UAW Region 9 workers rallied for a fair contract following a 94 percent vote to strike if necessary.

August 18, 2024 (UAW Press Release)

Over 1,000 UAW members have walked out on strike at Cornell University, as the university has failed to present a fair package and has not bargained in good faith, stalling and retaliating against protected union activity by the workers.

The membership, made up of maintenance and facilities workers, dining workers, gardeners, custodians, agriculture and horticulture workers and others, are facing declining real wages even as Cornell’s endowment has ballooned and tuition revenue has skyrocketed. Over the past four years, Cornell’s endowment has soared 39% to nearly $10 billion and tuition has increased 13% – all while workers’ buying power has fallen 5%. 

Many of the workers have had to move out of Ithaca to afford housing and must pay expensive parking fees to park on campus. The wage for most at the university is less than $22 per hour, far lower than what economists estimate it costs for a family to live in the region. The compensation for top administrators exceeded $12.4 million in 2022.

“Workers at Cornell are fed up with being exploited and used. The university would much rather hoard its wealth and power than pay its workers fairly,” said UAW Local 2300 President Christine Johnson. “Cornell could have settled this weeks ago. Instead, they’ve scoffed and laughed at us and broken federal law. We’re done playing around.”

UAW Local 2300 recently filed seven separate unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Cornell University, citing violations of workers’ rights and federal labor laws amid ongoing contract negotiations.

“The workers at Cornell are pushing back against the university’s arrogance and greed. With a $10 billion endowment, the administration can more than afford the members’ demands,” said UAW Region 9 Director Daniel Vicente. “Workers in Local 2300 are showing the university that they are willing to do what’s needed to win what they deserve.”

Cornell University workers are the latest UAW members standing up to billionaire class greed. Thousands of UAW members have won record contracts in the last year, including auto workers at Daimler Truck, the Big Three automakers, and Allison Transmission workers in Indianapolis, IN.

Shawn Fain, President of the UAW mentioned the Cornell workers strike at the Democratic National Convention, August 19, 2024. 

August 21, 2024

After months of failing to negotiate with workers, and with the new school year closing in, Cornell University administrators asked that a mediator be appointed.  

Cornell University workers asked for a 27 percent increase in wages over four years, with a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). The university offered a 17 percent increase in wages over four years, with no COLA. The university wanted to keep a divisive two-tiered system which gave lower wages to workers who started after 1997. Cornell also wanted employees to continue to pay for parking.  

Details of the strike negotiations were available at the Ithaca Voice

To keep the university functioning, the university asked retirees, faculty, and staff to volunteer in place of picketing cooks and custodians. 

Local politicians sided with the striking workers, including the two major candidates running for New York State Senate.  

August 23, 2024

Cornell University told its faculty and staff to bring their own meals to campus, with the expectation that the strike would extend to next week.  Students would be receiving boxed to-go lunches between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. as part of their meal plans at specific residential halls, cafes and retail locations.(Ithaca Voice). 

August 25, 2024