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.
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.
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
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 housingand 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.”
“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.
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.
The University appeals to our better natures, to our commitment to
community, to conceal their real ask: to betray these friends and
colleagues, at the moment when they are most in need of our support.
The Cornell leadership of the UAW 2300 chapter, by contrast, has
shown a richer vision of what community needs and what it can be. They
too appeal to our desire to help out, to step up. They have asked for
solidarity, rather than to undermine each other. To not replace
striking labor or the work that they do. To show up on the picket line.
To voice support. To demand that Cornell sign a fair contract. They have
asked us to take the side of those members of our community fighting
for a better life. They have asked us to stand with them.
And in so doing, they are teaching us that real community can only be
forged by a honest appraisal of injustice and unfairness, by a real
understanding of the power that a few employers and institutional
leaders hold over everyone else, and by a real commitment to challenging
it.
According to 14850.com, workers reached a tentative deal with management. 'Over the life of the agreement, members will see an average increase
of 21%-25.4% in hourly wages over the four years, depending on grade
and hire/job rate,' said the UAW on Tuesday night. A sharp increase in
pay to bring wages in line with the actual cost of living in Tompkins
County was one of the union’s key demands."
