May 23

Why We Were Arrested

Today most of those arrested at the April demonstration at New York University have their day in court. We though it an appropriate moment to explain why we participated.

Never before in its 91-year history have the officers of the American Association of University Professors heard the call to be arrested in the line of duty. But there we were — Cary Nelson and Jane Buck, incoming and outgoing AAUP presidents and close friends — on a New York street on April 27 waiting to be handcuffed and taken to a police station and booked. The AAUP, adding a professional to a basic human right, long ago joined the United Nations in recognizing that all employee groups have the right to choose for themselves whether to be represented collectively. It is not the responsibility of university administrators to decide what is best for their employees. The employees have the right to decide for themselves. NYU graduate employees have twice voted to affirm their decision to engage in collective bargaining.

The National Labor Relations Board appointed by Bill Clinton confirmed the first vote, and the NYU administration negotiated a contract with the union. Then, in a blatantly political move, George Bush’s NLRB reversed itself and gave the university the option of withdrawing recognition of the
union. Although nothing compelled NYU to do so, it stopped negotiating with its employees. That much is unambiguous, and that alone would have been enough to put us on a New York street blocking traffic, but the crisis at hand was still broader.

The AAUP is concerned not only with the present but also with the future of higher education. We try to articulate principles and set precedents. And we are very much concerned with the precedent this New York struggle is setting. The NYU administration has recklessly ramped up the intensity of the conflict with its graduate students, most of whom had inadequate salaries and health care when the union drive began. So long as those conditions exist across the country, the movement to organize working graduate students will not disappear. But the expectations of what each side
can and will do to win have been dramatically increased by the NYU example.

University administrations resisting collective bargaining will now consider it normal and reasonable to retaliate against employees in ways the NLRB would consider flatly illegal in cases where it accepted jurisdiction. And graduate employees will have to counter with more widespread and
comprehensive nonviolent civil disobedience. Graduate employees who want some say in their salaries and working conditions will have to bring operations at institutions like NYU to a halt. That is the new and immensely regrettable future the NYU administration has made a reality.

So we sat down in the street north of Washington Square, faculty members from Delaware State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in a last ditch effort to give the NYU administration a wake-up call. We would prefer a future of rational negotiation, a future characterized by the productive working partnerships graduate employee unions have established with universities across the country. We are concerned that NYU is calling forth a different future — one of antagonism and opposition.

NYU quite possibly represents a turning point in the history of efforts to improve working conditions in higher education. Especially after nearly 30 years of a steadily growing national trend toward the increasing use of poorly paid contingent labor to do most undergraduate teaching — a trend
in which higher education mirrors the now radical disparity between CEO salaries and the salaries of those on the shop floor — NYU’s effort to decisively disempower its more poorly paid teachers heralds a future of bitter labor conflict in the industry. While it was inspiring to stand beside the courageous students at the forefront of this struggle, it was sobering indeed to realize matters may now get much worse on many other campuses.

Cary Nelson is president-elect and Jane Buck is president of the American Association of University Professors.

Comments

Aren’t We Courageous?

There’s something a little self-serving about the authors’ congratulation of themselves on their readiness to be handcuffed and hauled away to jail for the greater good. I just hope their interest in the plight of graduate students exceeds their apparent interest in themselves.

Jane, at 9:20 am EDT on May 23, 2006

Like so much of what AAUP does, Nelson and Buck’s grandstand play is way too late. Not too late for self-congratulations, but too late to do any good. The time to support this fledgling union was when it first engaged their University administration, not months later when position have hardened into cement. For the record, a lot of folks, union and other, got arrested last Fall. Where was AAUP then?

Tony

Anthony Wildman, Mr, at 10:30 am EDT on May 23, 2006

French

Coming to New York City for the purpose of getting arrested undermines the case for better salaries and working conditions of graduate students, our future professors. Surely the incoming and outgoing presidents of AAUP might find less dramatic and more civil means of persuasion.

Deborah, Professor at CUNY, at 10:30 am EDT on May 23, 2006

As a graduate student, I am always grateful when tenured faculty take risks on our behalf, because it is so much more risky for graduate students (and adjunct lecturers) to do so. I know Nelson and Buck — AND all the others who have taken that risk — have the thanks of many.

The problem we all face is the increasing cost of education and decreasing funding. In my experience, the priority of the undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty is the education that happens in the classroom. When a university has other priorities, we all loose.

Steven Thomas, at 10:40 am EDT on May 23, 2006

“There’s something a little self-serving about the authors’ congratulation of themselves on their readiness to be handcuffed and hauled away to jail for the greater good.”

Boy I’ll say. Quite a contrast with those selfless administrators who are only thinking of the general good. I’m sure if Nelson et al. had asked nicely the university would have been more than happy to grant its graduate employees decent wages and health benefits. Instead we have all these professors from around the country dropping their work and rushing to New York just to get their picture in the paper. What other motivation could they have, given that the issue of who controls and benefits from academic labor isn’t really that important nowdays, if it ever was?

Howard, George Mason University, at 11:05 am EDT on May 23, 2006

It’s absurd to say Nelson and Buck are grandstanding trying to get their photo in the paper: that’s just an ad hominen attack on them.

Nelson & Buck have been very courageous and have been speaking out of their conscience. They’re right, of course, that the NYU strike is a central issue right now in higher education. If other colleges follow NYU adminsitration, higher education will continue to degrade with higher costs, teachers more exploited, lower quality.

Julia Stein, at 11:25 am EDT on May 23, 2006

“Never before in its 91-year history have the officers of the American Association of University Professors heard the call to be arrested in the line of duty.”

One wonders why they heard the call now, and how good their hearing is. Is it true that they were arrested for sitting in a public street, not for trying to organize a labor union? Does the AAUP condone the use of its name in a protest against traffic laws masquerading as something to do with unions?

Reader, at 1:05 pm EDT on May 23, 2006

To the authors and “Howard"—some facts to consider.Facts: — graduate assistants at NYU receive wonderful financial aid packages: full tuition remission, $19K stipend, and full medical coverage (about $50K total)- even striking students still continue to have their tuition paid for even though they are not fulfilling their obligation to teach, and they also are enjoying full medical coverage- the strikers are currently taking a summer break (I’ve never heard of this, but I guess it’s to be expected from people who took both a winter break and a spring break from striking as well. Do you think people are still taking you seriously??)

The opportunity to teach (and get a full ride AND be paid for it) is a wonderful experience that these students can carry with them throughout their careers. I’m just not sympathetic to these graduate students, when there are people across the country making less money than them (at a job that likely is not preparing them to earn PhDs) and supporting whole families while their at it. Those are the people for whom unions are necessary.

Lisa, at 2:40 pm EDT on May 23, 2006

In the interests of disclosure, I’ll begin by thanking Jane and Cary for standing in solidarity with us — I was one of the striking graduate workers arrested on April 27th.

This action was not about stopping traffic, but rather about its broader significance: the willingness of 57 people to get arrested protesting the NYU administration’s refusal to bargain a second contract with our union. And more important than the 57 who got arrested, were the hundreds cheering us on, and the majority of graduate workers who reaffirmed their desire for collective bargaining in the weeks leading up to the demonstration and arrests.

I’d also like to respond to Lisa — yes, teaching is a wonderful experience. A very large part of the reason I went on strike (and indeed the reason I am in grad school at all) is because I love teaching and want to make a career in the classroom. But the simple fact is that I am a better teacher with the security of a union contract. Our first contract created the conditions under which we no longer had to take second (or third) jobs to make rent or to pay for our health insurance. There were rules in place that governed the relationship between grad worker and professor — no more blanching asparagus (yes, that was testified to at the NLRB hearings in 2000). For the first time we had training before entering the classroom. All these benefits made us better teachers — we were able to devote more time to the classroom and to students, and less to trying to make ends meet. Those trying to support families found that task a little easier with a union contract.

Casualized labour (so adjuncts and grad workers) is responsible for over 75% of the teaching at NYU. We take this responsibility very seriously but the administration refuses to give us the respect we deserve for the work that we do. If people don’t think this is indicative of the way academic labour is headed (more adjuncts, fewer tenure track jobs, the erasure of tenure altogether, eroding of faculty salaries) then I’m sure you can’t see the need for union contracts in the academy. My experience at NYU tells me otherwise.After being on strike (continuously) for six months, we have called a hiatus for the summer. We have demonstrated, yet again, to NYU that we want to work under the protection of a union contract — the ball is now in their court. I very much hope that they take this opportunity to do the right thing and come to the bargaining table.

Jenny, NYU, at 4:15 pm EDT on May 23, 2006

Why We Were Arrested

I guess the summer’s five-day forecast does not appeal to you strikers, hey? No surprise: casual striking for casual labor.

If anyone at NYU deserves respect, it’s those undergrads for putting up with these lame-brained antics as patiently as they have.

Wny we were arrested? Because we had nothing better to do. We can’t bother to picket on a daily basis or when it’s raining, so we thought we’d make a big spectacle of ourselves.

Phred, at 7:15 pm EDT on May 23, 2006

Arrested for what?

I have yet to see any explanation about how being arrested is supposed to be an effective tactic for aprivate party to influence another private party. Civildisobedience is a wonderful tool for protesting againstan unjust government, but how is it meant to affect a private party?

If the current protest is unsuccessful, will the protestersscourge themselves next? That would certainly teach NYU a lesson.

Joe, at 4:40 am EDT on May 24, 2006

NYU

Interesting to read the negative comments and see how essentially right wing they are, and how uninformed they are about the use of adjuncts and grad students in higher education. Perhaps they should do a little research on the subject before shooting off ignorant mouths.

Grace

jskantrowitz, retired Ph.D., at 3:10 pm EDT on May 24, 2006

Not Everyone Needs to be a PhD

Hi Grace,

While sympathetic to your plight, I share your struggle and refuse to support the GSOC union. Those who think that letting the UAW run the state of affairs for grad workers is a good idea are the ones who are clueless and “shooting off their mouths,” as you put it.

Not everyone needs to be a PhD. Those who do feel that need will find a way to achieve their goals. I am slowly struggling along, and have no plans to “retire.” The world was full of disenchanted ABDs long before this conflict. People move on to lead productive lives in other fields.

Good luck. Don’t blame NYU’s unwillingness to negotiate with a union on the problems of the many grads out there who don’t finish their degrees.

Grad Student, at 8:50 am EDT on May 25, 2006

Many of the anti-union comments here don’t merit a response—they’re willfully uninformed and self-righteously cynical. “Grad Student’s” case against the union at NYU, on the other hand, is so incoherent that it would be difficult to mount one. In any case, the one point I understand is the one that once again raises the tired, elitist spectre of “autoworkers” “running the affairs of grad students.” (Unions are just for the blue-collar rabble, not intellectuals like us, is the thinking here). The union local at NYU, affiliated to the UAW, was founded, organized, and is led by grad students, with the support of a nationwide union. Who should we let “run our affairs,” Grad Student? Representatives WE voted for, twice, or a bunch of unaccountable University administrators?

nyu grad student, Huh?, at 11:05 am EDT on May 25, 2006

It’s not a question of elitism, or of dissing the autoworkers (although they are pretty useless at the bargaining table when it comes to their own workers lately, which is no doubt why they want to diversify and get their fingers into the higher ed pie).

Grad students are not primarily workers. Sorry: you can try to spin that record as fast as you want it to go, but no one’s buying it, not even those of us who are in the position of laboring for NYU as we finish our studies. Those who say that 75% of teaching at NYU is done by grad students and exploited adjuncts should do their homework on the contract that the adjuncts negotiated several years ago with NYU. They *are* workers; we are students. We primarily photocopy, grade papers, lead recitations, and assist professors with finding the resources for their classes.

It is unfortunate that some people seem to believe that this confict is the cornerstone of graduate studies.

Anyhow, don’t forget that there won’t be a union at NYU this decade, or in the next decade!

Grad Student, at 6:10 pm EDT on May 25, 2006

No, it certainly is a question of elitism. And spare me the NYU PR department talking points about whether GAs are “primarily” workers. The Bush-aligned NLRB may pretend to split those imaginary hairs; I don’t. Are we 49% workers? 30% workers? What on earth does “primarily” workers mean, anyway? The only thing that needs to be said, and can honestly with evidence be said about this is that we are both workers and students at the same time. Most logical people, I think, are capable of understanding this dual state without going into metaphysical convulsions. As workers, we perform an essential service for the university that it requires, at an ever-cheaper rate, to educate the students that pay ever-higher tuition. This is why we had a union at NYU for the last five years, and why we will have one again, even if it takes a Democratic-majority NLRB to return to common sense for that to happen—and that, the way things are going, may likely happen this decade. In the meantime, enjoy that “generous” pay package of ours—the union is the only reason you have it.

NYU grad student, at 9:50 pm EDT on May 25, 2006

Pardon me? Not workers?

“No one’s buying” that grad students aren’t workers, Grad Student? Then explain this: a majority of NYU grad employees just last month signed a petition calling once again on NYU to negotiate a fair contract with GSOC.

Apparently a majority of NYU’s own graduate employees believe that they are workers, and that they need a union. I think you’re in the minority here.

Melocoton, at 9:50 pm EDT on May 25, 2006

You can rehearse the same tired arguments over and over and it won’t change a thing.

When you graduate and get a real job, one that draws on the training and support you received at NYU, then you can call yourself a worker. For now, you’re a broken record.

And not to make light of the ‘majority’ who supports the union, but it’s barely half of those eligible to give their support.

But don’t let me discourage you; go back to comparing your struggles to the toil of slaves under Dred Scott, or to the immigrant workers who perished in the Triangle Shirt Factory.

Grad Student, at 4:40 am EDT on May 26, 2006

“You can rehearse the same tired arguments...”

At least I have an argument, my friend. The Dred Scott remark shows real desperation.

nyu grad student, at 8:40 am EDT on May 26, 2006

Look in the Archive: Your Side Said it

Look in the archived links to the last article on this topic, the one that actually reported the spectacular arrests of Buck and Nelson.

The Dred Scott analogy was made toward the end of the long discussion, but the pro-union side, of course. And of course the pro-union side actively tries to link their struggles to the Triangle Shirt Factory fire, and even uses that as a “pitch” at their “teach-ins.”

Get a life. Get an argument. Get a reality check.

Grad Student, at 1:00 pm EDT on May 26, 2006

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Why We Were Arrested

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Comments

Aren’t We Courageous?

French

Why We Were Arrested

Arrested for what?

NYU

Not Everyone Needs to be a PhD

Pardon me? Not workers?

Look in the Archive: Your Side Said it

Jobs Related to Why We Were Arrested

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Spanish/Methods, Assistant Professor Keene State College

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Assistant/Associate Professor/ Fibers — Art Appalachian State University

Instructional Assistant English as a Second Language San Diego Community College District

Chair Deep Springs College

SPS Faculty, Liberal Studies Regis University

The Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill

Chair in Digital Humanities
Dartmouth College

Spanish/Methods, Assistant Professor
Keene State College

Kaplan Distinguished Professor of Modern Jewish Thought
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill

Assistant Professor — Politics
Ithaca College

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Brandeis University

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Appalachian State University

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San Diego Community College District

Chair
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Regis University

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University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill