[Peace-discuss] While Obama Deliberates, Illinois Grad Employees Strike for Education Security

[Robert Naiman]

While former Illinois Senator Barack Obama mulls flushing another $40
billion a year in our tax dollars down the toilet in Afghanistan -
that's the estimated annual cost of sending 40,000 more troops for the
next several years - graduate employees at the University of Illinois,
a "land grant" public institution, are going on strike at 8 AM this
morning Chicago time to protect their ability to complete their
education, against threats from the University administration to
withdraw tuition waivers from graduate employees.
...
What if President Obama decided not to send $40 billion worth of new
troops to Afghanistan? How much money could that free up for education
in Illinois? Illinois has about 4.2% of the U.S. population, so not
escalating in Afghanistan could bring Illinois a $1.7 billion dollar
windfall. If the federal government dropped an extra $1.7 billion a
year on the State of Illinois, do you think that the state legislature
and the University administration could find it in their hearts to
protect the ability of graduate employees to complete their degrees? I
think they could.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/illinois-grad-employees-s_b_358830.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/16/8254/7974

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/405

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org