[Peace-discuss] Fw: from S.O.: Campus Wide Strike at Indiana University

[David Johnson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Larry Duncan 
To: Larry Duncan 
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2013 4:13 PM
Subject: from S.O.: Campus Wide Strike at Indiana University


      New from Socialist Organizer: Campus Wide Strike at Indiana University 
     

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Campus Wide Strike at Indiana University

      http://socialistorganizer.org/campus-strike-indiana-university/

      Posted: 02 Jan 2013 12:37 AM PST



      Students at Indiana University call for a Campus Wide Strike

      Students at Indiana University of Bloomington are calling on students, faculty and staff for an Indiana University wide strike on all campuses.

      Around 100 students from IU Student Power met in early December to discuss, plan and organize for the strike. The strike is planned for April 11-12, 2013, to coincide with the IU Board of Trustees Meeting.

      The strike is being called for and organized by a new student group called IU Student Power. IU Student Power is closely linked with the Industrial Workers’ of the World (IWW). The students are calling for a strike in response to the austerity measures being imposed upon education in Indiana that is reflective of the austerity measures that are being implemented by the ruling class nationwide and worldwide in response to the current crisis of world capitalism. In particular, IU Student Power is striking because of increased tuition, reduction in public funding of IU, cuts to major educational programs, unfair raises for administrators, environmentally unfriendly practices in supplying power to campuses and rising student debt. The strike proposal also cites as an important issue that the recent cuts have particularly targeted people of color, and that efforts towards campus diversity is being diverted for more ‘profitable’ investments.

      Not everyone in organized labor, however, is supportive of this strike, and IU Student Power and the IWW are no doubt facing resistance from the labor bureaucracy. According to Peter Kaczmarczyk, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4730, “While we support attempts to get the university to take a more progressive stance on issues, to better pay its staff, better treat its students, and to focus on education rather than the financial bottom line, we (support staff) are prohibited from striking or discussion (of) or planning a strike.”

      Students, teachers and faculty at IU as well as throughout the state of Indiana have good reason to want to strike. According to the strike proposal, drafted by IU Student Power, student tuition pays for 51% of the universities budget, while state funding accounts for only 18%, down from 50% state funding in the 1990’s. Across all of the IU campuses, adjunct teachers and faculty face longer hours and lower pay, resulting in lower quality classes for students who attend them. And the forecast for students, teachers and faculty at IU are looking even more bleak. According to IU President Micheal McRobbie, who according to Wikipedia makes a base salary of a little under $500,000, by 2020 state funding for Indiana University will make up only 10% of IU’s budget.  All of this points towards a dangerous trend of the privatization of education, in which students are treated as consumers and where the university becomes a marketplace.

      Students of color are particularly victimized by these cuts. Despite promises by administration to increase campus diversity, the percentage of black students currently enrolled at IU Bloomington (main campus) is currently at only 4.1%, at its lowest since 1976.

      IU Student Power also has raised grievances about IU’s Energy Master Plan, which prioritizes “cost-effectiveness” over environmental concerns, making for an energy plan that contributes further to the climate crisis wrought by world capitalism.

      Students at IU Bloomington are responding to the austerity that is being imposed on them, and are preparing to fight for their right to quality public education, as well as for the better pay, treatment and working conditions for the teachers and staff who work there. These actions are no doubt inspired by and in solidarity with the recent radicalization of teachers, as evidenced by the Chicago teachers strike last month. These developments are also important towards the necessity for a nationwide student union, exemplified by the efforts of students in California to organize a statewide students union. The efforts of IU Student Power reflect the struggle that is now dire to stop the capitalist austerity assault on public education, as well as the linking of the student struggle with that of organized labor.
     



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20130103/79b65ca7/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: iustrike.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1362871 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20130103/79b65ca7/attachment-0001.png>