For more information, or to arrange an interview with a UE graduate worker leader, contact UE Communications Director Jonathan Kissam at (802) 343 1745 or jkissam@ueunion.org.
Twelve UE locals, representing over 30,000 graduate workers at both private and public universities, released a statement today urging colleges and universities to form a “Mutual Academic Defense Compact” to respond to the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on higher education.
“As the Trump administration weaponizes public funds to force capitulation to his extreme, authoritarian agenda, we demand that universities and colleges band together to protect against the incessant attacks on higher education, immigrant rights, and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals,” said Greyson Arnold, a graduate worker at the University of Minnesota and leader of UE Local 1105, the University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union.
The locals also urge colleges and universities to establish a common fund to support international workers, who are particularly vulnerable to attacks by the Trump administration.
“At a moment when the rights of non-citizen students and workers are under attack nationwide, we need our universities to band together to provide meaningful protection and support for international students and workers,” said Ewa Nizalowska, a graduate worker at Cornell University and leader of UE Local 300, Cornell Graduate Students United.
The statement notes that the Trump administration’s attacks are an “attempt to dismantle this country’s higher education infrastructure. These attacks undermine our institutions’ teaching and research missions and threaten the safety and well-being of our members.”
The Universities need to remember that we and the work we do are the reasons they are getting the recognition and funding to grow as they do now,” said Hwa Huang, a graduate worker at North Carolina State University and a leader of The Workers Union at North Carolina State University/UE Local 150. “Our international colleagues are central to our communities, and we should come together to protect one another, not subjecting one of our own to the racist violence of detainment, deportation, or worse.”
The full statement can be found at ueunion.org/mutual-academic-defense-compact.
The UE locals who issued the statement represent graduate workers at the following institutions: Cornell University, Dartmouth College, John Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New Mexico State University, North Carolina State University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, and the University of New Mexico.
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