[Antiracism] [Workers Rights] Public Hearing 12/11: UMass Strike Demands

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

-----Original Message-----
From: geo.organizing.committee at gmail.com
[mailto:geo.organizing.committee at gmail.com] On Behalf Of GEO Organizer



Public Hearing on the Student Strike Demands
TUESDAY, 12/11/07 
Noon to 1:30, Cape Cod Lounge (Student Union) 
Free lunch provided by Greeno Subs
Hosted by the United Student Action coalition - HYPERLINK
"http://strike.umassgss.org/" \nhttp://strike.umassgss.org/ 
 
 Hear updates about post-strike negotiations with the administration,
and hear testimony from students about the four strike demands: 

1) Accessibility & Affordability
2) Funding & Accountability for Outreach & Diversity 
3) End to all Unwarranted Police Patrols 
4) Reverse Mandatory First-Year Only Housing & Return Campus Center Student
Union to Student Control

Strike Updates:


As a result of the student strike on 11/15 & 11/16/07, the administration
agreed to meet weekly with 10 students to discuss the demands! This
10-student committee includes elected leadership from GSS, SGA, and GEO and
undergraduate ALANA Caucus, in addition to 4 students elected at a
post-strike "general assembly" meeting. The committee has given a 10-page
proposal to the administration detailing student demands, and they have been
meeting with the administration every Thursday from 8:30 - 10:30am. The
administration has agreed to sign a report that outlines action steps by
February 22, 2008. 

The new coalition that organized the strike, United Student Action, now
hosts weekly general assembly meetings (Mondays at 7pm), and it has four
subcommittees: 1) Action & Logistics, 2) Research, 3) Communications &
Press, and 4) Outreach. Email HYPERLINK "mailto:strike at umassgss.org"
\nstrike at umassgss.org to get involved.


Overview of the Demands:



1) ACCESSIBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY 

Fees have soared in recent years as support from the state has plummeted and
need-based scholarships have shriveled, keeping many students out and
hobbling many with debt.  The student negotiating team has proposed a phased
fee reduction for all students, a lobbying day in which 300 students,
faculty, and staff will travel to Boston to lobby lawmakers for more state
funding,  and a reevaluation and postponement of university spending
projects until alternative sources of revenue are secured.  The negotiating
team has also proposed significant expansions of existing need-based aid
programs and the  creation of a "last-dollar" (complete cost) need-based aid
fund to be endowed by alumni and private contributions.

2) FUNDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUTREACH AND DIVERSITY

The proportion of students from groups historically and currently
underrepresented in higher education has decreased in recent years. While
Massachusetts has become more diverse, the University has lost all its major
outreach grants.  A recent report on accessibility flunked UMass,  and the
campus has repeatedly cut funding for outreach and support programs for
underrepresented students. The students' proposals address four areas.

A) Increase Outreach to Springfield, Holyoke, and Franklin County 
The negotiating team has proposed that the University work to secure state
and national funding for outreach, that it provide transportation for
students conducting college outreach in the area, that it provide funding
for new classes in various departments focusing on the path to college and
empowering students to do outreach, that it work with Five Colleges, Inc.,
to create free bus service between the University and the
Holyoke-Springfield area, that it hire a "Pathways and Public Schools
Partnerships Coordinator" responsible for forging formal relationships with
local schools at all levels, and that it expand access to its athletic
facilities to local schools and community groups. 

 B) Fund Recruitment and Retention for Student Success Centers:
Undergraduate Level
Students have proposed that the University provide resources to expand ALANA
support programs (to include a new office for students of Middle Eastern
descent), restore the total operating budget of the  Everywoman's Center,
the Stonewall Center, Disability Services and the ALANA support programs to
their 2001 levels, adjusted for inflation, and to provide those centers with
increased staff.

 C) Transparency and binding input into diversity funding: Graduate Level
Students have proposed that the University allocate $500,000 each year for
Graduate Diversity Fellowships for graduate students of color  and
first-generation students, fund a "pipeline project" to work with
institutions of higher education in Springfield, Holyoke, and Franklin
County to recruit more graduate students from these areas with the goal of
contributing to the revitalization of these areas by training home-grown
public sector professionals, and establish campus-wide benchmarks for
diversity.

D) State Funding for Outreach
Students have proposed that the University work with student  organizations
to lobby the state legislature for a line item in the state budget for
outreach and retention programs.  (A line item funds a program directly
rather than leaving the funding decisions to the administration;
Commonwealth College is one program that already has line-item funding.)

E) Diversity Advisory Council 
Students have proposed the establishment of an advisory council to assist in
planning and assessing diversity and inclusion goals, policies and programs
and determine ways to create a welcoming campus environment. The council
will create an annual report with binding recommendations and will be half
students, a quarter staff, and a quarter faculty. 

3) DEMILITARIZE CAMPUS: UMASS POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE STUDENT CODE OF
CONDUCT

The UMass Police Department (UMPD) conducts illegal entry into
residences--our dorms--on a regular basis. We are NOT talking about the
uniformed officers and cadets stationed in the lobbies at night; we are
talking about the patrols and plainclothes officers that travel through the
halls without warrants.  Unwarranted entry into a residence to conduct
policing violates the Constitution of the United States as well as state and
federal law.

The negotiating team's proposals address several issues.  To make the UMPD
more accountable to the entire University, they recommend that jurisdiction
shift from the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life to the Office of
Administration and Finance (as is the case on many campuses with full police
departments), and that a Community Advisory Board, with a student majority
and representation from staff, faculty, administration, and the Amherst
community, be created to oversee the UMPD.  To ensure a preservation of
students' privacy and Constitutional rights, the team proposes that the
administration issue a policy explicitly recognizing hallways as part of
residential space limited to residents and their guests and a memorandum to
all residence staff requiring compliance with the Residence Life Policy rule
protecting students' residences from unwarranted searches.  The team has
proposed that the appeals process be reinstated for students charged with
Level 1 (very minor) offenses, that the UMPD make its formal complaint
system simpler and more accessible, and that the Picketing Code, which
allows official academic penalties against individuals in response to
political action and speech, be revoked. 

4) STUDENT CONTROL OVER STUDENT SPACE

The University has taken undue control of the Student Union and Campus
Center, charging fees for use of space and equipment, denying use of space
to student organizations, and impeding student organizations' ability to
serve any food not bought from Campus Center/Auxiliary Services catering. 

Additionally, the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life has proposed
requiring all first-year students to live in first-year-only dorms
converting Southwest and Orchard Hill into permanent all-first-year housing,
threatening to uproot residential communities and restrict options of all
students wishing to live in themed communities or simply the same dorm as
last year.

On the Campus Center/Student Union issues, the negotiating team has proposed
that Auxiliary Services rescind all fees for student organizations' use of
Campus Center/Student Union space and equipment, that the administration
officially recognize the Campus Center/Student Union  Commission's (CCSUC)
authority to administratively oversee the Campus Center and Student Union
Building (allocating space, etc.), grant CCSUC control over Campus Center
Catering prices and the authority to  provide alternative catering options
for student organizations, and issue a policy granting priority to student
organizations for use of the CC/SU.

On the housing issue, the negotiating team has proposed the reversal of
mandatory first-year-only housing --  first-year-only floors should be
optional. They should not displace legacy floors or entire living areas. 
 


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