Please see the below communiqué put out by Democracy Insurgent, responding to President Emmert's letter to the student body about increased privatization.
Their Privatization, Our Exploitation
A response to UW President Mark Emmert’s
“ Addressing the Latest State Revenue Shortfall”
On Thursday, November 19th 2009, the University of Washington
community received an email from University of Washington President Mark
Emmert, concerning continuing budget cuts from Olympia. His email was titled
“Addressing the Latest State Revenue Shortfall,” but it could just as well have
been titled: “Justification for the Long Term Privatization at the University of
Washington.” In the letter, President Emmert acknowledged that the 26% cut in
the University’s operating budget, as well as the 28% tuition increase over 2
years, were “trends” that were “very likely to continue.” Given that the revenue
generated from our tuition contributes more to the operation of our university
than state investment, President Emmert offered sage advice to help the
university acclimate to long-term privatization.
His advice, laden with bureaucratic language to mystify and distract
readers, is meant to be read as a success story of clever budgeting at this “turning
point” for the University. However, his words are as illuminating as they are
dishonest. His claims that the university is “among the most efficient in the
nation in producing bachelor’s degree graduates despite being among the most
poorly funded” ignores some ugly realities. Those that ensure this efficiency—
overstretched TAs, graders, visiting lecturers, and other members of the
University’s academic support staff—continue to face layoffs, speed up in the
work place, and pressure to assess students based upon quantity in the class
rather than quality of work. Increasingly so, UW’s graduation rate is dependent
upon the work of its graduate student labor, much of which goes
unpaid/underpaid. Graduate student workers are expected to undertake
unrealistic workloads, turning us into overworked, underpaid cogs in a factory
that chugs out future laborers, who pay more for less of an education. Yet, this
exploitation is disguised in euphemisms, what Emmert calls “efficiency” and
“expedience.”
His advice also ignores the serious burden that increased tuition is causing
for those of us who work our way through school as first generation college
students. Especially for many students of color, higher tuition means we will have
even less access to higher education which means we will have even less of a
chance at getting living wage jobs in this cutthroat economy. After all, we are
often the last ones hired and the first ones fired. But these cuts affect anyone
who didn’t have our education handed to us on a silver platter: if Emmert has his
way many of us will become LAST generation college students. If we do slog our
way through an increasingly expensive UW education we will be strapped for the
rest of our lives with subprime student loans.
Privatization means that over the long haul “unprofitable” programs like
ethnic studies, gender studies, and disabilities studies could face further cuts. Our
peoples fought hard and occupied buildings to demand these programs at UW
and we won’t sit by idly if taking them away ends up to be part of Emmert’s
definition of efficiency. We will not sit idly by as UW becomes even more elite,
even more whitewashed, and even more cut off from our communities and
neighborhoods.
Further, Emmert seeks “greater management and business process
flexibility:” He writes that, “there are numerous examples of millions of dollars
that can be saved in operating our University if we had more flexibility over
business processes and had to spend less money complying with a number of
regulations in the way we operate basic management systems and processes.”
This erosion of “basic management systems,” which in turn decreases levels of
accountability the University is mandated to adhere to, has also fed into the
continuing oppression of workers at the university within their workplaces.
Privatization of labor and union busting have been features of the University of
Washington workplace, taking the form of layoffs, shift elimination, speed up and
site reassignment. This is visible in the Facilities department of UW. Since last
year, members of UW’s custodial and trades staff, many of whom are immigrants
and people of color, have faced discrimination and retaliation in the workplace for
attempting to organize around issues of workplace safety and job security. These
racist attacks on workers go unhindered at the hands of Facilities management
and unnoticed under the auspices of the University administration. It comes as
no surprise, then, that Emmert seeks greater flexibility in turning the school into a
private corporation and further oppresses UW’s labor in an effort to streamline
this operation.
While some may read Emmert’s email as prudent advice for bleak
recessionary times, we read it as justification for the privatization of the
university, and continued exploitation of students and workers. The injustice of
these decisions are made more blatant when we realize that none of the top
administrators have taken pay cuts. While President Emmert enjoys his million
dollar paycheck, and mansion that is paid for by the UW community, those who
are most lowly paid, such as custodians, are laid off and forced to take on extra
work. It is unbelievable that these drastic decisions are made by the President,
along with the Board of Regents, neither of whom are elected by the UW
community or the people of Washington. We have long called for UW to be a
truly public and democratic institution—a resource and gathering center for the
entire city and state, an educational and intellectual community run by and for
those who have built this university through our labor, where members of this
community democratically decide the policies of the University. We refuse to let
individuals who cannot afford the criminal cost of education, including students of
color and immigrants, be denied entry into our institution, even as their parents
and siblings continue to slave as workers in its halls. We see Emmert’s latest
communication as a blueprint for preplanned and sustained privatization, and it
sickens us.
But we have not faced these injustices without a fight. Students, workers
and community members have directly combated privatization at UW. On May
28th and June 11th 2009, we rallied to ensure that swing shift positions slated for
elimination were retained for custodial staff facing layoffs and speed up. On
October 30, 2009, custodians and students successfully held a memorial for
former custodian In Soo Chun. His self-immolation in front of Emmert’s office last
year was likely politically motivated but the university administration and media
dismissed it as simply a product of mental illness. TAs and other graduate student
labor have been organizing within our ranks, finding other graduate workers who
have tired of the isolation and low pay that menial intellectual labor prescribes.
Meanwhile, we have begun to link up with the larger Seattle community to
demand jobs for unemployed youth of color in the working class neighborhoods
where some of us live, work, or search in vain for work.
We are not alone. On September 24 and November 18, students, faculty
and staff at University of California campuses went on strike against a proposed
32% tuition hike. Images of students being arrested and beaten by police as they
spoke out against tuition hikes and educational budget cuts horrified the public,
yet inspired other fighters on similarly affected campuses. TAs at the University of
Illinois in Urbana Champaign followed the next day, occupying buildings and
holding massive rallies in a two-day strike fighting for tuition waivers that their
administration tried to eliminate. On October 22, students at the University of
Vienna occupied their university, calling for an end to state disinvestment in
public education and later rallying at the US Embassy in solidarity with the
California students. The reality of the situation is that the struggle against
privatization is both national and global, and the UW must join the fight.
We need to collectively build a movement that brings together student and
workers struggles. Democracy Insurgent continues to organize in multiple labor
sectors on campus, learning from struggles taking place around the world today.
We are inspired by University of California, as we are by the Third World student
strikes and anti-war movement of the past. We are growing larger, stronger, and
smarter each coming day. Yet, we cannot do it alone. As the year continues, it is
necessary that other members of the community stand up against these budget
cuts, against union busting, and against the privatization of public education. We
must all come together to demand a truly public university.
Democracy Insurgent is a majority people of color activist group animated by principles of
democracy, anti-racism, anti-imperialism, queer liberation, Third World Feminism, and workers'
power. We are based in the University of Washington.
Find out more about our actions against budget cuts at:
www.nobudgetcutsuw.blogspot.com, , www.democracyinsurgent.org
Contact us at d.insurg@gmail.com
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