Yale TA strike and actions

[Scott Marshall <Scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

**120 arrested in civil disobedience at Yale**

(Reprinted from the January 13, 1996 issue of the People's
Weekly World. Maybe reprinted or reposted with PWW credit.
For subscription information see below)

By Joelle Fishman

NEW HAVEN -- About 120 people were arrested at Yale
University Jan. 10 for blocking a street in a show of civil
disobedience over the university's treatment of graduate
students.

The arrests followed a rally outside the Hall of Graduate
Studies by about 1,000 graduate students, faculty and other
supporters to protest disciplinary action against three
teaching assistants charged with withholding the grades of
undergraduates.

"Yale University no longer stands for education, but only
for profit, intimidation and injustice," Local 35 Service
and Maintenance Workers Union President Bob Proto told the
crowd. The noontime rally was protesting disciplinary
hearings of graduate student teachers who have refused to
turn in grades until the university recognizes their union.

"If Yale is willing to treat their teachers with total
disrespect and expel them, think of what they are going to
do to workers at the bargaining units across campus day-to-
day," Proto said. "If Yale does not negotiate contracts in
good faith, we will shut this university down."

The struggles for academic freedom and elementary labor
rights have been joined together in this groundbreaking
effort by Yale graduate student teachers to win union
recognition. Their battle with this elite Ivy League
university, training ground for many of the country's top
corporate and government leaders, is gaining national
support.

The graduate student teachers have been seeking union
recognition for several years. Their organization, the
Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO), is a
sister local of Locals 34 and 35 of the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Employees that represents service, maintenance,
clerical and technical workers.

In their current contract negotiations which expire Jan. 22,
Locals 34 and 35 have made a priority of supporting GESO's
demand for recognition, along with winning job security,
union representation for casual workers, preserving and
improving benefits, and stopping two-tier wage and benefit
schemes. GESO, along with union recognition, is seeking
improvements in poverty-level wages and inadequate benefits.

After the university repeatedly refused to enter into
negotiations with GESO, more than 200 graduate teachers
withheld fall semester grades, which were due on Jan. 2.
Those in the Department of French received a letter in mid-
December stating that "failure to perform any aspect of a
graduate teaching assignment ... could legitimately be taken
into account in faculty evaluations of a student's aptitude
for an eventual academic career."

On Wednesday, the University began disciplinary hearings
under the auspices of the Graduate School Committee on
Regulations and Discipline. The hearings could lead to
serious sanctions up to and including expulsion from the
graduate program at Yale.

The first three students, two of whom could be deported
because they hold foreign student visas, are being
represented by a team of professors of law from the Harvard,
Yale and Northeastern law schools.

Faculty and organizations nationwide have condemned Yale for
invoking these hearings and singling out the union's
leadership for severe punishment. Two of the most
prestigious academic organizations in the country, the
American Historical Association and the Modern Language
Association have recently issued statements supporting the
right of graduate teachers to participate in the grade
strike without fear of academic discipline or reprisals.

Messages are should be sent to Yale President Richard Levin,
FAX (203) 432-7105, VOICE (203) 432-2550, E-MAIL:
richard.levin@xxxxxxxxx Please forward copies to the union
office FAX (203) 776-6438.
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