The Graduate Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2110 (GWC-UAW) Organizing Committee stands in solidarity with students from all schools at Columbia participating in the tuition strike organized by the Columbia-Barnard chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America. Columbia\u2019s administration has demonstrated a flagrant disregard for initiatives democratically supported within the community, including:<\/p>\n
Students demonstrating against the injustice of exorbitant tuition rates since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2019;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Academic student-workers in GWC-UAW demanding fair wages, healthcare, international student workers\u00a0protections, access to grievance and arbitration for discrimination and harassment, union shop, and union recognition for masters and undergraduate student-workers;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Mobilized African Diaspora and its nearly 1,500 supporters calling for the University to address its own role in upholding racist policing practices, damaging local communities, and inadequately supporting Black students;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Almost a thousand students, faculty, and alums\u00a0signing on in support of full divestment from fossil fuels last semester, along with referendums at Barnard and Columbia College in which students voted overwhelmingly to divest from companies involved in Israeli human rights violations.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The administration\u2019s unilateral, anti-democratic decision-making process has perpetuated the injustices in our community, despite the fact that the University possesses ample resources to confront them with structural solutions. In light of these widely felt grievances and the administration’s inaction, GWC-UAW Organizing Committee supports the tuition strike demands, which are as follows:<\/p>\n
We also demand that this reduction and increased aid should not come at the expense of instructor or worker pay, but rather at the expense of bloated administrative salaries, expansion projects, and other expenses that don\u2019t benefit students and workers.<\/li>\n
We wholeheartedly support and stand with YDSA and their tuition strike pledge signatories as they make these demands. We encourage Columbia students to\u00a0sign onto the pledge<\/a>\u00a0to commit to withhold their tuition if they are able to. The pledge also offers ways to get involved (other than striking tuition) to support these demands. In particular, their\u00a0day of action<\/a>\u00a0on Monday, December 7 is a great way to show support.<\/p>\n