RESOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH GRADUATE ORGANIZATION OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY IN SUPPORT OF GSOC/UAW 2110, the union of graduate student employees at New York University.


WHEREAS, the English Graduate Organization of Syracuse University is organized to provide
an inclusive, public and democratic space in which to advocate for the interests of all Syracuse English graduate students, AND

WHEREAS, it is in the interest of the English Graduate Organization of Syracuse University to
protect graduate student rights, to advocate for improved material conditions for graduate
students, to seek to uphold and protect academic freedom, to advocate for fair labor standards that do not impede rigorous graduate education, AND

WHEREAS, the above named principles, conditions, an practices lead to strong graduate
education, collegial academic departments with high morale, and improved
undergraduate education by graduate student instructors, AND

WHEREAS, GSOC/UAW 2110 has gone on strike to defend these same principles and values
and in so doing seeks to protect graduate student employee interests through a legally binding collective bargaining agreement New York University, an institution that depends on graduate student labor, AND

WHEREAS, the efforts of the administration of New York University to defeat the graduate
student union and retaliate against those who have initiated and sustained the current strike defies all protocols of civility and fairness and heralds a bellicose approach to the union and its demands for fair wages, decent health care, and provisional job security, AND

WHEREAS, the requests made by the administration of New York University upon its faculty
represent an unprecedented and dangerous infringement on departmental autonomy, AND

WHEREAS, the administration of New York University utilized information technology
such as Blackboard to engage in electronic surveillance reportedly in order to gain information about teaching staff and the status of their courses during the strike, and that the seizure of access to the communication between teaching staff and their registered students is in deepest violation of academic freedom, AND

WHEREAS, President Sexton of New York University on 28 November 2005 threatened to
rescind the Spring 2006 stipend support of striking graduate students who do not return to
the duties of their assistantships by 5 December 2005, also that such students would return to work under the proviso that striking again would disqualify them from two semesters of teaching and stipend support. AND

WHEREAS, such draconian policies and threats violate the principles of the university, violating the academic
freedom of students who have chosen to strike according to good conscience

IT IS RESOLVED that the English Graduate Organization of Syracuse University approves the actions of, and expresses solidarity with, the graduate student employees of New York University now on strike and refusing to teach, grade, advise, or perform any other duties associated with their assistantships.

*In solidarity with other groups, parts of the above were copied from written statements in support of the NYU TA's posted on www.facultydemocracy.org

PASSED 10 December 2005