NEWS & EVENTS (BenOrtiz.com)
[photo courtesy of CCCTU.com]
HEADLINES:
"City Colleges students urged not to attend classes during strike" --Chicago Sun-Times, 10/22/04
"All seven of the City Colleges of Chicago are open" --City Colleges of Chicago Web Page
"Why are you telling the news and everybody that the school is open when I come to classes and there's nobody?!?" --A student confronting Chancellor Wayne Watson (qtd. on Telemundo news)
MEDIA COVERAGE:
The Sun-Times article mentioned above had some solid information, as excerpted here:
BY DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter -- City Colleges campuses where faculty are on strike are a "war zone'' and students ought to defy the chancellor and steer clear of classes, the president of the student government said Thursday. Student leader William Steward had called a rally at 1900 W. Harrison that he originally said was not to support either the administration or the faculty in the three-day-old strike but was meant to put student concerns first. But the scene quickly hit the boiling point as students in support of striking faculty at Malcolm X College crossed the Eisenhower Expy. and began demanding the student government officially back the teachers. ... Steward criticized campus administration for claiming things were normal at the schools and urging students to cross picket lines when many classes had been canceled or were virtually empty. ... "We were told things would go per normal,'' he said. "It's not normal to go to class with two to three students.'' ... Steward's declaration was a blow to the administration's attempts to keep the schools open during the strike by 750 faculty and staff. ... Steward, who before the rally -- which attracted at least 100 people -- had declined to take an official position in the strike, later said his government was now officially behind the faculty. "The students have spoken,'' he said. "Ninety percent of students support the faculty.'' ...
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As far as the administration's claim that we're stalling negotiations, the Chicago Tribune also ran a piece today that had a prominently placed quote from Cook County College Teachers Union (CCCTU) President Perry Buckley, regarding a proposed return to the negotiating table for this Wednesday:
"The alternate [federal] mediator is willing to come in earlier; and we have said that we are willing to meet earlier."
As noted in the Sun-Times article above, the Colleges Student Government Association (SGA) stands in support of the teachers. Here's a quote from a Truman SGA flyer:
"[SGA] and the student leaders of the organizations of Truman campus are calling on all students to demand an immediate refund of tuition paid for each day of school afected by this instance of gross mismanagement. ... School must begin in a normal mode by Monday, October 25, or the students will mobilize to protect their own interests."
RALLY TOMORROW:
9:30am, Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren
The mayor will be there...
IN CONCLUSION:
The pickets today at Truman were thin, but I heaved a sigh of relief over all of the above developments. We are winning. The damage has been done for and by administration, as they continue to dig a grave with abjectly disgraceful tactics. I just hope they don't pull students and everyone else into the hole with them.
I'm still trying to keep a high opinion of Truman's President, even though I received a divisive, misleading letter from her office today in the mail. I'm sure the district office downtown ghost-wrote it for her. I'm mailing it back and applying for reimbursement on the postage when this darn thing ends...
Posted by Benjamin at October 22, 2004 02:26 PMThanks for posting, Mark Walker.
You said:
>>>How is it educators can put at risk the education of young people...
Such is not the point of this strike. In fact, many of my students clearly see that this is not about ruining, nay, it's in fact about strengthening the quality of their education. That's why I've seen so many of them picketing.
You also said:
>>>by refusing to teach the classes they both explicitly and implicitly contracted with these students to teach?
It's strange that you mention "contracted" without reference to the fact that teachers have been without a contract since August, and that we tried to have negotiations before a strike starting in April. We've made every attempt to negotiate a contract prior to the strike. That's a legally binding contract.
>>>How many of these students are on the edge of being able to attend at all?
You really dont have to inform Truman college teachers of student situations. We know. I see students every semester who struggle to pay for books, which is why I try to streamline every chance I get. As far as my classes, they'll continue right where they left off before the strike.
>>>How many will now be shutout of a college education because of this union action?
None. Maybe I don't see your point here.
>>>Life might be tough for these educators these days, but you were able to obtain your college education.
Personally, I went to Loyola on scholarship. But you should not have to pay private school prices to get a quality education. That's in part why we're drawing the line on class size. Luckily, I didn't have to pay big tuition to be one name/number in a huge lecture hall.
>>>Rather than siding with these striking educators, the students should be bringing a class action suit against the union members for violating the contracts established when classes were undertaken this semester.
You'd really be going after the wrong target on this one, but I'm ready to see if any students bite at your suggestion.
>>>A commitment was offered to these students. It is unjust to use them now as a bargaining lever.
We're simply not using them as a bargaining lever. The Union does not have the resources that the Colleges are using (via student tuition) to reach their captive audience, and I surely did not use my classes as a pulpit for the Union side.
I hope you can come by the picket line and maybe throw these suggestions around with those students who rightly side with their teachers over and against a fairly ruthless and progressively dirty-dealing admin.
Posted by: ORTIZ at October 26, 2004 06:31 PMHow is it educators can put at risk the education of young people, probably struggling to attend community college, by refusing to teach the classes they both explicitly and implicitly contracted with these students to teach? How many of these students are on the edge of being able to attend at all? How many will now be shutout of a college education because of this union action? Life might be tough for these educators these days, but you were able to obtain your college education. How dare you put these others at risk!
Rather than siding with these striking educators, the students should be bringing a class action suit against the union members for violating the contracts established when classes were undertaken this semester. (see http://web.mit.edu/tll/published/contracts.htm for examples.)
A commitment was offered to these students. It is unjust to use them now as a bargaining lever.