Colleagues,
As Labor Day approaches, and we continue to face heightened racial, social, and economic injustice nationwide, I’d like to take a moment to share with you opportunities for you to join in actions for racial and social justice.
In response to incidents of police racial violence, Dr. Anthea Butler (University of Pennsylvania), and Kevin Gannon (Grandview University) started #ScholarStrike, asking faculty and staff across the nation to stand in solidarity with our students and the communities we serve. More specifically they are calling for the following:
“To that end, we propose a general strike (for those who are working Union contracts, working to the clock) for 48 hours, to take place immediately after Labor Day, on September 8 – 9. We believe that it is long past time for us to make a collective stand against police violence (particularly against communities of color) in the United States. We will refrain from teaching and all administrative duties for this entire 48 hour period. We will use this time as a public teach-in about police brutality and violence in our communities from both historical and contemporary perspectives.”
UUP encourages members to stand in solidarity with the #ScholarStrike. You can show solidarity in a number of ways, including:
1. Facilitating and participating in public teach-ins about police racial violence. To sign on to the #ScholarStrike teach-in click here. For teach-in resources check out our Fighting Racial Injustice webpage located here.
2. Having a virtual presence and focusing your posts on educating your followers on the history and facts of racial and social injustice. Resources to show solidarity for #ScholarStrike will be available on our Fighting Racial Injustice webpage located here.
3. Labor Day Pledge: Many of our members will be working on September 7, Labor Day and we have the opportunity to use this day as a call for social, economic and racial justice by beginning these teach-ins right away. If you plan to conduct a teach-in or join us and share UUP’s call for action in support of #ScholarStrike – sign on here.
At the same time, we are building on the resolution passed by the Executive Board earlier this summer calling for racial, social, economic and environmental justice by working with our allies to advocate for necessary changes in the healthcare system, urgently addressing the climate crisis, and calling for the immediate addressing of structural racism throughout our society.
This work is being done at the chapter level and with our coalition partnerships. We are encouraging and supporting member involvement with local-level actions to bring about required police reform. Also, UUP has committed a substantial amount of union resources for inclusivity training for members, their families and communities that host SUNY campuses. UUP members of the statewide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee have taken on the work to identify the best training available and to identify a plan for implementation within our campuses and communities. It is important to note that this committee is also working to expand the number of chapter-level Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committees, which is another great way to get involved at the chapter level.
We are partnering with NY Renews on their efforts to mitigate environmental injustice. We continue to work closely with the Labor Religion coalition on public higher education and more recently health care. We are also in the preliminary stages of developing a training that will take place in October for our coalition partners and members on social justice issues and political organizing.
I am excited to be sharing so many opportunities for our collective fight for a more just and equitable society. We are working to develop a Social Justice webpage to house the information of all the work we are continuously pursuing on these fronts.
In these turbulent times, the opportunities to make change are all around us. UUP has been and continues to be at the forefront of these struggles — in substantial and significant ways. Words will not be enough. Symbolic actions will not be enough. To build a just society, to bend the moral arc of the universe, takes hard, often times, unrewarding work. But it is the only way that change will come and be permanent.
I look forward to working with you on these efforts. Stay in touch and please stay well…
In Solidarity,
Fred Kowal
UUP Statewide President