Fire

ON GOING WAVE OF FIRE INSPECTIONS

By Stephen Wilson

 

" I recall that an acquaintance of mine had just

signed away a lucrative deal where he had

reached an agreement to sell property to a

French firm. He was very happy with the contract because his company would get a

million dollars from this sale. Then one day,

after working in the office all night he stubbed

out his cigarette in a bin . Then he went home.

Later , the whole office went up in flames and

was burnt to ashes. He had to phone up the

French company and inform the deal was off

because there was no longer an office to sell".

Mikhail, a former student of mine who works in

a public relations company told me of this story. We were discussing how a fire could be

sparked off by even the most marginal and

improbable possibilities. You can never be too

sure. This story sprung to mind while I noticed

an increase in notices around block of flats

warning tenants not to violate fire and safety

regulations by blocking emergency exits with

equipment or construction material. Over

the past three weeks, following a dreadful

fire disaster at Kemerovo on March 25, where

an estimated 64 people died , {41 children and

23 adults } , a wave of fire inspections have

been carried out. The move had been ordered

by the General Prosecutor's office. Oksana

Chebotareva ,while entering the doorway asked the caretaker on duty whether the

fire inspector had visited. Local tenants had

been warned not to obstruct or lock fire exits.

Sure enough , an inspection took place.

 

The tragedy at Kemerovo,where 64 victims died

when a mall caught fire shook the whole nation. Shortly after the disaster local people

gathered in the town square to demand answers to many questions such as : Why were many fire exits locked? , Why did it take

so long for the fire brigade to arrive ? Why

was the action of the emergency services so

inept and even casual? What are the real

number of victims ? The callous reaction of

local politicians only further angered local

people . When a man , who had lost his wife,

sister and three children complained to a

politician, he was told : "Stop making PR

out of your grief ! " An indication of an

almost unbridgeable gulf between local

people and politicians is the fact that locals

presume those in authority tell lies. They are

predictable liars. The answers which emerged

from some of those questions were hardly

reassuring . The truth is beyond consolation.

The fire emergency exits to the cinema where

the fire broke out were kept locked to prevent

children sneaking into the cinema without paying. So making money was put above

the health and safety of residents. A lot of

the fire equipment and alarms did not even

go off. In addition, a moratorium on fire

and safety inspections on small businesses

had been signed by President Putin in 2015

as a measure to cut red tape which was

strangling the growth of big business. It was

possibly implemented to contain the corruption

of fire inspectors who turn a blind eye to

malls violating fire and safety regulations.

While this can not be cited as a direct cause

of negligence it may well have been

misconstrued as giving a green light to

overlooking safety in favor of profits. What

is more crucial is not if or how many inspections are carried out but the quality

of such inspections. Are the inspectors

more interested in money or genuinely

concerned about the safety of people?

To most locals who gathered to protest

in Kemerovo it sounds like the former.

Corruption and unchecked commercial

construction companies who use cheap,

shoddy and inflammable material kills.

 

Malls are not the only potential death traps

here . Just casually walk around Moscow

and you will notice that many exits in the

building are locked or sealed . The windows

of homes are often covered by railings. They

keep thieves but potential fires in . For

some reason , people often imagine that

evil, instead of lurking from within , comes

from outside. So the best way to protect

yourself from evil is to turn your apartment

into a fortress. The only problem is that

you yourself might not be able to get out

during a fire. Most domestic violence comes

from within the home and not from maniacs

distantly out there. However, it is more

comforting and flattering to pin point evil

in a precise geographical location. During

the Middle-ages, hell could be found in a

conveniently colorful location on world maps.

 

Not all businesses are casual when it comes

to fire and safety regulations. Just drop into

some Oil companies in Moscow and you

find notices are everywhere informing sfaff

about what to do during a fire and how to

respond. At the offices of Mail Ru, which are

located in a bustling and noisy motorway near

central Moscow , at around 8 .30 a.m. the

security men are all lined up and given a daily

lesson about how to respond to an out break

of fire , a terrorist threat or medical problem.

The chief of security does not just offer a lecture but meticulously questions his men

as to whether they know how to react and

respond. Nothing is taken for granted. It is

a pity that this same procedure is not used

by staff at all offices and malls through Russia

and in deed, in Britain.

 

Anti-Teacher Counter Attack

Group Beloved by Betsy Devos and Koch Brothers Launches Counter-Attack Against Teacher Rebellion

Friday, April 13, 2018By Julia Conley, Common Dreams | Report

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Teachers continue their strike at the state capitol on April 9, 2018, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo: J Pat Carter / Getty Images)

A right-wing coalition, which has received funding from both the Koch brothers and the billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is launching an aggressive attack on the tens of thousands of teachers and education supporters who have been demanding increased school funding and teacher salaries in recent weeks.

As the Guardian reports, the State Policy Network (SPN) is distributing a guide to anti-labor activists across the nation, with the aim of helping them to discredit the protests that teachers have been organizing in Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arizona.

Such demonstrations, SPN argues in the guide, "hurt kids and low-income families" because they keep students out of schools and can force parents to miss work.

Even the right-wing editorial board of The Washington Post recognizes that it is Republican governments slashing education funding -- not striking teachers -- that is harming to students in the long run.

"What the teachers are protesting also hurts children -- that is, a long-running and systemic disinvestment in public education," wrote the editorial board. "Responsibility therefore lies with the governors and legislatures in these red states who have allowed teacher salaries to get so low."

Notably, while arguing against the protests, SPN also admits that teachers are in fact underpaid, and cautions against portraying educators as ungrateful, as Oklahoma's Republican Governor Mary Fallin suggested last week when she compared the state's teachers -- who have gone a decade without a pay increase -- to "a teenage kid that wants a better car" after they rejected a $6,100 raise and a $50 million education funding package.

"A message that focuses on teacher hours or summer vacations will sound tone-deaf when there are dozens of videos and social media posts going viral from teachers about their second jobs, teachers having to rely on food pantries, classroom books that are falling apart, paper rationing, etc.," reads the memo.

"It's fascinating that even Koch-funded conservatives recognize that there's huge public support for public education and for treating teachers with respect," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the Guardian.

Teachers have stressed that they are fighting for their students' right to a high quality education as well as higher pay for themselves. In Oklahoma, some school districts have moved to four-day weeks to cut costs, while many students have struggled to learn with outdated textbooks and school supply shortages.

The fight for teacher raises has also been waged with children as well as adults in mind. Low salaries have kept qualified Americans from entering the education profession, with teacher training programs reporting a 20 to 53 percent drop in enrollment in recent years. Many teachers have also been forced to leave states where pay is lowest -- leaving school districts to lower their hiring standards.

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Okie teachers rally at Capitol: "Please Don't Make Me Move... To Texas." http://newsok.com/gallery/6030021/pictures/2390517 … #NewsOK

11:49 AM - Mar 31, 2014

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Countering SPN's vision of children suffering through their teachers' protests, many students have joined their teachers in fighting for increased funding across the education system.

"We're not just here for teacher pay raises," high school sophomore Cameron Olbert told a crowd at Oklahoma's State Capitol earlier this month. "We're here for support staff, for art and music programs that have been decimated over the past decade. We’re here for chairs that don't break when we sit in them. We're here for luxuries and opportunities that other states get to take for granted."

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JULIA CONLEY

Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

US Corporal Punishment

Corporal Punishment Lives On: Students Nationwide Are Being Paddled, Restrained

Monday, April 09, 2018By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout | News Analysis

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(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)

Immediately following the massive student walkout to protest gun violence on March 14, I was stunned to read an article about three students who had been paddled -- literally smacked on the backside with a wooden bat -- for participating in the protest. All three were enrolled in a public high school in Greenbrier, Arkansas, and according to the brief news account, they had "chosen" this punishment over in-school suspension so that they would not miss class or lose eligibility to participate in team sports.

Nineteen states explicitly allow a teacher, principal or other school staffer to penalize students with physical force.

Can this be legal, I wondered?

Turns out that the answer is yes, at least in the 19 states that explicitly allow a teacher, principal or other school staffer to penalize students with physical force. These states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming -- say that physical punishment is a tried-and-true technique to maintain order and discipline in the public schools.

However, this does not tell the full story since even though 31 states have ostensibly outlawed corporal punishment, the federal Department of Education allows school authorities to use "physical restraint or seclusion in situations where a child's behavior poses an imminent danger of serious physical harm to self or others."

Eighty-six percent of those subjected to physical punishments have disabilities.

This vague statement has allowed physical force -- or in some cases placing a child in seclusion for an unspecified period of time -- to be used in every nook and cranny of our nation. Susan Mizner, director of the Disability Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Truthout that while "manhandling" takes place everywhere, it is not evenly distributed among students. Indeed, according to Mizner, the most recent information compiled by the Department of Education's (DOE) Civil Rights Data Collection showed that 86 percent of those subjected to physical punishments have disabilities even though students with disabilities -- whether in special education or mainstream classes -- make up just 12 percent of the total enrolled. In addition, most of those who are corporally punished are children of color.

But even this disturbing figure is highly inaccurate, Mizner explains. Using California as an example, she says that the most recent statistics, from the 2013-2014 academic year, report 3,475 cases of physical restraint or punishment in the "Golden State's" public schools. "The problem is that California has close to 100 programs called 'non-public schools.' These are for disabled kids that the regular public schools don't want in their classrooms," she adds.

According to the California Department of Education, non-public schools are publicly funded and provide services to children who are "struggling academically, behaviorally, and socially." Most are affiliated with group homes and are geared to children in foster care. Oversight, Mizner says, is spotty, with the state's department of education simply recommending that "social workers review the records of youth enrolled in non-public schools to ensure youth are appropriately enrolled" before the start of each academic year.

"We know that restraint is frequent in non-public schools, kindergarten to grade 12," but, inexplicably, the Department of Education does not have a way to collect data from them, Mizner adds. "This means that the restraint figures that we've been given are just the tip of the iceberg."

Worse, no one knows if these off-the-grid programs exist in other states since reporting by "non-public schools" is not required by the federal Department of Education.

This grey area aside, Mizner and other advocates emphasize that corporal punishment does not improve behavior and is instead traumatizing to students, turning classrooms from safe sites where scholarship and inquiry can flourish into places full of danger and fear. This finding has been repeatedly corroborated by psychologists and child welfare advocates including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children's Defense Fund, the National PTA and the Society for Research in Child Development. Nonetheless, resistance to ending the practice is fierce, with an estimated 75 percent of parents believing that hitting a child is a necessary corrective for "bad" behavior.

These parents typically rationalize the use of corporal punishment by citing two biblical passages: Proverbs 13:24 which warns that "Whoever spares the rod hates his (sic) son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him," and Proverbs 22:15, which states that "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it from him."

Punishment Versus Discipline

There is a big difference between punishment and discipline, Gestalt psychotherapist and trauma specialist Janice Hassan, who was herself hit as a child, told Truthout. "Discipline is about teaching the child about right and wrong," she says. "Punishment involves power over someone, and while the victim may appease the authority in the short term, physical punishment usually does not change them in the long term."

Injuries include abrasions, bruises, broken bones, hematomas, hemorrhages, muscle injuries, pain and whiplash.

Donald E. Greydanus, professor of Pediatrics and Human Development at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, further outlined the potential damage caused by corporal punishment at a congressional briefing. Typical after-effects, he testified, can include depression, low self-esteem, magnified feelings of guilt, drug and alcohol abuse, and anxiety disorders. "The use of corporal punishment in the school environment falsely and perfidiously reinforces physical aggression as an acceptable and effective means of eliminating unwanted behavior in our society," he told federal lawmakers. "Our precious children should not be subjected to hitting, slapping, spanking, punching, kicking, shaking, shoving, choking, use of objects including wooden paddles, belts, sticks, electric shocks, excessive exercise drills, or prevention of stool or urine elimination."

Injuries, of course, can also be physical. These include abrasions, bruises, broken bones, hematomas, hemorrhages, muscle injuries, pain and whiplash -- conditions that sometimes require hospitalization.

And it is not only the victimized students who are harmed.

Maggie Moschell grew up in southwestern Ohio and graduated high school in 1974. More than 40 years later she still vividly recalls hearing "the crack of the board" as it hit her classmates. "We'd cringe in sympathy," she says. "I remember a boy who came back into the room grinning bravely as if it didn't matter, but there were tears in his eyes. I thought it was a terrible thing to do, but growing up in the 1960s and '70s, we somehow didn't question it."

Ending Corporal Punishment

Despite wide-scale support for physical punishment, many parents, student advocates and anti-violence activists have continued to push for the abolition of corporal punishment, especially when it is used to discipline disabled children. They have pointed out that children on the autism spectrum and those who are non-verbal often use behavior to communicate. In addition, instances in which students are punished for behaviors that are linked to their disabilities -- a child with Tourette's Syndrome shouting random words, for example -- have been widely condemned.

Current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has, to date, said nothing about corporal punishment, but her predecessor, John B. King Jr., took a different tack and urged all states to abandon it. "The very acts that are permissible when applied to children in schools under some state laws would be prohibited as criminal assault or battery when applied to adults in the community in these very same states," King wrote in a November 2016 letter to governors and school officers. "School-sponsored corporal punishment is not only ineffective, it is a harmful practice and one that disproportionately impacts students of color and students with disabilities. This practice has no place in the public schools of a modern nation ..."

Not surprisingly, the ACLU agrees. Lawsuits have been filed in states where students have suffered egregious harm at the hands of their teachers or school security. Several, says attorney Susan Mizner of the ACLU Disability Rights Program, involve the handcuffing of elementary school children. Until recently, she reports, district schools in Covington, Kentucky, used School Resource Officers -- employees of the Sheriff's office -- to maintain order. In one case, an 8-year-old boy who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was having a rough day and the Resource Officer was called. "The Officer had adult-sized handcuffs with him so he put these around the boy's biceps after the child tried to pull away from him," Mizner says. "He was so traumatized by this he had to leave the school district."

More than 50 countries around the world have banned corporal punishment.

In the second case, a 9-year-old girl was wandering the halls instead of waiting in the cafeteria as instructed. Mizner reports that she was put "in a seclusion room and would not calm down so they called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. When the EMTs arrived, they found her on the ground, in handcuffs, in a pain position." She also now attends a school in a different district.

Although litigation in both cases is ongoing, Mizner is pleased that law enforcement personnel have been removed from Covington's schools -- a small, but not insignificant, victory.

"These cases are very representative," Mizner says. "We know that restraint and referrals to law enforcement happen regularly to kids with and without disabilities. This tends to impact the youngest kids the most because they are often unable to articulate what happened and are less likely to fight back."

Improving Teacher Education

In addition to policy changes, what steps can be taken to banish corporal punishment from the classroom? Mizner says that teachers, especially those assigned to Special Education classrooms, need better training and support. "It's easy to demonize educators," she says, "and while some deserve this, many teachers have not been shown ways to react to a kid who is melting down." Learning the techniques to use when a student's behavior is escalating -- such as diverting his or her attention and disrupting whatever is causing the distress -- is essential. "There are many empathetic ways to help people disconnect from their emotions and get back on track," she says.

Taking police out of schools would also help curb physical punishment. However, more and more school districts are bringing police officers into the public schools, ACLU staff attorney Sarah Hinger, reports. "We know that in 2013, 24 percent of elementary schools and 42 percent of high schools had police stationed inside. We also know that 51 percent of schools that were majority African American or Latinx that year, had police on campus." Anecdotally, communities of color know that this has not only exacerbated the school-to-prison pipeline but has resulted in numerous Black and Brown students being tasered, pepper sprayed, put in choke holds, and battered with police batons. Unfortunately, Hinger says, an exact number of incidents is hard to come by since record keeping is inconsistent, in some places maintained by the school district and in others maintained by the police department.

For now, educating students and their families about their rights and discussing the negative impact of corporal punishment top the education agenda. "We need a huge cultural shift to help teachers, kids, and their families understand that corporal punishment does more harm than good and is counterproductive," the ACLU's Mizner says.

What's more, since more than 50 countries around the world have banned corporal punishment, advocates say that the US would be wise to follow their example.

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Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

ELEANOR J. BADER

Eleanor J. Bader teaches English at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. She is a 2015 winner of a Project Censored award for "outstanding investigative journalism" and a 2006 Independent Press Association award. The coauthor of Targets of Hatred: Anti-Abortion Terrorism, she presently contributes to Lilith, Rewire, Theasy.com and other progressive feminist blogs and print publications. 

HOD April Meeting

Teary Eyes & Budget Woes Mark HOD April Meeting
By Jim Vail

The Chicago Teachers Union celebrated a victory and admitted it has a big problem at the House of Delegates meeting Wednesday, April 4.

Once again the CTU President Karen Lewis was missing in action due to health problems.

The CTU political director Stacy Gates did her Academy Award number by shedding tears and saying thanks to the teachers for the great results from primary election day in which two CTU members were elected to political office - Brandon Johnson defeated a charter school lawyer and corporate lobbyist to be Cook County Commissioner, and Back of the Yards College Prep counselor Aaron Ortiz defeated machinist and the brother of Ald. Ed Burke to be State Rep, while the CTU's darling Jesus "Chuy" Garcia was elected to Congress to replace Guiterrez.

However, the celebration - Gates got a few delegates in the crowd to stand up and applaud their appreciation after her speech - was marred earlier when a delegate asked during the opening Q&A period about a $1.4 million loan the union made to the Chuy Garcia mayoral campaign. CTU VP Jesse Sharkey corrected him to say it was $1 million, and the PAC Committee which took the money is paying back the union $100,000 each year.

Sharkey told the delegates that the money was well spent to defeat Mayor Rahm Emanuel's agenda that closed 50 schools in 2013. He said 90 percent of union members said we need to defeat Rahm. At that time the Chicago Board of Education threatened to cut 7% of teachers' paychecks by stop paying into the pension fund. The union was able to stop this in the new contract, however the new teachers have no pension pickup.

Then the sledge hammer slammed down - Sharkey was missing the gavel which usually the president bangs down to start the House of Delegates meeting. 

"This will be an extremely difficult budget year," Sharkey said.

The problem is the teachers union did not envision the woes to pile up this year: 1) the upcoming US Supreme Court Janus decision in which members dues will no longer be automatically debited to the CTU, 2) the decline in students in CPS resulting in a 2% decline in teachers so less union dues, 3) one-time costs: the AFT conference $180,000, collective bargaining $450,000 for upcoming new contract negotiations.

The CTU trustees will meet to decide how much they should cut from their budget, and a budget will be presented at the next May HOD meeting, and then voted on in the June end of year HOD meeting.

The CTU recarding effort so that all its members will agree to deduct dues to pay the union has resulted in 17,479 cards resubmitted, but 6,852 members still need to be recarded or else the union could lose their dues monies for membership (roughly $1,000 per year for teachers).

A lot of new delegates joined the union, maybe 50 - 70 delegates stood up at the meeting to acknowledge it was their first meeting.

The union also acknowledged the new charter school delegates who just joined the CTU after the members ratified changes to the constitution which now allows the union to represent charter school teachers.

The CTU said after the Sun-Times ran an expose over the Spring Break about how dirty the CPS schools are, CPS inspected 100 schools and only 30 schools passed. The CTU has a cleanliness survey for its teachers.

Retired delegate Steven Livingston made a resolution motion during the New Business/Q&A period at the end of the meeting entitled Resolution Against U.S. Threats of War and Nuclear Annihilation on North Korea.

The resolution noted that the Trump Administration increased the military budget from 62% of the discretionary federal budget to 68%. That means less money for schools and health to help people, more money for bombs and drones to kill people.

VP Sharkey said once against a resolution made from the floor was out of order (so much for democracy) because it had to go to the human rights committee. Livingston said the human rights committee already rejected it, stating it wasn't focused on education. The delegates voted to support Sharkey's ruling and the motion was killed in the House based on a technicality. 

Which is exactly how local, state and federal governments work - the people's agenda to stop wars and increase health care get tabled based on technicalities and buried. Corporate tax breaks and increased military spending that the lobbyists pay for get passed.

MLK Remembrance

MARTIN LUTHER KING:  50 YEARS SINCE HIS ASSASSINATION

REFUSING PLAY SAFE RESPECTABILITY

By Stephen Wilson

 

MOSCOW  -- When I asked Daniel Ogen, an American Indian storyteller who his hero

was I was half expecting him to say Abraham Lincoln , Sitting Bull or

Franklin Roosevelt. But no it was not any of them . He told me :" I really

admire Martin Luther King. He believed in helping his fellow man not

by violence or anger but by peaceful civil disobedience. .... People say

pacifism does not work but they have never given it a chance. " 

He emphasized that the main point is to struggle against injustice without

becoming bitter and angry attempting to develop into a real spiritual

being rather than remain an animal or 'pale ghost' as the American

Indians once described the European invaders. Daniel's eyes seem

to light up and he looked ten times younger at the very mention of

King's name. Even uttering the name Martin Luther King can conjure

up some sort of magic spell. I got a similar reaction when I was visiting

my Aunt Susie in Dunfermline. She told me : "O my late Aunt adored

Martin Luther King . She very much admired him and supported him.

She strongly spoke out for him and what he was trying to do ".

It sounded as it my grand aunt had been in love with him.

The Northern Irish civil rights movement which marched for an

end to discrimination against Catholics by Protestants was modeled

on the American Civil rights movement of the 1960's. The Irish were

marching for both better housing conditions, jobs and one man one

vote! They strove to do this peacefully!

What was it about Martin Luther King which could fill people with awe?

Was it charisma ? Was it partly the fact that he articulately voiced the

grievances which struck a chord with so many oppressed people?

I think one of the powerful reasons for his appeal was that he geniunely

believed and practiced an authentic Christianity. Unlike many so called

Christians he did not play safe or see Christianity as an escape or

evasion from problems. On the contrary , to become a Christian is to

live dangerously .He did not just attend church, take the sacraments

and live respectably, but went out on to the streets and challenged

the authorities to provide decent and accessible housing for poor

people, provide them with decent well paid jobs and start genuinely

helping your neighbor regardless of his origin and color.

When Martin Luther King fought he came up against all the forces of

evil. It is as if there is truth in the saying that 'The more you try to

progress spiritually the more evil looms up to try and block your way. '

At one stage Martin Luther King was receiving so many death threats,

insults and even some bomb attacks that he was on the verge of a

nervous breakdown. He may even have thought of just giving up.

Then he went to sleep and heard God tell him : "I will behind you

everyday in your struggle. I will never abandon you !" He carried on

helped galvanize a movement which also involved his wife Coretta Scott

Rosa Parks and so many more fighters .

Given the background of constant threats ,attacks and harassment

it was perhaps no surprise that he was assassinated 50 years ago

on 4 April 1968. But his legacy has been deradicalised

and sanitized by people who have never taken the trouble to read

his works. When I read his selected works in the American library

in Moscow I was astonished about how radical his works were.

He not only fought for civil rights but against the war in Vietnam

and launched a tirade against slum landlords charging exorbitant rent

for appalling conditions. Now, the struggle against racism has

been trivialized and reduced to simply allowing African Americans

to become effective managers who can share the same privilege

of exploiting their fellow workers. Advancing careers rather than

genuinely caring for the underdog seems to be the misconstrued

message behind King. King was never a one issue crusader. He

did not divide struggles up into watertight compartments but linked

them. So the struggle for better jobs and housing was insolubly

related to the fight for better civil rights.

Martin Luther King's message is more potent than ever. The

shoot to kill policy which is constantly being used against

African Americans leading to avoidable tragedies suggests that

Black Lives matter more than ever. There is certainly something

much more to be done in the name of his legacy !

 

Loyola Instructors Strike

Loyola part-time faculty plan to strike

Loyola University unionized part-time faculty and non-tenure track faculty are planning to strike this Wednesday.

WHAT: #TimesUpLoyola WALKOUT, RALLY & possible STRIKE
WHERE: Loyola University Campus
WHEN: April 4, Wed., 12 noon
WHO: Loyola faculty, students, graduate workers, fast food workers, community activists, faith leaders
FOR MORE INFO: Contact Julie at 412-298-0925

On the anniversary of MLK's assassination on Wednesday, April 4th, the Poor People's Campaign will rally with Loyola non-tenure track faculty, graduate workers and students of color. Like fast food workers and others in the Fight for $15, faculty struggle with poverty wages -- often making even less than McDonald's workers.


BACKGROUND: As members of the Loyola campus and broader Chicago community, we're concerned that Loyola University is failing its students, its mission and our community by choosing not to address injustice on campus. On February 24, students of color were victims of racial profiling and physical assault by campus police. That injustice extends to our classrooms. Our graduate workers voted to form their union, yet the administration refuses to recognize their choice. Over the last decade, Loyola's tuition increased by 50%, yet non-tenure track professors received no pay increases in that period and still make just $4,000-4,500 per course with no benefits. These professors joined with full-time faculty to form a union, but two years later Loyola still hasn’t reached a fair agreement with them. Now non-tenure track professors say they will strike if necessary.

For these reasons we will be walking out on April 4, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, #TimesUpLoyola.