Tag: Trump

TAUP Digest 3/25/19

e-Bulletin 2019.03.25

Negotiations Update 

The discussions we have been having with the administration to set the stage for working together at the table are ongoing. At this point, we are where we were last week: waiting for a response to the most recent proposal we’ve submitted, but we’ve been told to expect one shortly, which is good news.  The negotiation of terms marks the beginning of the negotiating process, and once those terms are agreed upon, dates for working at the table can be set.  As soon as we have details, we will share them, including the dates, place, and topics for negotiation sessions, as well as ways that members can support the Table Team during open negotiation sessions.

Have you become a TAUP Member?

When  people represented by a union stand together and show that they support the work being done by their colleagues, they increase the strength of their own voice at the table. When the administration sees that membership is growing, they know that the work of the union is reinforced.

Dues paying members increase their union’s ability to leverage the gains that members need and want to see.  Over the next two weeks, member activists will be reaching out to colleagues to ask them to join TAUP. If you haven’t signed your membership card yet, now is your chance! Join here. If you have questions about becoming a dues paying member, reach out to our office taupaft@gmail.com.

Members’ Corner: Getting a Contract that Recognizes our Humanity and Dignity

“…we deserve for our employer to recognize that our work is not separate from our humanity nor our students’ humanity—that we are not simply cogs in the Temple machine or the CCP machine, or the Arcadia machine—that thanks to our hard work we should know that will still have a job next semester, next year, the next decade– so that we can allow ourselves to breathe, do our jobs well, AND be human.”  

-Mary Stricker, NTT Sociology

Read Mary Stricker’s remarks from TAUP’s Contract Kickoff Event at Pub Webb two weeks ago.

 

The Presidential Executive Order on “Free and Open Debate” and Federal Funding

As many of you know, President Trump signed an Executive Order last week purporting to protect “free and open debate on college and university campuses,” and threatening institutions that do not follow his directive with the loss of federal funds.  TAUP strongly supports “free and open debate” at Temple and elsewhere, and, as per our contract, will defend the academic freedom of all of our members whatever their political beliefs.  But, along with statements from  our national union, the AFT, and the American Association of University Professionals (AAUP), we oppose the President’s diktat.

 As the AAUP says, it is “a solution in search of a problem–as the order notes, colleges and universities already have policies protecting free expression on campus, and, in the case of public institutions, are bound by the First Amendment.”  It authorizes cabinet agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to determine whether an offense against free inquiry has been committed, but almost all of these entities lack expertise in higher education as well as debates around free speech.  Finally, despite its supposed support for a diversity of views on campus, it is designed, as stated in the AAUP’s post, to be dangerously slanted toward institutions more likely to support the President’s politics.   Please consider signing the AAUP’s petition against this ill-conceived Executive Order.

 

TAUP Solidarity with Community College of Philadelphia: Informational Picket, March 20th

Our sister union at CCP, the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia (FSFCCP) has been working without a contract for three years. They recently authorized a strike vote, though they hope that a strike will not be necessary.  They are fighting administrative proposals that would increase their workload, which is already high in relation to other community colleges nationally, gut faculty governance, raise health-care costs, and refuse to pay their classified staff a living wage.

TAUP stands in solidarity with FSFCCP in this fight, and we invite you to join us in supporting them.  At an informational picket and march last Wednesday, TAUP’s Vice President, Jennie Shanker spoke in support of their efforts as did the Chair of our Adjunct Constituency Council, Zoe Cohen , representing United Academics of Philadelphia.  You can see photos of the event here, as well as a video from Jason Esters, who recently received his doctorate from Temple’s English Department here. The FSFCCP has always stood by TAUP, knowing that our struggles are theirs as well. We stand by the FSFCCP knowing the same. We will keep you posted on any further opportunities to show solidarity with CCP faculty, staff and students. .

TAUP Elections

If you are interested in being nominated or nominating yourself to run for President, Vice President, or Treasurer of TAUP or to serve on one of our faculty Constituency Councils, please read here.  Note that Self-Nomination Petitions must be received by the Nominating Committee, TAUP Office, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Ritter Annex 721 (004-15), Philadelphia, PA 19122-6091, by Friday March 29, 2019.

TAUP’s Take on Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Political Violence and How to Fight It

e-Bulletin20181031:

It has been a deeply troubling, a heartbreaking and a bloody week of political violence, of racial and religious hatred flaring into murder and attempted murder. We list the details of these events and the names affected to give thanks that those targeted by pipe bombs were not injured and to remember and honor those who were murdered out of anti-Semitic hate and racism: 

  • Last Thursday, two African-Americans in Louisville, Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones, were gunned down by a white supremacist who just minutes before had tried to enter an African-American church.

  • Throughout last week, pipe bombs were intercepted on their way to prominent critics of President Trump, starting with George Soros, the Jewish activist philanthropist vilified in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and then to President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CIA DIrector John Brennan (c/o CNN), Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters, Robert De Niro, Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Sen. Kamala Harris, and philanthropist and activist Tom Steyer. On Friday, the bomber was apprehended.

  • On Saturday, a man driven by virulent anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant and racist beliefs used an AR-15 to murder 11 Jews worshipping at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh: Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Yonge. Wounded were Paul Leger and an as-yet-unnamed congregant as well as four brave police officers who acted to stop the massacre:  Ofc. Michael Smidgen, Ofc. Timothy Watson, and two officers as-yet-unnamed. What seems to have moved the murderer to act were anti-Semitic and racist conspiracy theories about the caravan of refugees from Central America and about Jews working with others to welcome them. This is the most lethal anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States.

Along with just and compassionate people of all beliefs, races, ethnicities, and political views, TAUP mourns these senseless murders and deplores these attempted murders.  We join our national and state affiliates in denouncing unequivocally anti-Semitism, racism, the fear and loathing of those would-be immigrants seeking only shelter from the violence in their countries, violent hatred toward those who oppose President Trump and toward the free press, just as we oppose political violence of any type.

TAUP represents 3100 faculty, librarians, and academic professionals with a diversity of political views. Some may take issue with political stances TAUP adopts. We welcome discussion where there is any disagreement.  We assume all of our members, regardless of party, condemn political violence of all types as well as anti-Semitism, racism, and the demonizing of immigrants.

  It is true that President Trump has denounced the attempted bombings and the attack in Pittsburgh.  Still, as some members of his own party have pointed out, he has been woefully irresponsible at best in how he uses the bully pulpit on Twitter and elsewhere to speak about his opponents, about people with disabilities, about immigrants, about white supremacists, about African-Americans, and about the press, to name just a few. He has all-too-often flirted with excusing or even encouraging violence. We can debate the relationship between any particular bit of rhetoric and any particular act.  But all of us across the political spectrum must raise our voices to reject rhetoric that demonizes specific groups or countenances violence, especially when the speaker has such great influence. To not do so is dangerous.

We must also model alternate ways of speaking and acting.  We urge everyone in TAUP and the wider Temple community to be kind to each other and stand with each other to reject hatred of all sorts.  In this vein, we point out a disturbing piece of news from last week that risks getting lost in our horror at other events–the Trump administration’s announcement that, in defiance of science, justice, and common decency, it may seek to define transgender identity out of existence.

We have been working on programming to fight white nationalism and are seeking people who are willing to help. Contact us if you’d like to contribute to this project or have ideas for others to counter hate.

It is also crucial to vote on November 6th and work to get others involved. The most immediate way to counter the threats facing our nation is to exercise one of our most sacred Constitutional rights and to encourage others to do so.  If you are looking for opportunities to get involved in next Tuesday’s elections, contact us.

Together, we can emerge from this difficult moment stronger than before if we see clearly the challenges facing us and meet them in courageous solidarity.

 

DACA: TAUP and TSG Stand Together

To the Temple University Community,

 

Temple University was built upon the foundation of excellence, affordability, and accessibility, as founder Dr. Russell Conwell intended. In the spirit of these values, it is essential that our university consistently create inclusive and accessible pathways for all students.

 

Yesterday, President Donald Trump rescinded support for the policy known as DACA, (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Not only does it have the potential to upend the lives of 800,000 people across our nation–it also hits home, directly inhibiting current and future students from having access to Temple University.

 

During times such as this, we must stand in solidarity to relentlessly combat intolerance, injustice, and ignorance. It is imperative that we respect these students’ existence and dignity as human beings. To marginalize, uproot, and disrupt the lives of these students is to disregard the value that their presence, experience, and culture bring to our campus. At our own institution, it is not enough to simply appreciate diversity; we must also consistently fight for accessibility and inclusion of all students, including the dreamers, immigrants, documented, and undocumented students within our campus community.

 

We urge the members of our campus community–including students, faculty, staff, and community members–to call on members of Congress and other elected officials to maintain and uphold DACA protections in an effort to safeguard the many individuals supported by this policy.

 

As representatives of the Temple University community, we will continue to elevate the voices and concerns of those directly impacted by this decision. However, we can not do this alone. It is more important now than ever that we stand in solidarity.

 

This Friday, September 8th, in the Howard Gittis Student Center, Room 200C from 3:00pm-4:45pm, we will be holding a Town Hall event to discuss the implications of this decision and brainstorm necessary action steps moving forward. All are welcome to attend.

 

In Solidarity,

 

Tyrell Mann-Barnes

President, Temple Student Government

 

Steve Newman

President, Temple Association of University Professionals (AFT #4531)