Tag: GOP

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

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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.

 

The Hour is Late and the Stakes Are High:  We Must Oppose GOP Tax Reform!

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We must do what we can to stop the GOP’s proposed Tax “Reform,” which may include provisions particularly harmful to higher education:  taxing graduate tuition remission as income; prohibiting deductions for student loan interest; and taxing endowments at some schools.  Recent reports indicate that the first two will not be in the bill emerging out of conference, and opposition is mounting toward the third; our efforts and those of our allies are having an effect!  But we cannot rest until we are sure these provisions are not in the bill,  and even without them, the bill would be a disgrace. As TAUP member and economist Don Wargo shows here in his clear-eyed analysis , it is founded on lies or mistakes; it disproportionately benefits the wealthy while doing serious damage to millions among the less-well-off and swelling the deficit; and it sets up draconian cuts to programs that millions of children, adults and senior citizens rely upon.

 So how can we act as Republicans in Congress speed this monstrosity toward a vote?

 Here are three ways:

 1) Work with TAUP leaders who have been calling colleagues living in districts represented by Republicans who may be persuadable—Ryan Costello (6th district), Patrick Meehan (7th—though he looks like an unlikely ally), and Brian Fitzpatrick (8th district).  We are giving these members a way to contact their representatives and urge them to vote “no” and to specifically combat any provisions that threaten higher education.  To help us call members in these districts, contact us at taupaft@gmail.com.    

2) If you live in these districts, call 877-795-7862; you’ll be asked to provide your zip code and will then be connected to your legislator’s office.  If you talk to an aide or leave a message, make sure you mention your address so that they can be sure they know you are a constituent.

3) Attend an action— protest outside a legislator’s office, a townhall, etc.   Go to the American Federation of Teachers’ page, http://allin.rtp.aft.org/.  It provides a wealth of information about what’s wrong with the proposed bills.   Scroll down to find various resources including actions put together by Indivisible, Americans For Tax Fairness, and Not One Penny.

It’s the end of the semester and all of us have tons of exams, essays,final projects or performances to grade.  Many of us are looking longingly toward the Break.  But it is critical that we spare any time we can to raise our collective voice against these wrongheaded, destructive and immoral proposals.  There is too much at stake, and signing online petitions is not enough. It is time to act.

 In Solidarity,

​Steve Newman ​
TAUP President

For the Future of Education, Defeat the GOP Tax Reform Bills!

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TAUP strongly opposes the tax bills proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and we stand ready to work with any group on campus, among them the Faculty Senate; Temple Student Government and Temple’s Administration, to defeat these proposals. Together, we must all work to stop this ill-conceived attack on economic fairness and education.


Our reasons for doing so stem in part from a  disgust at the way the bills largely benefit the wealthy at the expense of the public good.  We fear that the large deficits incurred will lead to spending cuts that hurt the most vulnerable people largely left out of these reductions in taxation.  The proposals hew to the exploded dogma of trickle-down economics–see Kansas for a recent example of its disastrous effects–whereby we are promised that tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations will yield GDP as high as 4 or 5%, numbers no credible economist, even those in favor of lower taxation, finds plausible.


But we also have very specific reasons that should concern every member of the Temple community no matter your political affiliation–these bills strike at the heart of funding education.  


Here are some provisions that directly affect higher ed:  


  • While the recently proposed Senate version would retain the deduction for interest on student loans, the House version would axe it, a change that would make it harder for our students to attend Temple and increase the burden on students already here—as well as many faculty, librarians, academic professionals and other Temple employees still paying off their loans.

  • Tuition remission for employees and their dependents would be taxed under the House bill.

  • The House bill taxes tuition remission for graduate school as if it were income. The devastating effects this proposal would have on graduate education if it became law have been well-described here.   

There are other attacks on education in these bills, including the removal in the House version of the deduction teachers can take for buying their own school supplies.  


Then there is the proposal in both bills to tax endowments at the wealthiest schools; legitimate questions might be posed about the huge endowments some universities have amassed.  Still, it is curious that the only entities or persons at the top targeted for tax increases are not for-profit corporations or wealthy individuals but universities!   


Finally, the proposal to get rid of State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions—present in the Senate bill but not in the House version—is projected to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in local and state support for education.


So what can we do?   Get active!  Time is short!  Call your Representative and Senator; calls are more effective than emails or even letters, and when you call make sure you let them know that you are from their district or state.  Our national union, AFT, has been fighting these proposals since the House bill was released; for instance, you can sign a petition against repealing the SALT deduction here.    It is also important to educate others on the terrible consequences of passing tax reform if it looks anything like the two bills that have been proposed; you can find a sample op-ed here, letters to the editor, and other resources if you scroll down a bit from this link.  


We’ll be in touch about other ways to push back against this proposed massive transfer of wealth to the wealthy at the expense of education and the public good.