Barbara Ehrenreich speaks at UMass Amherst 4-21-05 in support of grad employee and student walkout.

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Barbara Ehrenreich speaks at UMass Amherst 4-21-05 in support of grad employee and student walkout.

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UMass Walkout 4-21-05

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Listen to MP3 of Barbara Ehrenreich speaking at UMass Amherst student walkout 4-21-05

Video of Barbara Ehrenreich's speech at UMass Amherst will be available online at:

http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=opensource_movies&collectionid=BarbaraEhrenreichUMassAmherst4-21-05

More info, photos, video: http://geouaw.org http://www.takebackumass.com

Students walk out of class to protest UMass policies

By
Michelle Laczkoski

More than 1,000 University of
Massachusetts-Amherst students boycotted class Thursday to fight for
graduate employees' working rights and greater autonomy over student
organizations and the campus newspaper.

At 9 a.m. Thursday, undergraduates, graduate students and faculty
walked out of their classes to picket around four major campus
facilities, including a building that Gov. Mitt Romney was in for a
Board of Higher Education meeting.

The protest was sponsored by two activist student groups: Take Back
UMass and the Graduate Employee Organization, both of which oppose
Chancellor John Lombardiís recent announcements of cuts in graduate
employeesí wages, health and childcare benefits and changes in the
administration of undergraduates.

Under the "Lombardi Plan," undergraduates would have no voice or
control over their own organizations, and even the student newspaper
would be under administration control, according to the GEO website.

As an alternative to this plan, the GEO and Take Back UMass proposed
the Community Action Diversity Plan, which seeks to substantially
increase the number of faculty in classrooms and labs, prevent pay and
benefits cuts for anyone on campus, encourage student control of
student organizations and offer fair contracts for all campus unions.

Organizers deemed the protest a "fabulous success" and "an invigorating sight."

Jen Turner, a UMass graduate student and president of the GEO, who has
been fighting for graduate student employees for the past 14 months,
said she was concerned for the lack of diversity on campus and in
student organizations as well as the threat to graduate student
employee working standards.

"We are the next generation of scholars and we shouldnít be treated as cheap labor at this university," she said.

Turner added that graduate students teach 30 to 50 percent of the
classes at the university and undergraduates should take issue with
their work conditions.

"The contract will trickle down, she said. If there is a poor economic
package being offered to the graduate employees, then the quality of
education will suffer at the university."

Faculty members sympathetic to the student's ongoing bargaining efforts
spoke for more than two hours at teach-ins on the Student Lawn. Among
the speakers was Barbara Ehrenrich, a social commentator and the author
of the recent bestseller Nickel and Dimed.

UMass-Amherst junior and Take Back UMass member Jeff Napolitano said
Chancellor Lombardi's plan is "disempowering to student organizations
and wipes out diversity."

Nearly 200 faculty members signed a pledge supporting the student boycott and some even cancelled class for it, said Napolitano.

Although Napolitano believes that the Chancellor will ignore and
dismiss yesterday's protest, he said the protest still accomplished its
goal.

"Our aim was to raise awareness of the issues on campus and prove to
the administration and community that we care and something must be
done," he said.

UMass-Amherst spokesman Ed Blaguszewski confirmed that the university
was open for business and classes were scheduled, despite the protest.
Whether students will be penalized for missing class will be determined
by the individual professors on a case-by-case basis, he said.

From http://www.dailyfreepress.com/news/2005/04/22/News/Students.Walk.Out.Of.Class.To.Protest.Umass.Policies-934851.shtml

The Daily Free Press - News