As many of you know, on Friday we packed the room for our second round of bargaining with Labor Relations over the impacts of the travel ban on international students. Prior to this second round, we were successful in the elimination of the international student fee — a victory we have been working towards for four years!
However, during bargaining on Friday with dozens of ASEs in attendance, the UW came to the table with no counter proposal. Even though our first bargaining session was on 6 April, the UW was ill-prepared to support students who will have housing and funding issues as a early as 3 weeks from now! We are continuing to push for summer funding for those impacted by the travel ban. UW, while willing to listen to our demands, has not taken any proactive measures to ensure funding for affected ASEs. This is yet another recent example of the UW’s inability to follow through and do what’s right. UW’s response shows an extreme disconnect from the reality of lived experiences of its students, and their inability to understand the fear, stress, and precarity students face is unacceptable. Many students spoke up, showing great solidarity, and we demanded a response by this Wednesday (5/24).
Following our brief meeting with Labor Relations, we marched over the the Graduate School, demanding to speak with Dean Eaton. No one took responsibility for UW’s complete failure to respond.
UW is on notice and we are prepared to escalate, if necessary. If we don’t receive word of summer funding for those impacted by the travel ban on Wednesday, we are prepared to take action! Please join other 4121 members Thursday @ noon on the HUB lawn for our next action — we will keep you posted on details, and you can RSVP here. In the meantime, let’s prepare for another action on Thursday to demand summer funding now!
In solidarity,
Theresa Aliwarga
Douglas Avella-Castro
Andrea Canini
Anthony Castanza
Ying-Yu Chen
Monica Cortes Viharo
Kristen Garofali
Arshiya Hoseyni Chime
Katya Kolesova
Dylan Mayer
Elizabeth Mills
Chelsea Pagan
David Parsons
Michelle Pham
Shua Sanchez
Viral Shah
Sam Sumpter
Arash Tarkhan
Judy Twedt