Unions representing graduate students, faculty and staff at hundreds of colleges nationwide called on Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, to help them “reclaim higher education as a public good.”
A coalition of 11 unions and labor organizations on Monday outlined their vision for higher education under a potential Harris administration, which includes debt-free college, strong support for collective bargaining at public universities and more federal funding of colleges. They also want Harris to pick an Education Secretary “who demonstrates a clear record of supporting higher education as a truly public good,” according to the coalition’s statement of unity.
“Higher education is under attack,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors and an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University at New Brunswick. “As a sector, we have suffered through 50 years of defunding from the federal and state governments … which has led to skyrocketing tuition to trillions in student debt and institutional debt, a lack of job security for workers on our campuses and mission drift where administrators and presidents that lead our institutions have forgotten the core purpose: teaching the next generation, creating critical, cutting-edge research and serving our communities.”
In addition to the AAUP, the coalition includes the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the United Auto Workers and the Service Employees International Union. Together, they represent millions of workers, union leaders said Monday. By working together, they hope to change the status quo and ensure that colleges and universities remain a public good.
“This coalition of unions backing the Statement of Unity is unprecedented, and we are here to build the political will to fully fund higher education,” said Mia McIver, a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chair of Higher Education Labor United, an organization that’s working to better coordinate the higher ed unions. “College in this country should be something that everyone has access to and everyone benefits from, and that’s why we’re fighting back against the big money interests and corporate takeovers that are hollowing out our colleges and universities.”
