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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

How to strike

A broad coalition of IU students, faculty and staff have been working together for months to build momentum for a strike on campus. This week, our efforts will finally come to fruition.

Our demands are simple and pragmatic. We want a freeze on tuition, fair wages for employees, a real commitment to diversity on campus, a stop to harmful privatization of campus services and a guarantee that faculty and workers participating in the strike will not be punished at their jobs.

Many have suggested that a strike is unnecessary and that we should simply begin calm, measured negotiations with the administration.

We argue that negotiations cannot succeed without a show of force. If we remain divided and continue to quietly submit petitions and pleas for small changes year after year, we will never see substantive change on our campus.

There will be many ways to get involved in the strike.

If you are a student, the smallest way you can participate is by skipping class.

If you are an instructor, you can cancel class. Many have already done so. You could also take your class to a strike event or facilitate an alternate class open to the public.

If you are a worker, the administration has already tried to limit your options. Legally, IU employees cannot strike. I would encourage all IU employees to seek out a letter published in the Herald Times this week, written by Bryce Smedley, the former president of the Communications Workers of America at IU.

Smedley enthusiastically endorsed the strike and reminded all workers they have the right to use accumulated sick days at their own discretion when they feel ill.

All participants in the strike are encouraged to head to Woodburn Hall.

There will be dozens of free workshops and teach-ins by striking faculty in Woodburn Hall. This will be the central location for anyone who wants to plug in to strike activities.

Pickets will be scattered across campus starting at 7 a.m. If you are willing to join a picket, coordinators at Woodburn Hall will be able to find a spot for you on campus.

Beginning at 10:30 a.m., a march will assemble outside Woodburn Hall. This march will move through campus, arriving at the School of Education by 11:30 a.m. and returning to Woodburn Hall around 12:30 p.m.

We hope that students who have not already done so will walk out of their classes and join the march as it moves through campus.

After the march, there will be a mass assembly by the statue of Herman B Wells near the Sample Gates. There, we will decide how to interact with the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday.

Strike activities will continue into the night and include a dance party and free dinner at Woodburn Hall.

These are only the plans for Thursday. What happens Friday will be decided by those who have joined the strike on Thursday.

If you care about public education or about the faculty and staff who make it possible, then I’ll see you on the picket line.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu

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