Open Letter on the University of Oregon graduate union strike

I am really proud to co-sign this Open Letter by Mark Alfano on the University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation strike. (See here at Lawyers Guns and Money and here at Daily Nous for background. Also here for a GTFF cease-and-desist letter on the threat to international graduate students.) Others can co-sign by commenting below. 

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President Scott Coltrane pres@uoregon.edu
Provost Frances Bronet fbronet@uoregon.edu
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Doug Blandy dblandy@uoregon.edu

Dear Interim President Coltrane, Interim Provost Bronet, and Vice Provost Blandy: 

I write to express my concern for the state of academic integrity at the University of Oregon. In recent days, I have been troubled to learn that the university administration has undertaken a series of actions related to the strike by the local graduate student union (GTFF 3544) that are potentially illegal and obviously immoral. These include intimidating undergraduate students regarding their federal financial aid, diluting academic standards by issuing final grades based on work that was done before the strike started (in some cases less than 50% of graded assignments), threatening the visa status of striking international graduate students, and making final examinations and end-of-term assignments optional in multiple departments (including, to my knowledge, philosophy, linguistics, and ethnic studies).

Such scorched-earth policies are myopic and nihilistic. And in light of Dr. Coltrane’s own published work on the importance of paid parental leave, the administration’s behavior towards its own graduate students who are striking because they want two weeks of parental leave per year is deeply and shockingly ironic.

I urge you to give the graduate students what they’re asking for, cease the morally repugnant behavior, and manifest a little integrity.

Mark Alfano
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Oregon

John Protevi
Phyllis M Taylor Professor of French Studies
Professor of Philosophy
Louisiana State University

Affiliation provided for identification purposes only and does not imply speaking on behalf of our respective institutions.

Comments

[Nadya Vasilyeva]

Co-signed.

Nadya Vasilyeva
postdoc in psychology
UC Berkeley

[Thomas B. Byers]

Please add me as a co-signer.

Thomas B. Byers
Professor Emeritus of English
University of Louisville

[The Anglican Scotist]

Susan Peppers-Bates
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Stetson University
Deland FL 32724

[Regina Yung Lee]

Regina Yung Lee
Lecturer, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
University of Washington
Seattle, WA

[Naomi Scheman]

Please add my name
Naomi Scheman
Professor of Philosophy
University of Minnesota

[Rebecca Kukla]

Rebecca Kukla
Professor
Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics
Georgetown University

[J. Adam Carter]

Please add my name:

J. Adam Carter
Research Fellow
Philosophy
University of Edinburgh

[Nick Wiltsher]

Nick Wiltsher

Post-doctoral Fellow
Department of Philosophy
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Porto Alegre, Brasil

[Joe lowndes]

Joseph Lowndes
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of Oregon

[Joel Krueger]

Joel Krueger
Lecturer in Philosophy
University of Exeter

[Leonard Ray]

Leonard Ray
Associate professor of political science
Louisiana State University

[Kate Norlock]

Cosigning in solidarity,

Kathryn J. Norlock
Asso.Prof. and Chair, Philosophy
Trent University
Executive Committee Member, Trent University Faculty Association

[Mandy Mitchell]

Shame on U of Oregon!
Mandy Mitchell
Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy
Cal Poly Pomona

[Krista]

Solidarity,

Krista Thomason
Philosophy
Swarthmore College

[Michael O'Rourke]

Co-signed.

Michael O'Rourke
Professor of Philosophy
Michigan State University

[John Kaag]

Co-Sign

John Kaag
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Massachusetts Lowell

[Mark lance]

mark lance
Professor of philosophy
Professor of justice and peace
Georgetown university

[West Gurley]

S. West Gurley
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Department of Psychology and Philosophy
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX

[John R. Harris]

John R. Harris
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Texas Christian University

[Eric Martin]

Please add my name:
Eric Martin
Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Science
Baylor University
Honors College

[Amy Reed-Sandoval]

Amy Reed-Sandoval
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
The University of Texas at El Paso

[Nicholas Fleisher]

Nicholas Fleisher
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

[Adam]

Adam R. Thompson
ABD. Philosophy
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

[Katie Terezakis]

Co-sign, please.
Katie Terezakis
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Rochester Institute of Technology

[Blain Neufeld]

Co-signed,

Blain Neufeld
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI, 53201

[Gregory Moss]

Gregory Moss
Lecturer in Philosophy
Clemson University
[Affiliation provided for identification purposes only and does not imply speaking on behalf of the institution]
Department of Philosophy and Religion

[A J Julius]

co-signed,

A J Julius
ass't professor, philosophy, UCLA

[Heidi Howkins Lockwood]

Heidi Howkins Lockwood
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Southern CT State University
New Haven, CT

[Alex Worsnip]

Co-signed in solidarity:
Alex Worsnip
PhD candidate in Philosophy
Yale University

[Josh May]

Josh May
Department of Philosophy
University of Alabama at Birmingham

[Josh]

Josh Epstein
Assistant Professor of English
Portland State University

[Elsie Walker]

I support this cause. Please accept this as my signature. Sincerely,
Elsie Walker
Department of English
Salisbury University
Maryland

[Corey McCall]

Corey McCall
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Elmira College

[Chad Kautzer]

Co-signed

Chad Kautzer
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Director, Social Justice Minor
University of Colorado Denver

[Stephanie Jenkins]

Stephanie Jenkins
Assistant Professor, School of History, Philosophy, & Religion
Oregon State University

[Richard A. Grijalva]

Richard A. Grijalva
Doctoral Candidate and Graduate Student Instructor
Member and Former Steward, UAW Local 2865
Department of Rhetoric
University of California, Berkeley

[L Rivera]

Lisa Rivera
Associate Professor, Philosophy
University of Massachusetts, Boston

[Robert Paul Lamb / Professor of English / Purdue University, West Lafayette]

This boorish and unethical behavior by upper level administrators is both outrageous and altogether typical of how people in such positions have made higher education into a bad joke. Shame on the university.

[Elinor]

Elinor Mason
Dept of Philosophy
University of Edinburgh

[Jon Lawhead]

Cosigned.

Jon Lawhead
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Southern California
Philosophy and Earth Science

[Stuart Foyle]

Stuart Foyle

Associate Lecturer
The Open University
UK

[Affiliation provided for identification purposes only and does not imply speaking on behalf of my institution]

[Patrick Fessenbecker]

I concur.

Patrick Fessenbecker
Assistant Professor
Program in Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas
Bilkent University

[Nicole Wyatt]

I concur.

Nicole Wyatt
Department Head
Philosophy
University of Calgary
Canada

[Kris McDaniel]

Kris McDaniel
Dept. of Philosophy
Syracuse University

[Katherine Spring]

Katherine Spring
Associate Professor, English & Film Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Canada

[Christopher A. Vogel]

Consigned

Christopher A. Vogel
Graduate Assistant
Department of Philosophy
University of Maryland

[Nathan Wood]

Co-signed
Nathan Wood
Department of Philosophy
University of Georgia

[Tim Kenyon]

Tim Kenyon
Department of Philosophy
University of Waterloo

[Matthew J. Brown]

Matthew J. Brown
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Director, Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology
The University of Texas at Dallas

[Kara Barnette]

I would like to co-sign this letter.
Kara Barnette
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Westminster College
PhD in Philosophy from UO '12 and former GTF

[Jason D'Cruz]

Cosigned

Jason D'Cruz
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
University at Albany, SUNY

[Robin Zheng]

Robin Zheng
PhD Candidate, Philosophy
University of Michigan

[Kevin McDonough]

Kevin McDonough
Associate Professor
McGill University

[Alistair Welchman]

Alistair Welchman
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy and Classics
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio TX 78249

[Jennifer McWeeny]

Co-signed
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Worcester Polytechnic University
University of Oregon Alumna Ph.D. 2005

[Dylan Dodd]

Dylan Dodd
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Alaska Anchorage
B.A., University of Oregon

[Shannon Dea]

Cosigned

Shannon Dea
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Director, Women's Studies
Faculty of Arts Teaching Fellow
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Canada

[Mara Bollard]

In solidarity,
Mara Bollard
PhD Student
Department of Philosophy
University of Michigan

[Brian Talbot]

Brian Talbot
Instructor, Philosophy
Washington University in St. Louis

[Richard Pollak]

Please include me also.
Richard D. Pollak
Associate Professor (ret.)
Department of Biological Sciences
Queensborough Community College/CUNY

[Mark Alfano]

Thanks to everyone who co-signed this letter. The administration has backed down. The graduate students won this fight. The larger struggle remains, of course, but I and many others are grateful for the small victory and for the heartwarming support.

[Eric Olson]

Eric Olson
Professor of Philosophy
University of Sheffield