Press Conference!

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUNGER STRIKE AT VASSAR COLLEGE
DATE: Friday, May 15, 2009
TIME: 4:00 P.M.
LOCATION: ALANA Center, Community Room
Vassar College
Behind Main Bldg.

Friday, May 15, 2009—Top administrators at Vassar College met with students on hunger strike to continue negotiations, regarding the students’ list of demands, which were presented to President Catharine Bond Hill last Friday.

The hunger strike comes at the tail end of weeks of campus rallies and talks with President Hill, concerning the elimination of summer break positions for campus workers and the continued attack on job security at the College. Students from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A.) de Vassar and the May Day Working Group have organized these efforts in solidarity and collaboration with campus workers who, in light of the administration’s proposed economic strategy, will hold a press conference responding to the outcome of today’s negotiations and the status of activism around this issue.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chris Beach at 718.644.5277, chbeach@vassar.edu
Mikey Velarde at 915.491.3395, mivelarde@vassar.edu

In Poughkeepsie Journal!

There is an article about our protest in today's Poughkeepsie Journal! 

Check it out here.

faculty support!

This email was sent to Cappy this morning -- thank you Andrew Bush!

Dear Cappy,

I understand that a group of students is currently participating in a hunger strike in protest against administrative decisions affecting job security at Vassar. I write in support.I have been concentrating my own attention to job security only on questions pertaining to the faculty. The students do well to broaden the concern to include the job security of all College employees. I urge you to meet with them. I also support the students' position, as I understand it, that job security--that is, consideration of the material welfare of our own community--is among the very highest priorities of the College. I would much prefer to see the College pursue its new financial goals by cutting salaries for the best-paid amongst us, myself included, than to undermine the job security of employees with more modest incomes.My thanks for your attention and my best wishes, Andy

Andrew BushChair, HISP

What Does NYU Mean For Vassar?

What does NYU mean for Vassar?

We hope that NYU's move towards a symbolic and useful demonstration of caring for the school, or at least it's image, that Vassar administration will seriously consider pay cuts as we have demanded.

Hunger Strike Follows Rally at Vassar College

We, a broad coalition of Vassar students and student organizations, planned a rally for Tuesday, May 12. The administration believed that May Day was it, and we were done. They were wrong. On Friday, May 8th, we went to President Catherine Bond Hill's office and had a chat. Some choice comments from President Hill included that summer cuts would "look like peanuts" come next fall. And that despite there not being any money in the Vassar coffers to maintain the staff that maintain the school, Catherine Bond Hill could get a raise from the Board of Trustees, if she wanted to. She also commented that the college should not be "the middle man" between faculty and students wanting staff to have jobs.
We don't believe that the school is the "middleman;" the school has a responsibility to the community it houses. We gave President Hill our list of demands, and left, telling her to read them carefully, and get back to us.
On Sunday, May 10, we put on our Sunday best to picket outside of a Mother's Day Brunch. We wanted the alumna/e and parents attending to know that mothers also work in our kitchens, clean our dorms, and maintain the campus. We handed out Mother's Day cards that we thought were especially informative. Security drove by many times, but could find nothing wrong at all with what we were doing.
We then marched to the roundabout at the corner where our school meets the Town of Poughkeepsie. We stood silently holding our signs (Cappy Needs a Paycut/Job Security for Campus Workers) for 45 minutes, then marched through the dining hall to announce yet another rally.

Today we had that rally, and it was well attended as we walked through campus, and let the administration know that we were back. We also marched alongside the college, blocking traffic on College View, which drew the Poughkeepsie Police in remarkable force. Vassar Security also made an appearance, urging protestors to return to campus and keep their unrest out of the public eye. But Vassar College is not an island, and Poughkeepsie residents are being hit hard by Vassar's decision to reduce employment. We will not keep our anger politely reigned in. President Hill cannot ruin lives without anyone knowing.

Unfortunately, President Hill was not in town, and we are sorry to hear that there was an illness in the family. But we'll be waiting for her return. We told Chris Roellke, Dean of Studies, to tell her that we would be waiting, and that 5 of us would be hunger striking until she meets with us, and negotiations begin. The hunger strike has been going on since noon, and the strikers, along with several supporters, are camped outside of the President's office. We will remain here until President Hill addresses our demands.

High Noon

Rally Today:

May 12.

12pm.

Main Circle.

Vassar College.

Come Show Your Support.

The List of Demands

On Friday, May 8, 2009, at approx. 5 p.m., students representing M.E.Ch.A. de Vassar and the May Day Working group hand delivered this very modest list of demands to President Catharine Bond Hill.

LIST OF DEMANDS 1. Respect, dignity and peace on campus for all workers: The college was founded on principles of social justice. We must remain committed to these principles so that they are not undermined by power and privilege. Marginalized groups should have an equal voice and vote in the decision making process so that the power to make decisions does not come exclusively from the privileged few.

2. Summer Employment We demand summer employment as expected by campus workers in order to at least meet their basic living needs for as long as the institution exists.

3. Job Security Vassar College is indebted to the Poughkeepsie and Mid-Hudson communities. We demand that Vassar recognizes this responsibility by continuing to provide stable employment with decent wages to community residents and we demand a freeze on staff firings and layoffs.

4. A New Economic Strategy: In times of future economic crises, Vassar’s first commitment should be to those in the most precarious economic situation, not to those at the top of the economic ladder. The economic strategy should include that those who are in the top 20% of the Vassar pay bracket have their wages adjusted accordingly before any job cuts are made.

5. Social Justice Committee: We demand the creation of a social justice committee comprised of permanent autonomous positions at the staff, student, faculty, Poughkeepsie community, and administrative levels. The individuals who will occupy these positions will have a demonstrated commitment to social justice. Populations at each respective level will elect these positions. This committee will oversee and revise existing policy and develop new policy as needed that maintains the college’s commitment to social justice. All extant committees dealing with related subject matter will be subsumed under the Social Justice Committee. One of the concrete objectives of this committee is overseeing the implementation and management of a monthly town hall meeting where all members of the Vassar Community will make decisions collectively, and be informed of the state of The School.

6. Financial Transparency: We demand financial transparency. Students, staff, and faculty are perfectly able to, and will, partake in financial decision-making. We will be informed. All economic literature will be distributed electronically to our emails. We also demand that all meetings of all committees be open to the public.

7. No punitive repercussions for anyone who engages in this struggle for justice.

Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlán (MEChA) de Vassar College

May Day Working Group 

Student Activist Union-Students for a Democratic Society (SAU-SDS) 

The Catalyst 

Vassar Association of Class Activists (VACA) 

Women of Color Alliance (WOCA)

Horizontal Working Group

Mayday Statement 2009

On Friday, May 1st, a group of staff, students, and faculty held two rallies at Vassar College. We were loud. We were disruptive. For the first time in years students and faculty at Vassar are standing in solidarity with staff with more than just words.

Vassar traditionally has given it's staff summer employment, generally 40 to 50 folks who work in dining centers on campus are assigned to assist in prepping the dorms and grounds for autumn, another 20 or so people remain in the kitchens for summer programs. This year the school, hiding behind the financial crisis, has reduced the number of jobs overall to around 20. This puts a large number of folks who are a part of our community in precarious situations for the summer; many do not know how they will be able to feed their families or keep their houses. And who are those most affected? Working class folks, mostly women, POC, and/or immigrant folks who keep our school running.

The Vassar administration claims there is nothing they can do. That only so much money was allocated to Operations (Well, allocate more!). Or that they are not under a contractual obligation (We say: "So what!"). The school does not have enough money to support the employees at the bottom, but we do have enough for the President of the College, Catherine Bond Hill, to remodel her bathroom ($60,000) and there is enough money for the head of Human Resources, Ruth Spencer, to get a raise.

Even during the Great Depression the school never had to fire, or layoff anyone. So we ask: why now?

Vassar College has lost 300 million dollars from its endowment. It claims that cutting classes, firing professors, and systematically ridding the school of the people who actually make it run, will bring it back. We know that it will not. The school continues to run on the same neoliberal corporate model that put the world in this mess in the first place. We recognize that creative financial thinking is important, not this mimicry of banking giants (Why do these people make up our board of trustees?).

We want to tell other students, the ones who claim we just need more dialogue, more debate, more facts, more numbers; that the only thing we need more of is action. That we've spent months talking and debating and the administration always sets the terms and rules. So it's time to be unruly. Nothing at Vassar (or the world) was ever gotten by asking nicely. It took a takeover of a building to get Black Studies, and some respect for Black Students in the 60s. It took a takeover to get the ALANA (African-American/Black, Latina/o, Asian, and Native American Center) and Blegen House (The GLBTQ house, which was recently moved to a room in Main Building). It will take action to accomplish what needs to be done.

We want to let the administration know that we are not fooled by their vague threats. We shout Worker's Rights!, and they respond with Financial Aid! We refuse to allow the school to make students and staff antagonistic towards each other. We stand in solidarity with staff because we can't let such an important part of our community be pushed around.

This is why on May Day 2009 the students organized under MEChA de Vassar & The May Day Working Group stood in solidarity with staff organized under the SEIU and CWA locals for not one, but two rallies. We marched all around the campus, including outside of a fancy luncheon that Catherine Hill was attending in one of the dorms. We marched into Ruth Spencer's office. We ignored security officers' pleas for us to leave, and left when we were good and ready. We marched into Main Building (twice!) making as much noise as possible, and watched as Dean of the College, Chris Roelke stormed out of his office and down the stairs.

We were pumped. Our student body president showed up at the end asking to speak, and we sent him away. We can not waste time anymore with folks who are in positions to speak out everyday, and only do so when it is advantageous, when they hope it is a good photo-op.

The administration thought that no students would attend a rally in support of staff. They couldn't be more wrong. Each rallied numbered over a hundred people, with students calling their friends to join us as we went along. We forced the rest of the student body, the administration, and the faculty to know that we are here, and we're not done yet.

We also ask that anyone who wants to voice support, especially if you're an alum, to contact Catherine (Cappy) Bond Hill and tell her what you think of Vassar's method of dealing with this "financial crisis" by aiming for those at the bottom of the campus hierarchy. Please help us force President Hill to do what is right. Let Cappy and everyone else in the administration know that they should be getting creative and developing programs that allow for full year employment for all employees. Not attacking the little folks. Not making members of the Vassar community risk homelessness and hunger while members of the administration keep making their six-figures.

You can reach the folks who help make these decisions by email and telephone so you can share with them politely what you think (or flood their emails and voicemails until they decide to do what is right):

President Catherine Bond Hill: chill@vassar.edu, 845-437-7200.
Ruth Spencer, Vice President of Human Resources: ruspencer@vassar.edu, 845-437-5820.
Kim Collier, Associate Director of HR: kicollier@vassar.edu, 845-437-5821.
Tanhena Pacheco Dunn, Assistant Director of HR: tapacheco@vassar.edu, 845-437-5819.
Chris Roellke, Dean of the College: chroellke@vassar.edu, 845-437-5600
Elizabeth Eismeier, VP of Finance: eleismeier@vassar.edu, 845-437-5500
Maureen King, Director of Dining Services: making@vassar.edu, 845-437-7748

Sincerely,

MEChA de Vassar and the May Day Working Group

workinggroup.mayday@gmail.com