[NOTE: This was originally a Twitter thread, but the platform has been tanking, and the thread's sequence became askewed. So, here's the thread with some words replaced and editing changes to make it more readable.
#5 and up have been added.]
I've seen the article about Rutgers University having faculty and student walkouts and this being one of the first strikes the school has participated in. When I read more, I'll post links. But here are my thoughts about how we ended up here with public school walkouts, teacher strikes, and college/university protests that have occurred in alacrity in recent years...
1. While working in higher education from when I was a student to an alum, to working for the public school system from the ground (substitute) to the top (regional offices), the paperwork that complicates simple tasks.
2. To the simplest happenstance that would make another industry insoluble, there are processes, procedures, and protocols that stifle most things from being done.
3. How often can employees bring grievances to an admin that won't listen until things are too late? How does a school have faculty living in their autos so they can keep up a livable wage working for several colleges and universities?
5. I remember coming back to work at the first college I graduated from, and seeing how many of my peers were kept in part-time positions, including myself. The college posted 'open' full-time work that became mysteriously filled when contacted.
6. I became further disillusioned and unforgiving when the ACA (Obamacare) was newly enacted, and colleges and universities across the US showed their alliance to the Bottom Line by cutting part-timer work by 4-5 hours so those institutions DO NOT have to provide health insurance to all its employees.
7. Wifi and campus-wide internet access is often shoddy, and, at least in my experience, not enough expanding of electrical upgrades, not enough academic support in learning labs, and the school's inability to hire more personnel, retain enough staff, and pay a sustainable wage.
From my perspective, as a former higher ed employee, there is much at fault with colleges and universities for their lack of interest towards their faculty, staff, and support workers. These institutions make it financially difficult to the students, make full-time near impossible, and relying 70-80% of the academic work on part-timers the institution won't give sustainable salaries to, therefore creating a high turn-over like in the fast-food and restaurant industries. There will need to be seismic changes and a consistent and majority of will to improve these different levels.
