representative students

I would have been next to speak last night had President Sexton not unilaterally ended the town hall meeting after spending a good fifteen minutes dragging on in non-sequitur non-answers to one undergad's question about increased enrollment. Sexton has this whole "I'm all down to earth" schtick that, however contentious the meeting was yesterday, clearly serves him better than Richard Levin's flustering barrage of unbelievably crass insults every time he's confronted on his agenda, words, and/or deeds. But Sexton nevertheless said some outrageous things - that the union is over, that "we" are past it, that it is behind us. Throughout, i heard Sexton speak of the union as if it were some nefarious third party, some sinister bureaucracy intent on abridging the perogatives of the corporate university, and there were heated exchanges between several GSOC members and sexton on the matter of Health Care and the administration's refusla to negotiate. I got on line because i wanted to make it clear to to President Sexton that the union was not "behind him," that he was not "past it," but that we were standing right in front of him, that we are the union, that the union is us, and that we are going to continue to organize ourselves and take action to make NYU a better place to teach and learn, and that in refusing to negotiate with us, he's following a path which will impede teaching and learning here. Maybe that's what he wants -- maybe he'd like to ransform NYU from a "tuition dependent instiitution" into one which, like Yale, could easily afford to become tuition free and depends upon corporate partnerships, NIH/DOD/NSF grants and tax exemptions, not to mention globally pillaging hedge funds for much of its skyrocketing endowment growth. Regardless, our union isn't going anywhere.

Three years ago, a bunch of us confronted the Yale Corporation at their secluded and secret meeting place at the new boathouse in Derby, with its nifty big glass walls. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't bust unions. Have you seen the Kimmel Center lately?