Universities in crises

The violations of the YNHH neutrality agreement which were reported two days ago in the YDN turn out to be extremely serious and troubling - the hospital seems no less heartless than it was three years ago, and that's a huge problem. Thankfully, some schmucks called the UOC are doing something about it, even if the New Haven Board of Aldermen issues useless platitudes for neutrality on both sides (the Hospital argues that it's all Dale Lucas's fault for yelling at a rerceptionist) which the hospital will most likely take as encouragement to continue its captive audience meetings and one-on-one threats of loss of pay and benefits and worsening working conditions. Had the hospital not fired Lucas three years ago for formingunions, had they not spent the last nine years waging the same anti-union campaign they are waging now, despite their promises that they've changed, had they not been so utterly careless about the welfare of not only their employees, but their patients too, then New Haven might be a very different place. It still can be. Marna Borgstrom, cut this shit out. Now.

The hospital needs to be prevented from creating an atmosphere of intimidation and misinformation during the lead- up to the election. This is the time when violating the agreement potentially will have the most impact and create the most fear and intimidation. Workers should not be made to feel that their job security is threatened when they vote for a union. It is absolutely vital that the election take place in a manner that the union, the hospital and the community can respect. If violations of the agreement do not cease, the future of Yale-New Haven relations does not look bright.

Meanwhile, as GESO turns its focus to casualization- something we in GSOC need to think about how to fight as well, it's completely and utterly hilarious to hear the GSA state bluntly that they have neither any inclination nor any idea how to adress the issue, denying its urgency in a rather obvious Nero impression which I'm sure the folks in the drama school find trite and affected, even as the grad school contemmplates and seeks to implement more and more ways of pushing people ouyt into a horrible job market as soon as possible. Anyone still wondering why we need unions in this industry?

And a call on universities to change the way they create licensing partnerships with Pharmaceutical corporations so as to mandate access to generic versions of livesaving medecines across the globe. It's an interesting tactic.

To ensure that these treatments reach those who need them, universities will have to do more than increase access to a few isolated drugs. Rather, they will need to wield their substantial bargaining power as the originators of increasingly valuable research. In practice, this means inserting specific terms into every licensing agreement Yale signs with pharmaceutical companies, allowing the drugs to be produced more cheaply in the developing world. Insisting on such terms before the agreement is signed - the time when universities have the most leverage - would allow Yale, in keeping with its public mission, to see that campus discoveries yield the greatest public benefits.

Rana and Dacia convinced me that John Sexton's appearance on The Colbert Report last night ended with Sexton angrily storming off stage after Colbert read a letter by Michael Palm, chair of GSOC, and it was only after excitedly calling Susan to confirm this that I learned that R and D were in fact making me look like an idiot, as if i somehow needed any help. It turns out Sexton just launched into his hypocritical "dogma" rant, apparently mistaking Colbert for the character he plays on television. Why did they even host him in the first place?