31 March 2000
Dear Professor,
The following letter is addressed to the University community to encourage participation in the Day of Action, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 4th.
I hope you will consider participating in all three events organized by this coalition of both graduate-student and undergraduate-student groups. First, teachers are encouraged to set aside some instructional time to discuss the ethical role of the University with students. Second, there will be a panel discussion to address the question of “whether UGA is an institution of education or a corporation.” Last, members of Students Against Sweatshops will be performing “guerilla theater” around campus.
This event is particularly exciting for me because I think it illustrates that student activism is finally on the rise here. These events show that students are thinking and that they willing to actuate change. Although I do not agree with all the positions taken by this coalition, I think that encouraging student activism is critical to serving the mission of any institution of higher education.
Accordingly, I hope you will participate in the programs described below. If you would like to become involved with the panel discussion or the guerilla theater, please contact Mark Faller, president of the Graduate School Association (mfaller@uga.edu).
Thank you,
Chris Hoofnagle
3L
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An Open Letter to the University of Georgia and Athens community:
Increasingly, modern universities make decisions as if they were corporations concerned solely with the bottom line and return-on-investment. But universities, especially public universities, are not mere corporations. While there is no question that every university should be fiscally responsible, a university is not primarily a business and it is simply wrong for a university to focus first and foremost on financial success.
We, the undersigned groups and individuals, believe that the University of Georgia has gone too far down this path. Yes, UGA is a business in some respects. But it is also an institution of higher education, an employer, a member of the community and an agency of the state of Georgia. These roles are often at odds, but they do share one characteristic—these roles confer ethical responsibilities that the university frequently neglects.
As an employer, UGA engages in unjust labor practices such as—to name one of many—keeping a large number of employees locked in a part-time employee classification in order to avoid providing fair benefits. As a state agency and a community member, UGA ought to embody at least some democratic principles and processes, but in fact the university is ruled by administrative fiat—as evidenced by the decision to sign the university to an "anti-sweatshop organization" without any student input.
To bring these and many other failings to light, and to encourage UGA to become a more ethical institution in all its roles, concerned members of the university community have organized a Day of Action on Tuesday, April 4, 2000. What sort of action?
* We are encouraging a teach-in, where professors (and especially graduate student teachers) take at least 5 or 10 minutes of every class to address the ethical role of the university with their students. We also encourage students to prepare and ask their own questions if their teachers choose to avoid this dialogue.
* A panel discussion with university and community leaders from 5 - 6:30 p.m. in 115 Peabody Hall will address the question of the day: Is UGA an institution of higher learning or a corporation?
* Sidewalk theater presentations around campus will debut an original play titled “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Billionaire Sportswear Corporation?” - a Students Against Sweatshops production. Three show times: 10:45 at the North Campus Chapel, 12:15 at Memorial Hall, and 1:45 at the Main library.
This letter is sponsored by the groups listed below. Not every word of this letter is necessarily endorsed by every group or individual. But we all share the view that UGA can and ought to be a much more ethical and egalitarian institution, and we believe that publicly voicing this view is an important first step towards that goal.
Jobs with Justice
United States Student Association
UGA Graduate Student Association
UGA Students Against Sweatshops