The University Against Itself : the NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace

275 Pages·2009·1.451 MB·English

by  Monika Krause, Mary Nolan, Michael Palm, Andrew Ross

The University Against Itself

The University
Against Itself
The NYU Strike and the
Future of the Academic Workplace
Edited by
MONIKA KRAUSE, MARY NOLAN,
MICHAEL PALM, AND ANDREW ROSS
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2008 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2008
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The university against itself : the NYU strike and the future of the academic workplace /
edited by Monika Krause . . . [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59213-740-4 ISBN-10: 1-59213-740-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59213-741-1 ISBN-10: 1-59213-741-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Strikes and lockouts—Graduate teaching assistants—New York (State)—
New York. 2. New York University—Faculty. I. Krause, Monika, 1978–
LB2335.845.U52N53 2008
378.747'1—dc22 2007024431
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Contents
Introduction 1
Monika Krause, Mary Nolan, Michael Palm, and Andrew Ross
PART I Corporate University?
New York: Academic Labor Town? 15
Ashley Dawson and Penny Lewis
Academic Freedom in the Age of Casualization 30
Ellen Schrecker
A Leadership University for the Twenty-First Century?
Corporate Administration, Contingent Labor, and
the Erosion of Faculty Rights 43
Mary Nolan
Building a Statue of Smoke: Finance Culture
and the NYU Trustees 57
Christopher Newfi eld and Greg Grandin
ICE from the Ashes of FIRE: NYU and the Economy of
Culture in New York City 71
Stephen Duncombe and Sarah Nash
The High Cost of Learning: Tuition, Educational Aid,
and the New Economics of Prestige in Higher Education 83
Adam Green
Blue Team, Gray Team: Some Varieties of the Contingent
Faculty Experience 97
Micki McGee
vi / Contents
PART II GSOC Strike
Unions at NYU, 1971–2007 115
The Administration Strikes Back: Union Busting at NYU 123
Susan Valentine
Bad News for Academic Labor? Lessons in Media Strategy
from the GSOC Strike 137
Steve Fletcher
If Not Now, When? The GSOC Strike, 2005–2006 149
Miabi Chatterji, Maggie Clinton, Natasha Lightfoot, Sherene Seikaly,
and Naomi Schiller
Which Side Are We On? NYU’s Full-Time Faculty and the GSOC Strike 162
Jeff Goodwin
Undergraduate Participation in Campus Labor Coalitions:
Lessons from the NYU Strike 174
Andrew Cornell
Village Hospitality 186
Matthew Osypowski
PART III Lessons for the Future
The State of the Academic Labor Movement: A Roundtable with
Stanley Aronowitz, Barbara Bowen, and Ed Ott 199
Kitty Krupat (moderator)
Global U 211
Andrew Ross
Activists into Organizers! How to Work with Your Colleagues
and Build Power in Graduate School 224
Monika Krause and Michael Palm
Sorely Needed: A Corporate Campaign for the Corporate University 236
Gordon Lafer
Graduate-Employee Unionization and the Future of Academic Labor 248
Cary Nelson
Contributors 259
Index 265
The University Against Itself

Introduction
MONIKA KRAUSE, MARY NOLAN, MICHAEL PALM,
AND ANDREW ROSS
M
any institutions can trace their founding to the outcome of a con-
fl ict, whether over ideas, beliefs, or human relationships. Not a few
arose explicitly out of a labor dispute. In the case of New York
University, there was a labor confl ict over the foundation stones themselves.
Convicts from Sing Sing prison were subcontracted from the state to dress
stone for NYU’s fi rst building on the northeast corner of Washington Square
Park in 1834, and local stonecutters rioted in response. The Twenty-Seventh
Regiment of the New York National Guard, which used the park as its march-
ing grounds, was called in to restore order. By the turn of the twenty-fi rst
century, the university had claimed the whole of Washington Square and was
spreading rapidly in all directions, fi lling out a sizable footprint across the
core of downtown Manhattan. After decades of often intense labor friction
with its employees, NYU’s most recent internal crisis boiled over in 2005,
when the Graduate Student Organizing Committee/United Auto Workers
(GSOC/UAW) Local 2110, the union for graduate assistants, went on strike
to force their employer into negotiations. The square soon hosted picket
lines, set up alongside buildings on its east side and in front of the main
library, which dominates the south side and houses the offi ces of the presi-
dent and senior administrators.
The strike, which straddled two semesters and endured for seven months,
drew the attention not only of academics from all over the country and
overseas, but also of national labor leaders who hastened to Washington
Square to deliver defi ant speeches. It was seen by graduate-student organizers
across the nation as the front line of their struggle, and many came to join