Yale’s downtrodden graduate teaching assistants have gone on strike for recognition of their union: “GESO strikers hold teach-ins on campus.” The graduate students’ association (GESO) has set itself some familiar objectives: “GESO is seeking union recognition that would allow it to bargain with Yale President Richard Levin for a third-party grievance procedure, full health coverage for dependents, affordable child care and pay equity for all graduate teachers.”
The levels of absurdity reached by the graduate students, their union allies, and their campus supporters are dizzying:
GESO co-chair Mary Reynolds GRD ’07, who normally teaches a section of the “Formation of Modern American Culture” lecture course, said several of her students supported her by joining the picket lines. She said the course’s professor, Matt Jacobson, will not teach the section himself because he is morally opposed to breaking the strike.
GESO strikers and supporters will ride buses to New York City to participate in a large labor rally on Columbia University’s campus today. The Graduate Student Employees United group at Columbia is also striking this week, marking the first coordinated strike effort between two Ivy League universities.
And we have yet to hit the summit of absurdity. The Yale Daily News story carries news of coming attractions: “Jesse Jackson will visit campus on Thursday to hold an afternoon rally near Sterling Memorial Library.” Hell no, we won’t go…to class.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.