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Newspaper Editorial Sparks Heated Response at Northwestern

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Thu, 11/18/2010 - 15:57
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The day following our last guest post from the Northwestern Living Wage Campaign, the Daily Northwestern student newspaper weighed in on the issue of campus workers.

The editorial, “Living Wage Wrong for Northwestern,” argues that, “implementing a ‘living wage’ could actually harm campus workers.” They elaborated that a living wage might disqualify workers from government assistance like “earned income tax credit, child tax credits, Medicaid and food stamps.” 

You can read through the full editorial here. We think that the attitudes in the editorial reflect a deep disconnect between students and workers that exists on many campuses. They are attitudes that we often face when we campaign for real change, when we truly challenge our institutions to treat workers as equals in our communities. 
 
Of course, we think the best way to challenge these attitudes is to build real relationships with workers on campus and to end the invisibility of their stories and their lives (see our Building Community Across Counters campaign).
 
That’s just what the Northwestern students in the Living Wage Campaign have been doing. In their response, they wrote, “We challenge Northwestern as we have challenged ourselves: to really get to know the workers on campus.” They had more to say and all sorts of other folks weighed in on the forum pages of the paper in the following days as well:
 
 
When Cleve Jones, the remarkable organizer and activist featured in the film Milk, spoke on campus, he jumped into the fray as well – firmly behind the Living Wage Campaign, going so far as to directly call out the Daily editorial:
 

What would you say if the student newspaper at your school wrote an editorial like this one? How would you organize to change it? Have you faced common attitudes at your school? Send us a message with your thoughts. 

Updates from the Northwestern Struggle

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 18:37
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[Editor’s Note: Not to be left out of the exciting stories coming out of Chicago lately, this quick update comes from Michael Waxman, a student leader of the Northwestern Living Wage Campaign.] 

 
The Northwestern Living Wage Campaign has had an exciting past couple weeks!
 
On October 23, Northwestern organizers turned out 120 students and 22 workers and their families to march in the university’s Homecoming Parade in support of an inclusive Northwestern community.
 
Northwestern students and workers in the Homecoming Parade.
 

      Before the parade, the Living Wage Campaign used this video to encourage folks to join them.
 
Beyond students and workers, the Campaign has also just begun reaching out to other members of the university community, such as university donors and members of the Board of Trustees.
 
Meanwhile, the administration is working with Campaign leadership to implement the community benefits that the university agreed to extend to workers last spring. These benefits include:
  • Non-university classes
  • Contractor ID cards that provide library access
  • Increased access to campus shuttles
  • Educational grants
  • Discounts at local stores
  • Northwestern theater and music grants
There’s a lot of work left to do, but the Northwestern community remains committed to winning living wages for all its workers.
 
[Another Editor’s Note: We here at Stir It Up think that the joint student/worker presence at the Homecoming parade is a great example of Building Community Across Counters!]

 

Chicago Students: Rally with Northwestern on Feb. 24

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 19:42
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The Northwestern Living Wage Campaign has an important rally coming up next week.  We encourage all students in the Chicago area to come out to support.  Complete an "I'll be there form" if you're definitely going to attend.

For those of you not familiar with the Northwestern campus, "the Arch" referenced in the flyer is at Sheridan and Chicago Aves. in Evanston, IL.  It is a short walk from the Davis Purple Line stop.

 

 

Check out the event on Facebook, as well as the video invite!

A Quick Update on Northwestern

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 20:52
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Today, Unite Here International President John Wilhelm issued a statement in support of the Northwestern Living Wage Campaign.  Just thought we'd take a moment to share:

“Thousands of dining hall workers, janitors, security guards and support staff make our nation’s wonderful universities function. Colleges should strive to create inclusive educational communities that recognize the hard work of those often invisible people who make these beacons of higher education operate on a day to day basis. University budgets should not be balanced on the backs of working people. Our nation’s labor movement is strengthened by students like those involved in Northwestern’s Living Wage Campaign fighting to make sure workers are treated fairly with dignity and respect. Hundreds of thousands of working families across America stand with students at Northwestern in calling for university workers to be paid a living wage.”

Northwestern Students and Workers Campaign for Living Wage

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 13:05
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In a long-overdue Stir It Up-date, the students and workers at Northwestern University are waging an impressive campaign for living wages for campus workers.  Though we at Stir It Up are not running this campaign, we are doing everything we can do to help out.

For now, I want to just share a few bits:

For a compelling story of the importance of living wage campaigns, read Unite Here Local 450 member Maurice Nix's column that ran in the student publications North by Northwestern and the Daily Northwestern.  Nix, known as the "sandwich guy" in Northwestern's student center and a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, writes, "Like in Birmingham in the 1960s, we are not asking for the world, we are asking for basic dignity and respect."

We encourage students from across the country to sign onto Northwestern's living wage petition and invite your friends to do the same by joining the Facebook event for the petition.

The campaign is taking an important step this Thursday -- students will deliver Valentine's Day cards to the University administration encouraging them to "have a heart" for campus workers.  

As more events unfold, we'll keep you posted.

 

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