I have posted this yesterday to xmca but it seems it only made Eugene's
mailbox. I put it as a complement of Mike's posting called Marx on the front
page
>
> >>Class Struggle 101
> >>
> >>The Progressive
> >>November 2003 Issue
> >>Flip Side, By Barbara Ehrenreich
> >>http://www.progressive.org/nov03/ehr1103.html
> >>
> >>
> >>Barbara Ehrenreich Column photoOn the evening of August 24, I had dinner
> >>with Randy Marcum, who works in the boiler room at Miami University of
Ohio.
> >>Joining us were about ten other campus workers, plus some of their
student
> >>supporters. It was a hefty meal--the best the Holiday Inn had to
> >>offer--complete with wine and dessert. Which was a good thing, because
three
> >>weeks later, Marcum was on a hunger strike to dramatize the poverty of
Miami
> >>University's food service and maintenance workers.
> >>
> >>Welcome to higher education, twenty-first-century style, where the most
> >>important course offered is not listed in the college catalog. It's
called
> >>Class Struggle, and it pits the men in suits--administrators and
> >>trustees--against the men and women who keep the school running:
maintenance
> >>workers, groundspeople, clerical and technical workers, housekeepers,
food
> >>service workers. Yale has gotten all the national attention, with its
> >>tumultuous three-week-long strike that just ended in a stunning victory
for
> >>the university's clerical and maintenance workers. But similar clashes
are
> >>going on in less illustrious places, like the University of North
Carolina
> >>at Chapel Hill, where housekeepers, who have been trying to win union
> >>recognition for years, led a lively rally and teach-in on September 23.
> >>
> >>As for Miami University, 460 maintenance workers are now out on strike,
as I
> >>write at the end of September. Randy has ended his fast in order to
build up
> >>energy for the picket line. The students have erected a tent city in
front
> >>of the administration building. And faculty members are planning their
own
> >>night in the tent city. Union picketers humiliated the university by
turning
> >>away the union camera crews who had come to televise a Miami RedHawks
vs.
> >>Cincinnati Bearcats game.
> >>
> >>College presidents, deans, provosts, chancellors--along with their
deputies,
> >>assistants, and other members of the ever-proliferating educational
> >>administrative workforce--insist that their labor problems are a sorry
> >>distraction from their institutions' noble purpose of enlightening young
> >>minds. But administrators like to cloak themselves in the moral
authority of
> >>Western Civilization, such as it is, which means that labor issues are
> >>hardly peripheral to the university's educational mission. On an
increasing
> >>number of campuses, incoming students are greeted at a formal fall
> >>convocation in which the top administrators--suited up in full medieval
> >>mortarboard-and-gown attire--deliver platitudinous speeches about
Character,
> >>Integrity, and Truth. The message is that these weirdly costumed folks
are
> >>not mere executives of a corporation but the guardians of an ancient and
> >>sacred tradition. So when these same dignitaries turn out to be grossly
> >>underpaying their employees and harassing the "troublemakers" among
them,
> >>they do so with the apparent blessing of Aristotle, Plato, and
Shakespeare.
> >>
> >>If the university has so much to teach about social inequality, why
> >>shouldn't the students get credit for learning it? The covert lessons
from
> >>the administration should be formalized as course offerings. Here's the
> >>curriculum.
> >>
> >>Elementary Class Structure of the United States: The University as
> >>Microcosm. In this four-credit course, we will examine the pay gradient
from
> >>housekeeper (approximately $19,000/year) to president (more than
$270,000
> >>for Miami University's James C. Garland and about $500,000 for Yale's
> >>Richard Levin). In the final exam, students will be asked to discuss the
> >>rationale for this pay gap in terms of the payees' contributions to the
> >>university, ongoing housing and wardrobe expenses, and intrinsic human
> >>worth.
> >>
> >>Presidential Architecture: A three-credit seminar course featuring field
> >>trips through university-provided presidential dwellings, including
"great
> >>rooms," wet bars, saunas, guest suites, and exercise rooms, with a side
> >>trip, if time permits, to the trailer parks favored by the housekeeping
and
> >>maintenance staff.
> >>
> >>Race, Gender, and Occupational Preference: In this advanced sociology
> >>seminar, we will analyze the way campus workers sort themselves into
various
> >>occupations on the basis of race and gender, and we will explore various
> >>theories attempting to explain this phenomenon--for example, the Innate
> >>Athleticism theory of why African Americans so often prefer manual
labor,
> >>and the Nimble Fingers theory of why females can usually be found doing
the
> >>clerical work.
> >>
> >>Topics in University Financing: A four-credit business course tracing
the
> >>development of the current two-pronged approach to financing
institutions of
> >>higher learning--tuition increases for the students plus pay decreases
for
> >>the staff. Alternative approaches to financing, featuring militant
campaigns
> >>for adequate public funding for higher education, will be thoroughly
> >>critiqued.
> >>
> >>A cynic might say that the true purpose of college is to teach exactly
such
> >>lessons. After all, college graduates are a relative elite, comprising
only
> >>25 percent of the adult population, and they are expected to fill the
kind
> >>of administrative and managerial jobs that make it a positive advantage
to
> >>be able to starve workers, impose layoffs, and bust unions without
losing a
> >>minute of sleep. Some students catch on with lightning-like speed, such
as
> >>Yale's precocious Scott Wexler, eighteen, who confided to The New York
> >>Times, "I kind of like walking through the picket lines." This young man
> >>will make a fine assistant regional manager at Wal-Mart--or possibly a
> >>college president.
> >>
> >>Fortunately, not all students are buying the administrations' lesson
plan.
> >>At Harvard in the spring of 2001, students occupied an administration
> >>building for twenty-one days to persuade the administration to bargain
with
> >>campus janitors, many of whom were paid only $6.50 an hour. Last spring,
> >>Stanford students went on their own hunger strike in support of campus
blue
> >>collar workers. And it's not just the super-elite schools that have been
> >>generating vigorous student-labor alliances. At mainstream public
> >>universities like those of Maryland and Virginia, there are plenty of
> >>students who would agree with Miami University's Justin Katko, when he
> >>writes that he got involved in the campus workers' struggle because "I
could
> >>not allow such extreme disparities as are found on college campuses . .
. to
> >>exist without being ashamed of myself for apathy."
> >>
> >>It's hard to concentrate in classrooms that were cleaned during the
night by
> >>people who can barely make rent. You tend to choke on your chicken
fingers
> >>when the cafeteria is staffed by men and women who have to work a second
job
> >>in order to feed their own children.
> >>
> >>
> >>Barbara Ehrenreich is a columnist for The Progressive. She is the author
of
> >>"Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" and "Blood Rites:
Origins
> >>and History of the Passions of War."
>
>
> --
> Jean E. Pretz
> Yale University
> Psychology Department
> P.O. Box 208205
> New Haven, CT 06520-8205
> phone: 203 432 4661
> fax: 203 432 7172
> http://www.yale.edu/pace
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