Call to Faculty
We, members of Faculty Democracy, abhor the recent policy decisionstaken by the President and the Provost regarding the penalties for striking
Graduate Assistants that are scheduled to go into effect this Monday.
Insofar as these decisions also affect academic matters such as
evaluation of student work and assignment of teaching responsibilities within
departments, they improperly encroach on the domain of faculty
governance.
If the administration proceeds with these unduly harsh and undemocratic
policies, there will be consequences that may include, but are not
limited to, the following: withholding grades, implementing a
moratorium on the graduate admissions process, and informing prospective
candidates for faculty positions, as well as those to whom offers are outstanding, of
the administration's persistent violations of faculty rights at NYU.
We call on other faculty members and administrators to join us in
pursuing these and other actions. In addition, there is an action you
can take that would help prevent the administration from following
through on its threats towards graduate assistants.
A section canceled by a faculty member cannot legitimately be
held to have failed to meet owing to the absence of a TA or preceptor.
We therefore encourage faculty who hold classes with sections taught by
TAs to unilaterally cancel all section meetings for lecture courses this week
and indeed for the remainder of the semester. Those who choose to do so
should be sure to notify all students in class so they do not waste their time
by showing up, and their respective Dean's office so administrators do not
engage in needless surveillance work.
We call on other faculty members and administrators to join us in
pursuing these and other actions.