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Universities' (mostly terrible) response to COVID


laleph

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Hello all,

Wondering what sorts of responses to the COVID crisis you've been seeing out there. In the Northeast, wealthy universities continue to treat their workers and students like trash. Below you'll find some of the petitions circulating to try to remedy this. Lmk if you'd like to get involved in any of these campaigns and I'll happily connect you.

Compilation: Coronavirus and Campus Activism

NB: This is an ongoing resource for compiling links and resources related to university policies and organizer responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone is free to add to, re-organize, and share this document.

 

Table of Contents

Petitions by Campus

Petitions by Topic

Summary of Key Demands

News Coverage

Mutual Aid and Collective Action

Petitions by Campus

Harvard

Petition

Resources

Mutual aid

 

Columbia 

Coronavirus Demands from Columbia AffiliatesOr http://tiny.cc/columbiapetition 

 

Housing Mutual Aid

Extend PhD funding by one year

 

NYU 

We Demand a Just Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

Full version

 

The New School

Petition to Pause Student Billing & Fees

 

UPenn

Petition to Protect Students and Workers at Penn Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

Princeton

PGSU response petition to administration regarding COVID-1

 

University of Chicago Labor Council

UCLC SARS-CoV-2 Demand Letter 

Full letter

 

Yale

Yale GSAS Open letter to Dean Cooley - Extend our funding

 

Johns Hopkins

Hopkins Community Demands University Pay Workers During COVID-19 Shutdown

 

WashU

WashU COVID-19 Resource Provide Form 

EVC HENRY WEBBER EMAIL (3/24/20)’s response to ^^ 

Petitions by Topic

Refund Tuition

Please give us a partial refund for classes (SVA)

MICA, Refund Students!

NYU Tisch Partial Tuition Refund Effort

Yale MFA (letter - no link)

RISD Petition for the Partial Refund of Tuition and Fees 

Penn State: Give Students a Partial Tuition and Housing Refund

Partial Tuition Reimbursement (Columbia University)

New School Petition

https://www.change.org/p/george-washington-university-gw-needs-to-refund-half-of-the-tuition-for-all-gw-students

Andrew M. Cuomo: Reimburse a discount for SUNY and CUNY Tuition

 

Stipend/Hiring related

NYU Letter: Stop the Clock (Additional Year of Graduate Funding)

Schools Announcing a Hiring Freeze (Blog Post, not all sources confirmed)

 

Housing Petitions

NYU Students' Response to COVID-19 Housing Closure (Change.org)

Keep Vassar Open

Wesleyan Petition

Columbia University Rent Survey

 

Workers Rights

We demand an immediate shift in RISD's priorities. (Esp. for staff to work from home) 

Hopkins Community Demands University Pay Workers During COVID-19 Shutdown

Under Worker and Student Pressure, Harvard Reverses Course and Agrees to Pay Dining, Custodial, and Other Workers During the COVID-19 Crisis

Brown: pay student workers https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuog578brzx2Oh7r9HXxelqTUNdjbQDq4i9C2iKmRavtEOCQ/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3unXfg4FSHtXD_rRsS-m6VokbBqRJbMhZGedeQRsKALuO1zxtgc7pdywM 

Northeastern: http://chng.it/RXbgZzdRYw?fbclid=IwAR3txqd31HtUZuEjLhDqVrD8pgVwT8FkQtY1ccNk41l5DF0-JfXHrxbPAos

 

General

Petition to Protect Students and Workers at Penn Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

SENS. Important: Information, Resources, and Petitions for Student Workers During COVID-19 pandemic

A Just Response to the COVID-19 Crisis (NYU Covid Coalition)

Columbia Covid Petition: http://tiny.cc/columbiacovidpetition

Princeton PGSU Petition (updated regularly)

 

Teaching

Resources for online instruction for art schools

 

Surveys 

BU International Students affected by summer funding survey

Summary of Key Demands

 

health & safety

on-demand testing and treatment

essential staff provided with protective equipment

 

sick pay / economic justice

Non-essential staff receives unlimited full pay; sick leave guarantees the same. Indefinite family leave

 

housing

Guarantee housing for all affected: extend housing contracts without rent, guarantee housing in fall 2020, reimbursement for on-campus room and board

 

tuition & funding

full tuition remission for spring 2020 (ug)

doctoral students receive summer funding consistent with fall and spring semesters

Extension of funding for one year(?)

 

academics

option to make classes pass/fail while counting towards requirements

withdraw from classes without impact to academic standing

 

International Student-workers

support and protect international students 

Extension of end of program date through summer

NYU:

NYU must ensure that all international students are allowed to stay in campus housing if they so choose, or guarantee access to alternate housing and cover any costs of housing over the costs of their present accommodations. (See the student petition here.)

This is not enough. NYU must ensure that, if international students end up staying outside of the country for more than 5 months and need to renew visas, visa renewal fees will be reimbursed. 

NYU must ensure that international students know how their immigration status and OPT applications may be affected if they choose to leave the country. 

NYU must actively lobby the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that international students are protected in all respects in these exceptional times and that no one is subject to deportation.

Petition from International and Immigrant Student Workers Alliance

News Coverage

Articles (Art Schools) 

AS CURRICULA MOVE ONLINE, YALE ART STUDENTS DEMAND TUITION REFUND (Artforum, March 23)

Art Students at Yale and Other Universities Are Demanding Tuition Refunds After Their Classes Were Moved Online (Artnet, March 24, 2020)

Art Students Demand University Accountability and Reimbursements During Pandemic (Hyperallergic, March 27, 2020)

Closure of San Francisco Art Institute (March 23, 2020)

 

Articles (General)

Coronavirus Closures Pose Refund Quandary (March 13, Inside Higher Ed)

To Fight Coronavirus, Colleges Sent Students Home. Now Will They Refund Tuition? (March 19, Wall Street Journal (Paywall))

Nearly 20,000 students at five San Diego universities move out of campus housing due to coronavirus (San Diego Union Tribune, March 23)

Yale changes its mind on beds for police and firefighters https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Yale-changes-its-mind-Beds-for-public-safety-15164015.php 

Resource for info/stats about Columbia spending: http://tiny.cc/takethemoneyfrom

 

Articles (NYC) 

An International House resident has died from COVID-19. Columbia evacuated hundreds of students days prior. (March 22, Columbia Spectator)

CUNY STUDENTS PUSHED OUT OF DORMS FOR MEDICAL SPACE (March 24, The City)

CUNY boots students from dorms to make space for coronavirus hospitals (March 25, New York Post)

CUNY moves booted dorm kids to Queens College (Queens Daily Eagle, March 27)

With College Dorms Closing Over Coronavirus Worries, Students Scramble to Move Out (Gothamist, March 26)

 

Mutual Aid and Collective Action

 

Emergency Funds (Crowdsourced)

Wesleyan FGLI (First Generation Low Income) Fund

RISD Shutdown Funds for Low Income Students

 

Mutual Aid

Peoples Coronavirus Response (Facebook Group, USA)

Mutual Aid Resources (NYC, compiled by Urban Demos)

Chinese volunteer experience takeaways 

 

Collective Actions/Strike

Rent Strike Toolkit

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