Union members are planning to strike as a way to achieve their goals.

This week, Barnard’s SGA Rep Council meeting stayed topical and to the point, with discussions about the likely BCF-UAW strike, a presentation of the council’s mid-year financial report, and speeches by candidates for the Representative for Sustainable Initiatives.

The SGA began by welcoming student guests, four members of Student-Worker Solidarity, a labor solidarity group. Barnard’s contingent faculty union, which has been bargaining with the administration for close to a year, have set a strike date of February 21. Barring significant concessions by the administration in the next week, the union plans on striking on that date. The union members, which make about half of Barnard’s total faculty, will suspend their classes during the strike. Non-union faculty, such as tenured and tenure-track professors, will be encouraged to hold their classes off-campus in a show of solidarity.

SGA members questioned the student guests about how they think the strike will affect students, and how the SGA should respond. To demonstrate how they are representative of the student body, the SWS members showed the SGA a petition they circulated in support of the union, which contains about 600 signatures. About half of these signatures came from other Columbia undergraduates who take classes at Barnard and not Barnard students themselves.

While pointing out the difficulties an extended strike would cause students, especially seniors who may struggle to replace classes they need to graduate, and students with disabilities that may find it difficult to get to less-accessible alternative classroom locations, the SWS members emphasized that the strike would ultimately benefit the students, because “ultimately, teaching conditions are learning conditions.” The members noted that it won’t be easy. “It’s going to be a pain for all of the students,” one member admitted. But “they’re going to strike whether or not we support them. Trying to hold off the strike isn’t going to solve anything.”

SGA President Sarah Heiny noted that SGA’s Executive Board had been informed by Provost Linda Bell that a new and more generous offer had been presented to the union the day before the meeting, on Sunday February 12. The SWS members had not heard of this offer, but reaffirmed their opinion that strike will still go on. The SGA voted to write and publish a statement to the administration stating the council’s support for the union’s cause. Because of time constraints, no formal referendum process, in which SGA asks Barnard students to vote to approve or disapprove a statement, will take place at this time.

Next, VP Finance Evie McCorkle presented SGA’s mid-year financial review. As she read through a slideshow of numbers and budget figures (their projector setting-up skills have markedly improved since the beginning of the year, it’s quite amazing), most Rep Council members expressed little interest. A full report can be found on Barnard’s website. Significantly, Evie explained that the groups under SGA’s purview have spent an expected and reasonable amount of money for this point in the year. Following the presentation, the Rep Council voted to approve an update to the endowment proposal presented last semester, agreeing to spend $400 on buying two new scanners for Barnard students to use, one to be put in the Diana Center and one in the 616 dorm.

Finally, candidates for the SGA Rep for Sustainable Initiatives were invited to present speeches. Only one candidate was present. Zhuoxuan Tian, BC’ 19, enthusiastically took the floor to describe how she would increase campus sustainability through a labeling campaign, and how she would use her major in Sustainable Development to support her efforts. SGA VP Policy Maya Edwards read a speech submitted by Sam Doss, also BC’19, who couldn’t attend the meeting. Doss described how her work on Barnard Divest has prepared her for taking on this role. Two more students will present speeches at next week’s meeting, after which Rep Council will vote on who will take this position.

Some announcements:

• Barnard students, take the Desserts After Dark Survey, so the SGA can get all those statistics. And so you can get a free donut.
• If you want to voice support or concerns about the looming strike, contact the offices of Provost Bell or President Spar, sign the petition, or talk to your teachers.
• SGA’s Arts and Culture Committee is looking for student submissions to paint a mural on the second panel in Hewitt Dining Hall. Please submit something–the current mural is kind of boring to look at, especially since they’ve painted over the surreptitious buttocks earlier this year. We all could use some distraction during Sunday Hewitt brunch.

Image via WalkingGeek on Flickr