April 17, 2023
58%. As per the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, that is how prevalent sexual harassment is in academia. Academia is second only to the military.
58% of our friends, colleagues, classmates, students, and professors experience sexual harassment in our work and learning environments. The long-ranging effects of this harassment on academic success, careers, and lives is well-documented, and yet, during the bargaining process, WSU administration has demonstrated they are unwilling to strengthen protections to stem this rising tide of harassment. They have made a proposal that would prevent us from addressing these issues through the union grievance process and are hiding behind weakened, Trump-era Title IX rules, which the National Academies have recognized as insufficient and functioning to cover the liabilities of academic institutions.
ASEs will not settle for these outdated, harmful, and insufficient policies. We are proposing stronger and more specific protections against discrimination and harassment at our final day of bargaining for the semester on EQUITY DAY on Monday, April 24th at 1:00pm! All ASEs are encouraged to attend Equity Day and get involved with the planning process. Here’s the plan for the next week:
*TONIGHT!* Monday, 4/17 at 6pm – Organizing Training
Come learn–or get a refresher–on how to have powerful, effective organizing conversations in which you motivate a coworker to participate in collective action. This training is taking place TONIGHT, 4/17, at 6pm. We’ll focus on practicing conversations to turn people out to the 4/24 Equity Day bargaining action. Experienced and new organizers welcome. RSVP here.
Friday, 4/21 at 5pm- Next Monthly Meeting
This Friday (4/21) at 5pm, we will use our April Monthly Meeting to prepare for Equity Day! We provide a brief overview of the proposals we’ll be presenting and work on turning out our friends and colleagues to attend on the 24th. Please come provide feedback on proposals and help spread the word about Equity Day. To join, please RSVP here!
Monday, 4/24 at 1pm – Attend Equity Day
During our scheduled day of bargaining on April 24th, we are asking as many ASEs to log on to our bargaining Zoom as possible starting at 1PM. We want to flood WSU Admin’s screens with TAs, RAs, tutors, and other academic employees who demand protection from harassment and discrimination in our work environments. You are welcome to participate to whatever extent is comfortable – you can keep your video or sound off, and simply log in to zoom, or you can attend with a zoom background (coming soon!), or submit & deliver a personal testimonial about your experiences. However you choose to support, please come out to Equity day to demonstrate solidarity for these important issues so Admin can no longer write off our rights to dignity and fair treatment. RSVP for Equity Day here!
Tell your colleagues.
We find our strength in solidarity. Make sure to tell your WSU friends and colleagues about what Admin is trying to do and how they can fight back by showing up to Equity Day as a show of solidarity with their fellow ASEs.
Any questions? Email us at contact@wsucase.org!
In Solidarity,
WSU-CASE Bargaining Committee:
Acacia Patterson, Physics & Astronomy (Pullman)
Adam Bozman, Carson College of Business – Finance (Pullman)
Andre Diehl, Comparative Ethnic Studies (Pullman)
Arianna Gonzales, Psychology (Pullman)
Aurora Brinkman, Psychology (Pullman)
Chelsea Mitchell, School of the Environment (Puyallup Research and Extension Center)
Chia-Hui Chen, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Claudia Skinner, School of Languages, Cultures, and Race (Pullman)
Cody Lauritsen, College of Veterinary Medicine (Pullman)
Coty Jasper, Integrative Physiology & Neuroscience (Vancouver)
Dano Holt, School of the Environment (Pullman)
Evan Domsic, Crop and Soil Science (Mount Vernon NWREC)
Gavin Doyle, English (Pullman)
Hannah Cohen, Veterinary Clinical Sciences (Pullman)
Kartik Sreedhar, Physics & Astronomy (Pullman)
Kayla Spawton, Plant Pathology (Mount Vernon NWREC)
Kelsey King, School of Biological Sciences (Vancouver)
Miles Hopkins, School of the Environment (Pullman)
Miranda Zuniga-Kennedy, Clinical Psychology (Pullman)
Naseeha Cardwell, Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering (Pullman/Tri-Cities)
Natalie Yaw, Chemistry (Pullman)
Ninh Khuu, Plant Pathology (Prosser)
Peter Obi, Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Raymond Bennett, Psychology (Pullman)
Rebecca Evans, Biology (Vancouver)
Shawn Domgaard, Communication (Pullman)
Tazin Rahman, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (Pullman)
Tholen Justin Blasko, Animal Sciences (Pullman)
Victor Moore, History (Pullman)
Victoria Oyanna, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Spokane)
Whitney Shervey, Sociology (Pullman)
Yiran Guo, Mechanical and Materials Engineering (Pullman)