Students, workers charge:
UMass officials collaborate with racists
By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Amherst, Mass.
At a joint news conference Nov. 4, two leading unions at the
University of Massachusetts-Amherst charged the university
administration with collaborating with racists in the Student
Government Association to undermine the Office of ALANA Affairs
(OAA). ALANA advocates for institutional support for African,
Latino/a, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American
students.
The Graduate Employee Organization-UAW Local 2322 and
Service Employees Local 888 distributed a series of emails they
say were sent by Patrick G. Higgins, the former Senate speaker
of the SGA, to Michael Gargano Jr., vice chancellor for student
affairs and campus life, Charles DiMare, director of the
Student Legal Services Office, and others.
GEO represents 2,500 graduate student-workers. Local 888
represents professional staff at UMass Amherst.
Higgins was one of those depicted in recently released
photographs of nine students partying and posing with Ku Klux
Klan symbols on March 29 in the Student Center for Educational
Research. One photo depicted Higgins dressed as a "grand
wizard," with a burning cross in his hand and a word bubble
stating, "I love ALANA."
The photos were distributed throughout the campus community
the weekend of Sept. 25-26 via email after ALANA students
discovered them. The photos had been posted to the personal web
page of SCERA's student office coordinator and linked off the
organization's website.
None of the nine students was suspended or expelled. In
fact, two of them now hold positions in the SGA, and some
others in an SGA-funded campus office. The administration
emphatically stated that their punishments weren't to be made
public.
But a few days after the Klan incident, when students
allegedly "rioted" on campus after a Boston Red Sox victory,
the administration released press statements listing all the
students arrested and their punishments, which included
suspensions for allegedly damaging campus property and injuring
some police. This information was published on the front page
of the campus newspaper, The Daily Collegian.
During the anti-racist fight back over the Klan photos,
which included a demonstration of over 500 on Oct. 6, many
charged that the nine students were working side by side with
the administration to undermine institutional supports and the
autonomy of the ALANA office.
GEO, Local 888, ALANA and their allies say the emails are
proof of this.
People of color harassed
GEO announced at the news conference that it received
approximately 18 emails that cover a period between May and
September 2004, forwarded from an anonymous source. The emails,
GEO claims, have a direct bearing on grievances initiated
recently by GEO on behalf of Gladys Franco, a graduate student
employee in the OAA, and by Local 888 on behalf of Nelson
Acosta, director of OAA.
GEO's grievance charges that the administration harassed and
discriminated against Franco when it withheld pay from her for
work performed in the OAA. Local 888's grievance charges the
administration with blocking Acosta from taking medical leave
for cancer treatment and appointing an assistant director for
the OAA during his requested leave.
"The emails demonstrate a long-term, coordinated effort to
eliminate Franco's position in the OAA and to inhibit the work
of the OAA in general. The emails also suggest a strategy to
eliminate the ALANA caucus seats in the SGA," GEO said in a
Nov. 3 news release.
One email from Higgins to Gargano reads in part: "What is
your plan for Gladys Franco being the grad student in OAA? My
understanding was you intended to pull funding and I am curious
as to when you plan on doing that ... I want a new OAA, the
current system and philosophies simply don't cut it."
Another email says: "This summer you announced to me that it
was your intention to remove funding to the graduate assistant
you pay for in OAA. I am curious when you are going to pull the
trigger on this move?"
Yet another suggests a "strategy" between the two
individuals to remove Franco from her position.
Other emails refer to the removal of the ALANA caucus seats
by outgoing SGA leaders and suggest that the university's
general counsel told administrators and DiMare, SGA's legal
counsel, the seats were legal. "This information appears to
have been concealed from student leaders who were trying to
preserve the seats," says GEO.
GEO, Local 888 and ALANA are engaging in various tactics to
fight back against the administration's institutional racism
and concerted activity to undermine independent student
autonomy and power on campus.
For years the administration has dismantled affirmative
action and ESL programs, removed advising programs for students
of color, and underfunded support services for lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender students and women, among other
attacks.
The administration's response to this most recent exposure
of its institutional racism has been a massive public-relations
campaign touting its "diverse" programs on campus. It plans to
implement a 22-member "Diversity Commission," ostensibly to
investigate the administration's actions and its commitment to
"building a racially and ethnically diverse campus community,"
according to the commission's website (www.umass.edu/
campusdiversity).
This commission, albeit with some progressive members, was
appointed by Chancellor John Lombardi with no representation
for ALANA, Stonewall Center, Everywoman's Center or the
unions.
The students' response has been an independent mobilization,
with various tactics and strategies including educational,
legal and agitational actions. Student-led organizations like
ALANA and coalitions such as Take Back UMass are moving the
struggle forward with these objectives.
See www.geouaw.org and www. seiu888.org for more information
on the fight-back initiatives. Contact Chancellor John Lombardi
at (413) 545-2211 or lombardi@umass.edu and demand the racist
attacks stop now.
Reprinted from the Nov. 18, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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