Let's stop activity on campus tomorrow

The Teaching Assistants’ Association is strongly calling for a “teach out” tomorrow. This means we’re calling for all activity to cease on campus in response to the threat that the Budget Repair Bill poses to graduate employees, the university community, and workers across the state. We are not calling for the cancelling of classes, since we value the role of the UW as an institution of learning. Instead, we are calling for holding classes off campus, or rescheduling them. We are urging teaching assistants, faculty, and academic staff to exercise discretion in scheduling instruction.

We are expressing solidarity with teaching staff, graduate employees and undergraduates in response to Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget repair bill, which would devastate our collective bargaining rights.

This action is in line with those being taken at other schools and universities across the state. Most schools in the UW system are planning similar action.

This “teach-out” may seem like an extreme move. However, the bill is extreme enough to warrant serious action that would impact all of the teachers and students in the state of Wisconsin. Action is needed now, since the Senate is set to vote on the bill soon.

Chancellor Biddy Martin, when told about the teach-out, said she is not surprised, and that there are no formal plans to stop it.

For immediate release
Contact:
Alex Hanna, 765-404-6996
Kevin Gibbons, 813-466-0952