TAA endorses Juliana Bennett for Madison Common Council, District 8

Statement on the TAA Endorsement of Juliana Bennett
for Madison Common Council, District 8

The Teaching Assistants’ Association endorsed Juliana Bennett in her race for Madison Common Council District 8 alder during our February General Membership Meeting. Bennett is one of the co-founders of the UW-Madison BIPOC Coalition, through which she has worked with the TAA to put on protests and other actions focused on curtailing UWPD’s power, demanding a moral restart, and advancing our financial precarity campaign. She has also been an active participant in both university and city government meetings, speaking at Common Council on the issues above and in favor of shifting resources from MPD to meeting the basic needs of the community. Currently, alongside her campaign for alder, she is involved with the ASM’s effort to provide financial relief to students during the pandemic.

Bennett’s engagement in local government is grounded in a desire to elevate historically silenced voices and bring the power of the people to bear on city hall:

I will actively work to amplify and include youth, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and any person from a historically marginalized background in the city, through increasing the number of students on city committees and make myself readily available to my constituency. […] Our society benefits from open dialogue of diverse voices, including the unique perspective you have to offer. I promise to not only listen and represent my constituent’s interests, but also bring their voices into the conversation. My goal is to create a strong, lasting coalition of civically engaged young people that will continue to bring about change in Madison! Our campaign is completely funded by the community and empowered by UW students. The TAA plays a crucial role in this, as I hope to continue to build grad and undergrad solidarity to push together to reach our shared objectives. 

The TAA agrees that the way forward in Madison is with as few barriers to community participation as possible, and we believe that Bennett’s history of collaborative advocacy makes her the best choice for Madison Common Council in District 8. We encourage supporting Juliana Bennett campaign events and voting in the spring election by Tuesday, April 6.