GESO's pathbreaking new report on "The Need For Academic Visa Reform and Labor Rights at American Universities" is now online here. The report documents the plight of international student workers at Yale. It also talks about ways that workers have stood up and fought for a voice in their work. A graduate student who was diagnosed with cancer two years ago but forced to keep working in order to afford treatment said:

"I've been a member of GESO for several years now. It's been a good experience for me. GESO members are very good people and they care about other people, about me. When I was sick, I got a lot of help from GESO members. And I participated in the strike [in March, 2003]. It was tough. I want to work with other GESO members to win benefits for graduate students. But I was pressured to continue to work. In the end, I chose to strike because I thought it was more important to win recognition from the University. It was worth it."

You should also check out www.visareform.net

You can also read "The [Un]usual Suspects," the report about Yale's anti-union campaign against teachers and researchers. This report was submitted before the Academic Labor Board.

"On September 4, 2002, Enrique M. De La Cruz – a junior professor in the Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics – warned a student in his lab as witnessed by a GESO organizer:

‘If you or anybody else in this lab goes on strike, I’ll kick you out of this
lab!’ De La Cruz then turned to (the student) and myself and said, ‘What
do you think of that?’ He was red in the face and shaking at this point. I
answered, ‘Well, I think what you are saying is illegal.’ De La Cruz
yelled, ‘I don’t care about the law, this is personal!’ He then looked at
(the student) and said, ‘We’ll take this outside, just you and me’."

The report concludes with some concrete recommendations. Among them:

"8) Because the right to organize specifically, and academic freedom more generally, have been threatened at many universities, professional associations and other academic institutions should come together to establish a code of conduct specific to universities that would seek to guarantee an academic culture that values the free expression of ideas and dissent free from fear of reprisals. Further, professional associations should include fair labor practices in their assessment of programs."

Oh yeah. One more thing: Gordon Lafer's article, Land and labor in the post-industrial university town: remaking social geography, is online. You need to read this.  ¶ 12:57 AM