KPLU Local News
(2010-03-04)
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There will be one-day 'strikes' at universities across the nation. A coalition of student and labor organizations at the Univ. of Washington will join them on Thurs., March 4, 2010.
(AP Photo/Nancy Palmieri)
Protest leaders at the UW say it's not just one issue. Michelle Woo is with the UW Student Workers Coalition, the strike's organizers.
"We are not OK with how things are going."
Woo says budget cuts have eliminated too many teacher's assistants and writing tutors, instead of cutting administrators. She says that hurts the students who need them the most.
"Education is an inherent good in that everyone should be able to take part of, and right now minorities and marginalized groups are being affected the most. They are the one's being locked out of the system because the cuts are hurting them the most," Woo says. She adds rising tuition becomes a barrier for people without resources.
The coalition is against legislation that would allow the university set its own tuition rates. That's currently the job of the legislature. Even though the bill's chances of being approved by lawmakers seem slim to none, she says its part of a trend by the UW to run education as a business.
A university spokesman says cuts to administration have been twice as much as those to academic programs. He says some of the top paid employees, including President Mark Emmert, are contributing portions of their salaries to scholarships and classroom instruction. Gary Davis, KPLU News, Seattle.
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