Friday’s Events, etc.

Friday, April 1st

11am Free Yoga and Stretching!! Bring a yoga mat if you have one, again, not required! Soc. Sci. BLDG

Noon General meeting! There will be free lunch. Mmmm. Soc. Sci. BLDG

5pm Trans 101 Workshop at Soc. Sci. BLDG

8pm Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Benefit show! Help send SDS to NYC for the National Anti-war Protest.

FREE. Bring Cash to donate to the cause!!!

Music: Sundowners, Frozenteens, Children of Euler, Chickadee Mountain Martyrs

Location: Sisters’ Camelot 2310 Snelling Ave. Minneapolis

Solidarity Statement with IATSE Local 13

We, the occupiers of the University of Minnesota Social Sciences tower, extend our solidarity to the members of IATSE Local 13, the stagehands union in Minneapolis. We support your informational picket of US First, the organization that refused to hire union labor and instead hired non-union labor in order to save money. In line with our commitment to support all organized labor, we believe that it is wrong to forgo union labor for the sake of cutting costs, especially for an event on the University of Minnesota campus. For more information, go to IATSE local 13’s website: http://www.iatse13.org/

 

Solidarity Forever!

Thursday’s Events!

7:30am-5:30pm IATSE picket outside Williams Arena on East Bank.

10:00-11:00am UMN Public Speaking class will present their protest speeches in the Social Science Building!

11:00am-1:00pm Jimmy John’s picket at the Riversideside location. Sick day theme! Bring face masks, tongue depressors, stethoscopes. Stand in solidarity with the Jimmy John’s crew as they continue their fight for fair wages, sick days, and to be treated with the kind of respect that every human deserves!

For more information about their campaign and ways to help visit their website: http://www.jimmyjohnsworkers.org/

2:00pm Movie! Bread and Roses: The Balance Of Power Is About To Change. Come join us in the Social Sciences Building at 2pm after the Jimmy John’s picket to watch this film about “two Latina sisters [who] work as cleaners in a downtown office building, and fight for the right to unionize.”

3:30pm Yoga at the Soc Sci Bldg! Carpeted area. Bring a yoga mat if you have one, but it’s not required!

4:15pm GENERAL OCCUPATION MEETING – Now is your chance to learn more about the movement, talk to your community members, and find out how you can be involved in this movement.  This is YOUR community!

6:00pm Demanding the Impossible: Anarchism Reading Group EXCO class being held here tonight at the Soc. Sci. Bldg.

7:00pm JJWU Solidarity Meeting

8:00pm Students for a Sensible Drug Policy student group meeting. Soc. Sci. Bldg.

Check back later for more updates on schedules and events. – Updated @ 12p

Wednesday’s Schedule

General meeting – 1 pm – (come down to learn what’s happening, discuss our goals, and get involved! — and to enjoy free food and coffee!)

Transgender 101 workshop – 4 pm

Dinner – 6:30

more to come in a bit!

Students, Faculty, and Community Members Continue Occupation of Social Sciences Tower at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Hallie (612)217-2462, umnsolidarity@gmail.com

March 29, 2011

 

Students, Faculty, and Community Members Continue Occupation of Social Sciences Tower at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Negotiations with UMN Police Allow Some Occupiers to Stay Overnight

 

Minneapolis – After occupying the first floor of the Social Sciences Tower on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus for ten hours, students and community members were confronted by the University of Minnesota Police Department around 10:15 pm, 45 minutes before the building was supposed to be closed for the night. Police initially insisted that occupiers leave the building, and were not willing to negotiate with the group. However, the UMPD was persuaded to meet and discuss the issue with two occupiers, one of whom was a faculty member. After 40 minutes of negotiations between the two parties, a compromise was made. The police would allow 12 students to stay in the Social Sciences tower over night, but all other occupiers had to leave for the night.

 

“Ideally, we all would have been allowed to stay overnight,” said Elliot, a member of the South Minneapolis community, “But given the choice between being arrested and completely losing the space, or allowing 12 students to stay and continue the occupation, it was a fairly easy decision for us to make.” In the morning, the other occupiers returned and the space continued to function as it had the day before.

 

The occupiers have also created a calendar of events that are open to all members of the university and the public. The events, which are listed on their blog, http://www.umnsolidarity.wordpress.com, include group meals, a movie night, and workshops. According to Danny, a graduate student, more events are being planned to further spread the message of the occupation and to talk about how the university community can solve the issues that it is facing. “We have been approached by a number of professors who want to bring their classes to the space. So far, it has been really successful for both the classes and the occupation,” he added.

 

Students, faculty, and community members have been occupying the Social Sciences Tower on the West Bank of the Twin Cities University of Minnesota campus since 1pm on March 28th. Their list of demands is as follows:

 

“Because we are residents of Minnesota, and because this is a public, land-grant university,

We demand the right to peacefully occupy space at our university,

We demand that the general public has reasonable access to university resources;

We demand that the university respect the rights of all workers to organize and to earn at least a living wage;

We demand tuition and fee reductions;

We demand that regents be democratically elected by the university community;

We demand that the university treat student groups fairly and equitably with respect to funding and space. We demand student groups on the 2nd floor of Coffman Union be able to keep their spaces.

In doing so, we stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin, and students and workers worldwide.”

 

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Tentative schedule for Tuesday

Have an activity you want to add? Come on down to the Social Sciences building at put it on the calendar!

Tuesday, March 29:

3pm – Theatre of the Oppressed/People Power Workshop

5:30 – Dinner begins

6pm – Organizing  Meeting

7:30 – Movie night!

9pm – webcam date with the occupiers on the UW-Milwaukee campus!

ALSO: There is pizza!

(Want to order a solidarity pizza? Mesa Pizza: (612) 436-3006.  Give them our # – 612-217-2462)

our flier today

Our demands

Because we are residents of Minnesota, and because this is a public, land-grant university,

We demand the right to peacefully occupy space at our university,

We demand that the general public has reasonable access to university resources;

We demand that the university respect the rights of all workers to organize and to earn at least a living wage;

We demand tuition and fee reductions;

We demand that regents be democratically elected by the university community;

We demand that the university treat student groups fairly and equitably with respect to funding and space. We demand student groups on the 2^nd floor of Coffman Union be able to keep their spaces.

In doing so, we stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin, and students and workers worldwide.

University of Minnesota Occupation Press Release 3/28/11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Hallie (612)217-2462, umnsolidarity@gmail.com

Students and Community Supporters Occupy Social Sciences Tower at University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus – West Bank

Occupying in Solidarity with Wisconsin Students and Workers and Against University Budget Cuts

Minneapolis – On Monday, March 28th, a group of students and community members have occupied the first floor of the Social Sciences tower on the West Bank of the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Following a rally in front of Coffman Memorial Union, participants marched across the East Bank of campus and crossed the Mississippi River onto the West Bank. Students and supporters entered into the first floor of the Social Sciences tower and held an assembly to discuss possible courses of action. Using a democratic process of consensus, protesters decided to hold the space in an open and soft occupation.

Since the occupation is non-violent and open, as of press time the University has not removed the occupiers. However, the University buildings close to the public at 11 pm each night. “We have a solid group of people here who are committed to the occupation, and we are using social media to bring more students and supportive community members to the space,” said undergraduate student Andrew, who has chosen not to give his last name. “We are planning specific events for the space in order to benefit the entire community, which we will be posting on our blog, umnsolidarity.wordpress.com,” added Sara, a U of M student who was forced to take a semester off of school for lack of finances.

Students and community supporters are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, skyrocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic crisis while the rich only get richer. Inspired by the actions of students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Madison, and other campuses around the state, U of M students are standing up against injustices in their own state and their own university.

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University of Minnesota Student Walkout, Rally, March and Assembly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: umnsolidarity@gmail.com

Outrage over Soaring Tuition Boils Over with Student Walkout at University of Minnesota

Wisconsin Labor Unrest Inspires Action

Rally and March: 11:30am Monday, March 28th, Coffman Union, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities East Bank

MINNEAPOLIS- On Monday, March 28th, students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus will walk out of class at 11:30 am for a rally and march at Coffman Memorial Union. Students are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, sky-rocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural-diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic crisis while the rich only get richer. Inspired by the actions of students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Madison, and other campuses around the state, U of M students are standing up against injustices in their own state and their own university.

In-state tuition at the Twin Cities campus has increased 150% over the past 10 years, but students are not receiving a better quality education for their money: class sizes are increasing, student-to-teacher ratios are rising, more classes are taught by contingent and part-time faculty instead of professors, and available financial aid is decreasing. “If more and more services are being cut, then where is my tuition money going?” asked undergraduate student Jacob Niewald. “From what I’ve seen at the University, the only people who are improving their economic standing are upper-administrators and star faculty.” Additionally, the Minnesota house just presented their version of a budget bill that would cut $161.9 million of state funding for the university, placing even more financial burden on students and workers in the University of Minnesota system.

These proposed cuts would also force the university to freeze wages for faculty and staff, a group that, according to graduate student Eli Meyerhoff, has already had to make too many concessions. “These are hard-working people with families to support and student loans to pay off. What will happen if they have their wages cut, their benefits decreased, or their jobs eliminated? The results of these attacks on the livelihoods of university workers will be felt by everyone, from students to faculty to the greater Minnesota community.”

It is for these reasons that students have decided that enough is enough. Together, members of the University of Minnesota community are walking out and marching in order to:

-Foster worker-student solidarity and unity
-Oppose increases in tuition, wage cuts and salary freezes for staff and faculty, and continued salary increases for upper-administration
-Call for a tuition freeze, across the board raises for university workers making less than $50,000 a year, and pay cuts for administrators making more than $200,000
-Stand in solidarity with students and workers everywhere, particularly with those involved in current struggles in Wisconsin and other states with similar bills, as well as in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and numerous others.
-Stand in solidarity with students in Milwaukee and support their ongoing occupation on the UWM campus
-Support the idea of a general strike in Wisconsin as the most effective means to stop Governor Scott Walker’s attack on students and working people in that state

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