NYU Profs Teach Off-Campus to Support Strike
New York, NY —
Hundreds of New York University faculty have taken their classes off-campus - to city parks, restaurants and their own apartments as a way of showing support for a strike by graduate teaching assistants.
REPORTER: Student leaders are trying to pressure NYU to negotiate, but the university has stopped recognizing the union's legitimacy. English professor Elaine Freedgood was one of several dozen faculty who met with University President John Sexton in hopes of mending the situation.
FREEDGOOD: We're all baffled that he'd put the gains that he has in part been responsible for, that NYU has made, in terms of its reputation and national standing. He's about to scuttle them. This will damage us, possibly beyond repair. It will take years to recover from this strike.
REPORTER: NYU claims the Graduate Students are not technically employees and thus cannot form a union. Nonetheless, it promises to maintain their wages and health benefits. NYU's decision not to recognize the union is backed up by a ruling last year by the National Labor Relations Board. Graduate students in public universities have been unionized for many years.
