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English Graduate Students Letter to Bruininks

Dear President Bruininks,

We the undersigned graduate students at the Department of English are writing to you today to express both our unwavering solidarity with the AFSCME clerical, technical, and medical workers and our disappointment with your administration’s refusal to provide them with a fair and equitable contract.

As students who believe that a university is a place where great
thoughts are allowed to flourish, we are saddened that this
administration fails to recognize the invaluable contribution each of
these workers makes to this end. It is especially disheartening that
this is the second such strike within a span of four years. Many of
these individuals have given decades to the University and each one deserves the respect of a just wage.

We depend on the clerical, technical, and medical workers daily to
answer our questions, organize our academic lives and otherwise
facilitate our intellectual and professional development as scholars and teachers. Yet, as great as our need is for the work they do, our need for them to be treated respectfully and to be compensated fairly is greater still. We urge you to reach a settlement that recognizes the indispensable role AFSCME workers play in making the University of Minnesota a first rate academic institution.

Sincerely,

Emily Anderson
Swati Avasthi
Madhurima Chakraborty
Sara Cohen
Michael Coleman
Ryan Cox
Renee DeLong
Molly Gage
Gabriel Gryffyn
Steve Healey
Nick Hengen
Kelly Hulander
Liz Hutter
Jayashree Kamble
Chris Kamerbeek
Will Kanyusik
Priscilla Kinter
Jessica Knight
Michelle Livingston
Lucia Pawlowski
Zachary Pierson
John Pistelli
M. Lynx Qualey
Kevin Riordan
Sarah Rodems
Nick Robinette
Adam T. Schrag
Barabara Schulman
Dana M. Schumacher
Becky Weaver
Jewon Woo
Jasmin Ziegler