Yale and its discontents

Radical Teacher, Spring, 2004

Yale University students began fall semester of 2003 against the backdrop of a two-and-a-half-week strike by Yale clerical, maintenance and dining hall employees. The strike, supported by over 10,000 workers and students, involved over 150 arrests, including AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, as well as the presidents of UNITE! (the garment workers' union), the Carpenters' union, the Service Employees International Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees. For full coverage, see The Nation, October 6, 2003; The Guardian, September 15, 2003; and New Haven Register, September 14, 2003.

Later in the fall semester, hundreds of students and union members marched to downtown New Haven to pressure Yale into providing affordable health care for families of employees and graduate students (New Haven Register, December 11, 2003).