“Challenge Convention. Change Our World.” That’s the slogan of Clark University, the hedge f—sorry, college currently refusing to even recognize its new undergraduate student-workers union. As the strike sails over the one-week mark, we sit down with two of its captains, Maile Marguleas and Hadas Brownstein.
Help support the striking workers: The SYC Mutual Aid Fund For Strikers and other resources. The union’s Twitter and Instagram.
We also recap our time on the strike line earlier this week, from a bench in University Park. New mobile pod rig worked well and it was nice!
A good Clark Scarlet article on the university’s $500 million endowment
Most recent statement from the university administration
Highest paid city employees report (83 percent cops)
Make sure you check out the first Outdoor Cats Dispatch we put up a few days ago. It’s a straight NPR-style radio story on the strike, with audio and interviews from the scene.
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—Outro music / Intro music: “Roaming The Cosmic Winds” by Mystic Realm, Worcester-based dungeon synth project by Kevin Fitzgerald. Check out the full album, Forsaken Kingdom, on the Mystic Realm Bandcamp.
Discussion about this episode
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There's a major theme in reactionary local politics trying to compartmentalize things into local v national. Clark has said the quiet out loud. The national scene is humping all over the local.
Everything is interconnected, the local is just the point usually at which a relatively small number of regular people can change things in my experience. You've been at this a looong time, I wonder if you agree.
As the old saw goes, all politics is local. These days everywhere is local.
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Great work, guys! The university business model goes another 10x under the microscope. The mysterious equation that justifies the property tax exemption should be in the public domain, if it exists!