AAUP President Slams Temple University Strikebreaking Attempts

The president of the American Association of University Professors, Irene Mulvey, issued the following statement today in response to the extraordinary steps the administration of Temple University has taken in order to punish striking graduate workers and their student supporters.

The AAUP stands in full solidarity with the Temple University Graduate Association, currently on strike for a fair contract and a more just university for all. The vindictive act of cutting graduate student healthcare and tuition benefits rather than simply sitting down at the table to negotiate is a shameful tactic meant to break the will of the hard-working graduate students whose contributions make Temple University the premier university it is.

The fact that this cruel tactic unjustly punishes low income students simply trying to get an education is reprehensible. This, coupled with vague threats from university administration to undergraduate students supporting the strike, sends a clear message that Temple is not committed to its own stated core values, much less the mission of higher education as a common good.

Graduate students at Temple are among the lowest paid in the region. They are demanding equity, dignity, and respect and are exercising their legal right to organize and strike. The AAUP calls on the Temple University administration to rescind its shameful retaliatory tactics and go back to the table and bargain in good faith. The Temple University community deserves better.