Business news is broadcast and printed in multiple outlets daily. But where is labor news? The IU School of Business is heavily rewarded with money and admistrative support. But IU is about to jettison its Division of Labor Studies. Understanding workers' rights and contributions to our economy is fully as important as turning out more MBAs. This is another Republican sponsored action against workers and their place in a strong American economy.
In this day and age of erroding workers rights in favor of corporations (corporate rights over human rights), it is more critical than ever to have a labor studies program.
Do not forget the working people of America who built this country. Politics should stay out of academic offerings. This is a clear attempt of a Republican Governor to play politics with a University's academic freedom. If IU can offer courses in East Asian studies and European Studies certainly there is room for (American)Labor Studies.
It would be a disservice to students to eliminate the Labor Studies Program. I strongly urge that it be maintained and strengthened. I have taught in such programs around the country, and I have taught in the UI program for several years. Every class has been a joy to teach.
As and educator for 40 years and aunion representative for 180 Teachers of the Speech and Language Impaired, Audiologists and Speech Pathologists for many years, I have been dismayed by the lack of knowledge of labor history and the functioning of labor unions. A Division of Labor Studies is an important educational component to any university training.
If IU seeks to maintain its status as a leading state university, in the ranks of U. Ill., U. Mich, U. Wisc., U Cal, U. Mass, and so on, it is crucial that you maintain your program. Without it, you surely will do damage to IU's reputation. This is sad.
Labor studies is part of American history and important to the education of many of our students. Can the public presume that the University of Indiana now plans to cut back on or phase out business studies? This actions appears to be political and partisan. Whose interests are being served here?
Another attack on organized labor and working families. Disappointing. I expect this type of action from employers and the NLRB, not institutions of higher learning.
because a university is supposed to be that rare place in our world where society's deepest values and beliefs and conflicts are examined. To eliminate Labor Studies is to both deny the past and move blindly into the future. Surely conflicts, both domestic and international, over scarce high quality employment are coming. How can students and workers, including knowledge workers, citizens all, prepare and respond without the the institutional presence of those deeply connected to the realities and aspirations of organized and unorganized working citizens. Surely the effort to stamp out the Labor Studies program should be a case study for business school ethics sessions on the arrogance of power.
As the director of education for AFSCME Council 13, I realize the value of providing strong labor studies programs across this nation. Those heroes who ran into the World Trade Center on 9/11 were union members . . . fire fighters, police, EMTs, and paramedics but all union people.
For the past 150 years, America's wars have been fought and won by sons and daughters of the working class. Today's wars, in Iraq and Afganistan, are no exception. Don't short change those who have fought so hard to keep this country strong.
University-based labor education programs are as vital to working men and women as med schools are to practitioners and business schools are to executives and managers. As Spike Lee urged, let's "do the right thing." John R.Hanson,
Exec. Dir.
MaineStateBldg.
& Construc. Trades Council
Labor education is essential to the process of collective bargaining, to the ability of workers to have a boice in their workplaces and to the functioning of a democratic society. Please make sure the Labor Studies program at Indiana continues the excellent work they have been doing for years.
Over the 29 years during which I was a philosophy professor at IUPUI the courses I taught under Labor Studies auspices were among the most rewarding to me because of the maturity, interest in learning, and valuable contributions made by the Labor Studies students. It defies reason that such a valuable component of the university's mission is being undermined rather than supported.
As coordinator of the Centre for the Study of Education and Work at the University of Toronto, I value the Labor Studies program at Indiana University. I have visited the program, met several of the faculty and staff, and think it enhances the reputation of the university. It is needed now, more than ever, as work is in upheaval across North America.
AS an alumnus of IU DLS, I abhor the possible loss of the program. Without the program and its friendliness to working students, I never would have completed college and gone on to graduate school.
Edward Hertenstein, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor and Head, Labor Education Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
With little precious history of Labor Unions being taught in this Country today, it is no wonder that living standards for ALL Americans is disappearing. Don't downsize or eliminate the Labor Studies program at the University or in time there will be no one attending your University because no one can afford it.
