A supermajority of the Department of Linguistics ladder-rank faculty on active teaching duty in 2023-2024 voted to make the following statement:

We affirm our graduate student colleagues’ rights to peacefully protest and assemble on campus and to exercise free speech, without retaliation, forcible police intervention, or arrest. We also affirm our commitment to non-retaliation against all UAW 4811 members who are participating in the Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) strike. This commitment extends to all legally protected strike activity by graduate student workers in the May 20 to June 30, 2024 strike, which may include GSIs/TAs withholding grading labor and other instructional labor, as well as GSRs withholding paid research labor.

We pledge to take no action against students participating in the ULP strike that will impact their academic standing in our graduate program, to the extent that this is within our control. We will continue our academic practices and policies already in place, in particular those related to one-on-one advising relations, participation in milestone committees, and writing letters of recommendation. In addition, we will maintain our current department policies on TA assignments and eligibility for summer funding.

We hope for a timely resolution to the strike.

Published 06-06-2024