Pentagon protests the protesters on campus

Are you on the Pentagon’s “threats” list?

If you take part in an anti-war protest on campus, you might just land there. In January, a 400-page list pinpointing “threats” to national security was uncovered by NBC News. Among them were eight universities, including several with AFT affiliates: State University of New York at Albany, City College of the City University of New York, the University of Wisconsin, and “a New Jersey university” in Wayne, where William Patterson University is located. The others were New York University, Southern Connecticut State University and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Each was listed as having hosted protests against military recruiters.

The list, called the Threat and Local Observation Notice (TALON), is maintained by the Pentagon as a collection of information called in by law enforcement officers, guards and citizens. Each potential threat is investigated and determined to be “credible” or “not credible.” Just one of the universities, Santa Cruz, was listed as “credible.”

“It’s outrageous that the Pentagon or any government agency is surveilling peaceful student protests,” says Lawrence Wittner, a SUNY-Albany history professor and United University Professions/AFT member. “Their job is to be mobilized for war, not for spying on Americans ... spying of any kind on students and on faculty and others has a chilling effect on the rights of citizens and on intellectual freedom.”

George Brandon, at City College, is aware of several protests on campus, including at least one attended by some union organizers. Each centered around military recruitment on campus. “I don’t think of any of that as a threat to national security,” says Brandon.

“These students are exercising their constitutional rights to speak as citizens,” says Wittner. “If they didn’t like recruitment on campus, they have a perfect right to say that and demonstrate. I don’t think it’s any business of the U.S. armed forces to spy on them.”

AFT's American Academic explores student success

Given those pressures, the AFT has devoted the 2006 issue of its journal American Academic to “Success and Accountability in Higher Education.” The journal features 10 articles on topics from quantitative and qualitative measures of success to specific accountability measures at the state and federal levels. One article evaluates four emerging trends influencing today’s academic climate: universalization, globalization, electronically delivered distance learning, and information availability. Another looks at graduation rates as a measure of institutional performance.

“We have found that all too often, the debate is focused on what new accountability measures are out there, as opposed to what institutions and students need to succeed in higher education,” says American Academic editor Mitch Vogel. “We hope this issue will offer some new perspectives on accountability and success and begin a discussion on what truly is appropriate in measuring our higher education system.”

Labor kicks off 'Fair Share Health Care'

AFL-CIO activists will work with lawmakers in 33 states to win legislation requiring companies to pay their fair share for healthcare. Fair Share Health Care legislation will reduce the bill taxpayers pay to cover profitable corporations’ employee expenses, ease the financial strain states face in growing Medicaid costs, and help level the playing field between companies that provide good jobs and benefits and those that don’t.

“What the Maryland victory shows is that the tide is turning because working people are not just fed up—they are ready to get active to set our country in a different direction, one state at a time,” says AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. “Maryland’s working families have sent a clear message to local governments across the country and to corporate America by demanding healthcare fairness—and winning.”

The Maryland bill requires private companies with more than 10,000 employees in the state to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state’s insurance program for the poor. Wal-Mart is the only known employer in Maryland that does not meet that requirement.

“The victory in Maryland has given life to this campaign and has captured people’s attention and energy,” says Naomi Walker, director of state and legislative programs for the AFL-CIO.

Walker expects to see immediate action on this legislation in several states including Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin. An effort is under way already in Oregon, where the state AFL-CIO filed a ballot initiative to put Fair Share Health Care on the November ballot.

“It’s irresponsible and costly when nonunion businesses boost their profits by denying healthcare to their employees and then letting taxpayers pick up the slack,” says Oregon AFL-CIO president Tom Chamberlain.

While Fair Share Health Care legislation will differ slightly in each state, in general the legislation will require large corporations to spend a certain percentage of their payroll to provide healthcare benefits for their employees or pay into a state Fair Share Health Care Fund. The percentage of payroll would be set either by the state legislature or based on the average percentage paid by large employers in the state.