AFT On Campus: Fall 2014
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Editor's Note
Thinking of the long termAs this issue of AFT On Campus came together this summer, our intention was to focus on political issues that affect higher education workers and the people we serve (students, communities, employers, the nation and the world). We had hoped our story on the Higher Education Act reauthorization...
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Where We Stand
Elections matter. Your vote matters. Your voice matters.
Higher education has always been lauded as the stepping stone to a new life. These days, the skyrocketing cost of a college education is leaving many Americans saddled with crippling debt. For others, it is simply pushing that...
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Can American students get a fair shot?
College affordability and accessibility take center stage in the fight for working families.Contessa Jackson did everything right. Part of the first generation in her family to get a college degree, she studied for a profession in a high-demand field—health sciences—and was able to find work right after college so she could afford to make payments on $50,000 in education debt.
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Bad Science
Free-market academic research policies have unleashed medical quackery and scientific fraud.At the heart of the U.S. healthcare system’s profit-based approach to medical science is the harsh truth that money alone can prolong life. Take, for example, the class of genes dubbed “tumor suppressors.” Because of their ability to regulate cell growth, tumor suppressors are at the forefront...
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Fighting back, fighting forward
A bold call to reclaim the promise of AmericaAFT PRESIDENT Randi Weingarten kicked off the AFT national convention in Los Angeles with a bold plan to reclaim the promise of America, one that can help create economic and educational opportunity for all because it not only fights back but also “fights forward.”
This work is vital, and...
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Everyday Heroes reclaim the promise every day
Members from each division honored for going above and beyond the call of dutyKrystal Woolston
When your job title has “service” in it, people expect you to be outer-directed. But for Krystal Woolston, AFT Higher Education’s Everyday Hero, helping others is more than a job—it’s a calling and a gift.
Woolston is the assistant director of service learning and...
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In the news
Demand release of UUP member held hostage Aug. 13 was a grim anniversary for Warren Weinstein, a former political science professor and United University Professions/NYSUT member at the State University of New York. Three years ago, just days before he was due to return home...
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CEO bonus does not play well in a time of deficits
After faculty, staff and students at the University of Alaska rose up in outrage over news that the university president had been awarded a $320,000 retention bonus in his new contract, the UA Board of Regents had to do an about-face. In a special meeting, the board rescinded the bonus three...
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Turning up the heat to reverse climate change
Hundreds of AFT members were among the 310,000 trade unionists, faith, labor, social justice, youth and environmental groups to converge on New York City Sept. 21 for the People’s Climate March.
Held just before the United Nations Climate Summit and the biggest of 160 rallies held around...
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Election 2014
State of the Union and 2014 governor races.State of the Union and 2014 governor races.