December 3, 2005
Dear Colleagues,
As you know, the NYU administration continues to refuse to negotiate with the student union, has infiltrated the email system and, more recently, sent out a letter rescinding student funding for any students engaged in the strike. They have also recently hired a union-busting law firm to represent their interests. More the 400 faculty members moved their seminar off campus in solidarity with the strike, and support for negotiating with the strikers in the U.S. and elsewhere is clearly is deepening. With Fred Jameson, Donna Haraway, Etienne Balibar, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Paul Gilroy, Joan Scott, Slavoj Zizek, and Talal Asad, I have sent a letter to the President and other university officials at NYU objecting to their treatment of the strikers and now ask that you consider signing this letter online at the following URL <http://new.petitiononline.com/tosexton/petition.html>.
Please don't send your signature back to me, but go on line at the above site, read the statement and, if you agree, follow the directions for signing. The entire petition will be presented to the NYU president in about a week's time.
If you would like to know more about the strike efforts and the administrative actions against the strikers, please see the official strike website at <http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/gsoc_strike_center.htm#community>.
Judith Butler