Release

#NoCutsUChi

Southside Solidarity Network | Twitter: @SSNUChicago | https://www.facebook.com/SouthsideSolidarityNetwork?fref=ts

MEDIA ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anna Wood, annameerawood@gmail.com, 716-935-0341
               Spencer McAvoy, mcavoy.spencer@gmail.com, 415-412-9904

BREAKING: #NoCutsUChi
Students Sit-In In Admissions Office
Rosenwald Hall 1101-11 E 58th St.

BREAKING: Graduating University of Chicago Students Occupy Admissions Building to Stop Budget Cuts and Layoffs in Midst of $4.5 Billion Capital Campaign
University of Chicago continues to put prestige before people, say students. Where is the money going?

Graduating students at the University of Chicago have just started a sit-in on the first floor of Rosenwald Hall (admissions) at 1101-11 E 58th St. Students say they are sitting in to protest cuts to the jobs and salaries of low-wage workers, including students, and will not leave until the University agrees to negotiate regarding protections for student jobs and other low-wage employment, and releasing detailed information about the proposed cuts.


A rally outside Rosenwald is beginning to form, with students holding signs demanding that the university stop prioritizing its image over the lives of the people who work, study, and live here. In the past several years the University has spent $1.5 billion to remodel the campus and rise in the rankings--enough to pay for the proposed cuts dozens of times over--while vital services like student counseling, and sexual assault prevention and survivor support are already severely underfunded.

“I’m sitting in because I needed my work-study job for groceries and rent,” said graduating student Julianna Estall. Another senior, Ava Benezra, said “I’m sitting in because I’m ashamed to attend a university that time and again chooses to further a corporate agenda over the interests of students and South Side residents.”

FOLLOW THE ACTION ON TWITTER: @SSNUChicago @IIRONAction @peopleslobbyusa #NoCutsUChi

Impact of the cuts:

Losses of jobs and hours for lowest-paid workers in maintenance and IT, including students, many of whom need University jobs to pay for school, food, and housing.

These job losses hurt the local economy, since the University is the single biggest employer on the South Side

Increased tuition and fees, including in graduate divisions without financial aid

Reductions in administrative staff, meaning more work for faculty

Cuts to academic budgets, causing more reliance on underpaid adjunct and graduate student work

What is not being cut:

Salaries of top administrators, whose pay has gone up 75% in the last five years

The budget for the Office of Admissions, the only department not being cut

Budget for new developments, including a new campus residence hall and recently acquired properties in Washington Park, near the proposed site of the Obama Presidential Library

The students sitting in are graduating students representing a coalition of on-campus organizations dedicated to fighting for economic, racial, and gender justice at the University of Chicago and beyond.



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