The Nerds are Pissed

Here's something that will surely divide the Yin Yang camp: Graduate Students on Strike!

The group that represents all of the TA's/GA's at NYU began their strike this morning.

One of the central issues seems to be that the university refuses to recognize them as a proper union anymore, and won't negotiate a new contract with them. For some reason, (which I don't understand) the laws governing unions for Private schools is different than for Public schools.

The old argument is that GA's/TA's are primarily students, and thus, are not workers. Which doesn't make sense simply because they are getting paid by the university.

Not to blow this out of proportion, but I really believe that this strike could be defining moments for higher education in America. If the University finally caves in and does recognize the union, it opens the door for grad students at other private schools to organize. There actually was a huge showing of grad students from Columbia, Yale, and Harvard to support their brothers and sisters.

I'll be honest though, the enture protest seemed kind of tame. I think the union needs to get some sit-ins going on, burn a few NYU flags, or storm a few offices. At the very least.