Fellow Students, Teachers, And Friends:

My name is Cliff WIllmeng and I am one of hundreds if not thousands of students fighting alongside of City College teachers for a contract without concessions and additional workloads. Today is day two in this effort and an important period for the momentum of what has become a mutual teacher/student strike throughout Chicago. Your involvement is not only deeply appreciated by teachers and students alike, it is critical to force the administration back to the bargaining table. This is no small effort on the part of our colleges. At stake in the time to come is very literally the strength of our faculty and student body in creating an education and environment that is beneficial to the people that matter most.

The most pressing thing that everybody needs to know at this time is that your help at the picket line and your voice with other students and faculty has done a tremendous amount of work to support the teachers in this fight. Yesterday as schools folded under the solidarity expressed at the picket lines and classes went barren, we saw the power of what the most important elements in our colleges are. Without the students and teachers, schools grind to a halt, hallways go quiet, and education moves from the classroom to the streets. You are to credit for the demonstration of this to the whole city, both on the nightly news and in today’s morning papers.

Our effort is to force the wealthy administrators to understand this. Classes bursting at the seams and teachers without time, pay or heath care is what the people like Wayne Watson would like to see as the result of the contract. This is because the administration has long ago lost sight of the fact that schools are not businesses and the Board of Education is not a corporate stock-holders club. Like so many public services and secure jobs, these people would have our schools streamlined and downsized, our students and teachers made to do increasingly more with less.

To this end, the administration has gone to the public with claims about greedy teachers and apathetic students. They have told the news that our colleges have remained unchanged by the strike and student walkout. And even though they may be deceitful in their statements, the administration is not ignorant to what will make or break this fight. When public opinion becomes public demand they are hoping to have the last word on what it is the student body
wants and how we feel about our teachers. In this way they can defeat our teachers and force the student body back to business.

It is our job to demonstrate our voice in this campaign and to show in every respect our support for the City College teachers. We need to let the Board of Education, the administration, and the entire City of Chicago know that we are ready to close our schools down until a sound contract is signed.

In order to do this a few things need to happen:

1. Our schools need to be silent. Get to the picket lines with your family and friends and make sure students see you there. Make noise, and bring signs and banners! Some people are still unclear about what is expected of them and if we do not talk to them, the administration certainly will.
2. City Hall and the Board of Education need to hear from you! Send emails, make phone calls and circulate petitions that show your support for the teachers and your willingness to stay out of classes.
3. Help people get connected. Create lists of emails and phone numbers and send them to this address so that communication between students, teachers and campuses can become quick and efficient. The more people and information, the more powerful we all are and the quicker we can end this.
4. Stay tuned, visit other campuses, and attend rallies and demonstrations. In the event our fight has to grow, make sure you are part of the 60,000 students and faculty needed to end the administration’s denial of a fair contract!



What we are fighting for is nothing short of the ownership of our educational experience and the decent conditions of our faculty. Don’t be bluffed by the claims of six figured officials on our school web sites and in the news. We are the power and will win this fight if we can pull together as students and teachers. Threats to your grades by replacement and part time faculty trying to administer tests should be immediately reported to their Department Chair and the union. Once again, YOU CAN NOT SUFFER ANY FORM OF RETRIBUTION FOR HONORING THE PICKET LINES! Assignments will be made up free of penalty and class work can be completed after the strike is won.

This email is going out to students across Chicago and is being sent to press, union locals and teachers. Continue in your incredible support and effort and push back where the administration would push you. If people have additional questions about the strike, our tactics, what should be done and how you can help, please phone Local 1600 at (312) 755-9400 to get the name of your college union rep. They will connect you with teacher and student organizers for more information.

Thank you again to the students and the teachers for fighting against slashes to the contract and to our educational environment. You make us all stronger.

Cliff Willmeng
Truman Student Strike Committee