The 1915 song “Solidarity Forever” is a cry for unity.
“It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade…Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made,” reads a verse in the song.
More than a hundred years later, the lyrics strike a similar chord for local Iowa unions, who sang Monday, June 15, before addressing the Iowa Board of Regents in Iowa City. The unions rallied against staffing crises affecting student workers, staff, and healthcare workers, while also airing concerns about wages and the Center for Intellectual Freedom.
Members of three local unions, Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) UE Local 896 – COGS, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Minnesota and Iowa, and labor union AFSCME Council 61, gathered to pack the Board of Regents meeting at the Leavitt Center at the University of Iowa.
The three unions each expressed different concerns, but with an overarching message: “The University [of Iowa’s] reputation is suffering” at the hands of the Regents and the Center for Intellectual Freedom, according to recent graduate Clara Reynen.
“[At a conference this weekend] it was the first in my entire life that when I told somebody I went to the University of Iowa and received four degrees from this institution, they were skeptical,” Reynen said. “And it’s because of the Center for Intellectual Freedom. This university’s reputation is suffering in a way that I cannot adequately describe to you.”
Reynen said she does not think the new center is “necessary” in light of new legislation, House File 2800, requiring University of Iowa students to take its classes beginning in 2028.
Reynen is urging the Regents to stop thinking “about the center like a business” but instead as “educators,” by being more transparent while revising the curriculum.
“[In the spring semester, there were] no lectures about opposing viewpoints, and no discussion about the critiques of capitalism. That’s not civics, that’s not facts, that’s propaganda,” Reynen said. “Regents, with all the irony I can muster, if you want to talk about authoritarianism and state control, I think the call is coming from inside the house.”
Grad student workers say UI is ‘falling behind’ on pay, support
Reynen and Andy Minot, vice president of COGs and a current PhD. student, noted that the UI will require more teaching assistants (TAs) when the classes become mandatory.
Minot said the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences “has cut 10 percent of TAs for the upcoming fall,” which she believes will strain others who will have multiple appointments with larger class sizes. Minot also said TA wages have not kept pace with inflation and rising student fees—especially for international TAs, whose fees will account for “27 percent of their first paycheck” in the fall semester. She also mentioned that graduate workers lack paid time off, inclusive work environments, or health and safety.
“At the University of Iowa, these are all legally permissible topics to bargain over,” Minot said. “However, for nearly a decade, the Board of Regents has refused to write benefits, and benefits have eroded over time. It’s clear that the board isn’t even pretending to care.”
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: UI graduate unions scold Regents over new civics center, staffing
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen | USA TODAY Network
