SAIC students, alumni support non-tenure-track faculty union

A group of SAIC students has shared a letter signed by nearly 700 now over 1,000 students and alumni (and growing!) in support of our non-tenure-track faculty union.

We are so honored to have our students, past and present, stand alongside us. We are so grateful for this letter, and for the support these signatures extend. We stand with our students, and pledge to put in the work to transform our conditions at SAIC, making it a more equitable and just institution for all.

Here’s the letter in its entirety, and the list of signers below:

To the Non-Tenure Track Faculty of SAIC,

We, the undersigned students and alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, offer our complete and unwavering support in your efforts to build a collective union. We recognize how deeply integral your work is to the school and to our personal education. That work propels the institution, whose foundation is built on your tireless labor.

It is shameful that three quarters of the total faculty are paid wildly inadequate salaries and many have no possibility of promotion or health insurance. Unlike the senior administration, we respect the exceptional time and energy each of you expend in and outside of the classroom. It is clear that you are not compensated enough for your labor, and we too call for the abolishment of the current two-tier system of compensation and benefits.

We wholeheartedly support your efforts to claim agency in shaping your own working conditions and rally behind those efforts, as your struggles are our struggles. As you build a union together, you are protecting legacies. This work is done in our names, paving the way for future educators and artists to understand their worth by providing an inspiring model for collective advocacy.

We must remember that our solidarity across the school claims power. To champion collective solidarity is to speak loudly for the common good of the future of the School of the Art Institute and in turn, Chicago’s greater art ecology.

We stand united to build the community that we have imagined – one that the school loudly proclaims yet is uttered as an empty promise within the confines of bureaucracy. We are aware of senior administration’s history of union busting and are dismayed to hear of continued attempts to undermine those organizing for a collective voice. We will not tolerate any attempts to intimidate or divide our faculty.

We are ready to mobilize behind the non-tenure track faculty if your efforts are not treated respectfully and with care. We stand with you.

With love and solidarity,
Your students