Cops Off Campus Update and Upcoming Town Hall

Dear fellow workers,

Three weeks ago, the GSOC Health and Safety Working Group met with representatives from NYU to discuss graduate employees’ concerns regarding safe working conditions and health risks associated with the presence of cops on campus.

These were the key takeaways from our meeting:

• Union representatives emphasized the importance of acknowledging that policing on campus is a health and safety issue for graduate employees, and established the meeting as one to discuss the many different ways NYPD presence on campus puts the health and safety of graduate employees at risk.
• Representatives spoke to the urgency of addressing the issue of policing on campus and highlighted the following incidents at NYU and on campuses nation-wide:
  • The health and safety of our working conditions are affected when NYPD detains our students and coworkers while protesting the unjust and violent killing of Jordan Neely at a commuter subway station by campus.
  • Student testimonials from the past three years indicate that grad worker encounters with NYPD in NYU buildings have created an environment of surveillance and hostility.
  • Over the past decade, numerous unauthorized investigatory searches, raids, vehicle searches, and officer-involved shootings have been carried out by campus and local law enforcement. Committee members cited incidents at Harvard University (2023), Purdue University (2022), Stephen F. Austin State University (2020), American University (2020), Yale University (2018), University of Utah (2018), University of Texas at Austin (2018), Temple University (2017), University of Cincinnati (2015), University of South Alabama (2012), University of California Davis (2011), University of Florida (2010).
• Representatives presented a sociological report on the impact of policing on community health, emphasizing how law enforcement and carceral institutions violent policing systems disproportionately affect the mental and physical well-being of black and brown community members.
• Representatives asked for clarification on opaque NYU policy regarding the presence of NYPD on campus and the collaboration between NYU administrative offices and local and federal law enforcement.
• The Union filed a request for information (RFI) to gather further data regarding NYU policy, conduct, and institutional ties to federal and local law enforcement, including collaborations with officers in the 6th precinct.

In light of these developments, GSOC will be working to establish clear University policy to protect graduate workers from the health risks associated with campus policing and the NYPD. But we want to hear from you! Mass participation in the planning behind policy changes is our best tool to make NYU move on this issue. Cops off Campus Town Hall Join us at our Cops off Campus Town Hall on June 26th from 5:30 – 7 PM. This meeting will be virtual.

Cops off Campus Town Hall

Join us at our Cops off Campus Town Hall on June 26th from 5:30 – 7 PM. This meeting will be virtual. Please see our listserv for the meeting Zoom link or email us for the link.

If you cannot attend this meeting but would still like to share your thoughts about the presence of NYPD on campus, please send an email to gsoc@2110uaw.org.

If you would like to get involved with organizing the upcoming Town Hall or health and safety committee meetings, email gsoc@2110uaw.org.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Final Notes

If you’d like to stay up to date on backpay distribution, or to stay involved in GSOC activism, join the GSOC Discord by filling out this organizing form.If you have specific questions, email your Unit Representatives at gsoc@2110uaw.org or contact your steward (you can find your steward’s email on our website by clicking on their name).

In solidarity,
GSOC