Union launches campaign to try to prevent more higher ed layoffs and a fall COVID-19 disaster

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is launching a multimedia campaign on Monday, accusing public higher education executives of failing to effectively advocate for funding from Congress and the state Legislature to avoid layoffs and a COVID-19 disaster this fall.

In a video message slated to appear on social media, radio and TV stations including CNN, MSNBC and ESPN, faculty and staff from UMass and some of the state’s nine other public universities and 15 community colleges say that layoffs, furloughs and insufficient planning have left those schools unprepared for a safe and equitable semester.

“Through these cuts, the public higher education administrators in Massachusetts are creating not just a potential public health crisis, but also a crisis of equity,” said Merrie Najimy, president of the association, which represents more than 18,000 faculty and staff on Massachusetts public higher education campuses.

“Using the pandemic as an excuse to dismantle programs and to cut thousands of higher ed staff at the universities and colleges that disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color is a disturbing approach, one that needs to be reversed and rebuked,” Najimy said.

Read more: https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/07/31/union-launches-campaign-to-try-to-prevent-more-higher-ed-layoffs-and-a-fall-covid-19-disaster/