NYU graduate student strike.

Support for the New York University graduate assistants strike has solidified many academics and unions alike. Back in 2000, after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students could form unions in private universities, NYU recognized GSOC, the graduate student union and negotiated the first contract in 2002. By July 2004, the NLRB, now heavy with Bush appointees, reversed the right of private university graduate students to unionize and NYU took its opportunity de-recognize GSOC. Nonetheless, on November 9 of 2005, NYU's GSOC went on strike and NYU President John Sexton soon followed with the threat that striking students would lose their jobs for the spring semester. Because NYU is one of New York's biggest and most liberal institutions, and now is into the business of union-busting, academics and unions across the country felt threatened and gathered together to support the NYU graduate students. For more background and action taken, see The Nation, October 5, 2005 and January 9, 2006. For the personal narrative by Michelle Fawcett, a striking NYU student and member of GSOC, see nyc.indymedia.org/en/2005/12/61614.html.