The last couple of weeks has been historic here at RISD.
We as RISD NOMAS felt it would be disingenuous to our mission as a student organization and as human beings to say nothing, even if our status as a student org is put at risk.
RISD NOMAS stands with our many colleagues in total, unmitigated support and solidarity for the custodians, groundskeepers, and movers who are striking for access to a living wage.
Our facilities team is an essential part of the RISD community. As artists and designers, especially within the Architecture Department, we rely on these people for so much.
More than what they do for us, they are people, and people deserve to be paid for their honest work. It is not an 'excessive demand' that the people who keep our shops, classrooms and studios accessible earn enough to live with dignity.
We are extremely disappointed with the actions of the RISD administration so far and are especially disappointed that under the tenure of the first Black President at RISD we have to shout out that paying our custodial staff is as much Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as promoting a Black woman to a position of power. To hear that the Director of Labour Relations said 'students are only good for painting signs' is saddening. One, because it shows what this person who earns their own living from our tuition thinks of our work and secondly, because it is a reflection of the attitude RISD is bringing to these negotiations: one that diminishes the value of our custodial staff.
We urge the administration to consider the toll that prolonging the negotiation process has on student's ability to get the value they pay over $80K for.
We stand with the decisions of our department head and the faculty here @risdarch who have joined students in protesting. We support the words and actions of our fellow students who have already done so much to rally around our custodial staff, occupy space and bring their own brand of creativity to the conversation.
We encourage everyone to stay informed on the status of the strike as we fight for equity through accounts like: @not.secondlife
- The RISD NOMAS E-Board
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