We hope you all have had a wonderful summer! We have been busy over the summer on a number of fronts and we will be in touch with more details on several exciting initiatives. But, in the meantime, there is an urgent issue we would like to draw your attention to and organize around.
The Build Back Better reconciliation bill currently being debated in Congress contains crucial provisions that will improve working conditions in higher education, provide enhanced funding for colleges and universities, and make education more affordable for those who need it most. We are calling on Congress to pass the bill as it currently stands and hold back the deficit hawks who threaten to dilute the education provisions in the current bill.
This Wednesday 9/15 is a national day of action in which educators across the United States will lobby congressional representatives to ensure that they vote yes on the Build Back Better Bill and that education issues are addressed to the fullest extent in the bill.
Please email or call your congressional representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Patti Murray who heads the key Senate committee on Health, Education and Labor. Use this link. You can read more and find sample letters, emails, and social media posts here. You may want to argue for inclusion of items left out of the current version, including expanding free college beyond community colleges, and specific benchmarks to maintain and increase the number of full-time faculty employed at public institutions.
Also, please join UMD’s AAUP chapter via Zoom at noon on Wednesday for an informal, drop-in informational and letter writing event. Zoom Link: https://umd.zoom.us/j/93546184776