Rally to Dissolve the Task Force Report-Back

May 3rd, 2024

This Wednesday, GEO members rallied in the quad with faculty, undergraduates, and community members to deliver UIC administration a clear demand - Dissolve Killeen's Task Force, a threat to academic freedom, student activism, and workers' rights. Speakers connected the Task Force to the wave of brutal police violence sweeping US campuses, calling on President Killeen to respect academic workers' right to organize. In a departure from past practice, UIC Labor Relations tried to force us to comply with a misleadingly titled "open expression policy." We "openly expressed" to them that our rights as workers transcend any campus policy restricting student activity. UIC admin must not have liked that answer, because a pack of them eventually showed up in a corner to surveil the action. By not backing down under pressure, we got the higher-ups' attention and made sure they got the message: GEO fights for academic freedom, including our members' right to speak out against genocide. And as we announced at the rally, we will continue to do so at the bargaining table. Stay tuned for more updates in this developing campaign against political repression on campus!

Did you attend? Any thoughts on how we could improve, or want to help plan the next action? Reach out to our Organizing Chair at organizing@uicgeo.org.