My father, Archibald T. Goodwin, is still with us on Earth, by the grace of God. He has passed through many trials, as an African American man, and an amputee from the age of 14, who married 3 white women in succession, and fathered 13 children. He grew up during the Civil Rights era, and during my childhood avoided any talk of racism, though the scars of it on him were plain to see. As an adult I learned to embrace all of my heritage, and felt inspired to help make the world a better place for all people.
I am a librarian who loves cooking, knitting, jewelry making, tango, and bellydance. As a woman, and a bi-racial African American I am interested in exploring and encouraging themes of diversity, inclusion, and acceptance and respect for differences in self-expression.
Monday, February 13, 2012
University Library Workers Protest Layoffs
By DAN DOU, RADHIKA JAIN, and SAMUEL Y. WEINSTOCK, CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Since Harvard University Library announced last week that its upcoming reorganization would include downsizing staff, workers have circulated several petitions against the layoffs and picketed on Wednesday outside of a regularly scheduled meeting for library staff members.
Roughly 20 people participated in Wednesday’s protest, which took place during a meeting that was meant to allow library workers to express their concerns, according to a University spokesperson.
“Today’s conversation provided an opportunity to address some misconceptions, and it was made clear that staff members are not being asked to reapply for their jobs,” the spokesperson said in an email, referring to a rumor that circulated among workers last week. “The remainder of the meeting focused on how Library staff can prepare to play a role in the new organization.”
Last Thursday, officials told library staff at three town hall meetings that the library’s planned restructuring may include voluntary and involuntary reductions in staff size. The library board met on Tuesday to consider a formal plan for the reorganization, but, despite requests, the University has not released details on whether any plan was approved. If the library board passed a proposal, it would be reviewed by University President Drew G. Faust in February.
Geoffrey “Geoff” Carens, a library employee and member of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, said that the timetable for the impending decisions demands a stronger response in addition to the union’s negotiations.
“We may not have a ton of time,” Carens said. “The cuts are supposed to come in July. We want to strike while the iron is hot.”
Aryt Alasti, a security guard who is a member of Service Employees International Union, said the library workers’ union was not doing enough to fight potential layoffs.
While SEIU represents security guards and custodians, HUCTW represents clerical and technical workers, including library staff.
“Unfortunately, the HUCTW leadership does not support such actions as this [protest], historically and philosophically,” Alasti said. “They prefer to, from my standpoint, negotiate until failure, and that’s the end of that.”
Desiree Goodwin, a library assistant at the Frances Loeb Library in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, has spearheaded the circulation of two petitions: one that urges general support for academic librarians and a second that demands an immediate firm stance by Bill Jaeger, the director of HUCTW, against layoffs. More than 120 people had signed the two petitions as of Wednesday evening.
Occupy Harvard members are currently drafting a third petition, targeting the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.
Goodwin, who has been employed by the University for 16 years, said the news of potential downsizing was “dropped on us like a bombshell.”
Goodwin said that despite regular meetings before the transition plan was announced, neither union leadership nor library supervisors had advance warning of the potential downsizing.
“We were all invited to these discussions as if we were part of the process,” she said. “It’s not that we object to modernization, streamlining procedure. It’s the structure being imposed on us—and the pace.”
The University spokesperson said that Harvard will work with HUCTW, in compliance with the union’s contract. She declined to specify when such a meeting would take place.
In Goodwin’s view, the purpose of the layoffs is “maximizing Harvard’s profit margin.”
“This is not about creating the best library system in the country,” she said.
—Staff writer Dan Dou can be reached at ddou@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/1/26/library-layoffs-protests/
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Since Harvard University Library announced last week that its upcoming reorganization would include downsizing staff, workers have circulated several petitions against the layoffs and picketed on Wednesday outside of a regularly scheduled meeting for library staff members.
Roughly 20 people participated in Wednesday’s protest, which took place during a meeting that was meant to allow library workers to express their concerns, according to a University spokesperson.
“Today’s conversation provided an opportunity to address some misconceptions, and it was made clear that staff members are not being asked to reapply for their jobs,” the spokesperson said in an email, referring to a rumor that circulated among workers last week. “The remainder of the meeting focused on how Library staff can prepare to play a role in the new organization.”
Last Thursday, officials told library staff at three town hall meetings that the library’s planned restructuring may include voluntary and involuntary reductions in staff size. The library board met on Tuesday to consider a formal plan for the reorganization, but, despite requests, the University has not released details on whether any plan was approved. If the library board passed a proposal, it would be reviewed by University President Drew G. Faust in February.
Geoffrey “Geoff” Carens, a library employee and member of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, said that the timetable for the impending decisions demands a stronger response in addition to the union’s negotiations.
“We may not have a ton of time,” Carens said. “The cuts are supposed to come in July. We want to strike while the iron is hot.”
Aryt Alasti, a security guard who is a member of Service Employees International Union, said the library workers’ union was not doing enough to fight potential layoffs.
While SEIU represents security guards and custodians, HUCTW represents clerical and technical workers, including library staff.
“Unfortunately, the HUCTW leadership does not support such actions as this [protest], historically and philosophically,” Alasti said. “They prefer to, from my standpoint, negotiate until failure, and that’s the end of that.”
Desiree Goodwin, a library assistant at the Frances Loeb Library in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, has spearheaded the circulation of two petitions: one that urges general support for academic librarians and a second that demands an immediate firm stance by Bill Jaeger, the director of HUCTW, against layoffs. More than 120 people had signed the two petitions as of Wednesday evening.
Occupy Harvard members are currently drafting a third petition, targeting the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.
Goodwin, who has been employed by the University for 16 years, said the news of potential downsizing was “dropped on us like a bombshell.”
Goodwin said that despite regular meetings before the transition plan was announced, neither union leadership nor library supervisors had advance warning of the potential downsizing.
“We were all invited to these discussions as if we were part of the process,” she said. “It’s not that we object to modernization, streamlining procedure. It’s the structure being imposed on us—and the pace.”
The University spokesperson said that Harvard will work with HUCTW, in compliance with the union’s contract. She declined to specify when such a meeting would take place.
In Goodwin’s view, the purpose of the layoffs is “maximizing Harvard’s profit margin.”
“This is not about creating the best library system in the country,” she said.
—Staff writer Dan Dou can be reached at ddou@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/1/26/library-layoffs-protests/
“Booker” The story of a laid–off horse, as told, mostly, by himself
Now Big Red and me were young colts together and even though we pull on
different teams, I will always stop by his stall if he has something to say.
"Booker” he snickered (my dad was “Print” and my mother, “Type”), the Masters
are taking us out next week for “The Choice”. ”The Choice?” I asked.
“Well, they are leading us to the little hill where you can see the new glue
factory (my nostrils flared because for weeks the smell of glue had hung over
Harvard Farm). And the Masters will say ‘OK, be a good horse and walk on to
the factory and you will be given a small bag of oats. But if you balk and
don’t walk, we will whip you to the factory anyway and you won’t get any
oats. Now The Choice is yours.’ And Big Red hung his head and wouldn’t say
anymore.
I was pretty confused.
I loved Harvard Farm and I loved work, because I’m a working horse. True,
I’m not as young as I was but I still pull a good load; I know the pace and
turns of the road. I teach the younger horses. But now they say there are too
many of us. And I don’t understand because every horse is working and the
Farm is more prosperous than ever. But they are getting rid of the older
horses and soon a lot of the young ones too. Sure, there will always be some
horses, Farm needs them. So in the time I have left I am telling every horse
what I know. Don’t love the Farm too much and never trust the Masters. They
will break your back but first they will break your heart.
[Three days later, they led Booker to the little hill, for The Choice. He
could see and understand the glue factory but not its bright new sign that
read “Transitions Rendering , a subsidiary of Harvard Corp.”]
by Page Nelson, Cataloger
different teams, I will always stop by his stall if he has something to say.
"Booker” he snickered (my dad was “Print” and my mother, “Type”), the Masters
are taking us out next week for “The Choice”. ”The Choice?” I asked.
“Well, they are leading us to the little hill where you can see the new glue
factory (my nostrils flared because for weeks the smell of glue had hung over
Harvard Farm). And the Masters will say ‘OK, be a good horse and walk on to
the factory and you will be given a small bag of oats. But if you balk and
don’t walk, we will whip you to the factory anyway and you won’t get any
oats. Now The Choice is yours.’ And Big Red hung his head and wouldn’t say
anymore.
I was pretty confused.
I loved Harvard Farm and I loved work, because I’m a working horse. True,
I’m not as young as I was but I still pull a good load; I know the pace and
turns of the road. I teach the younger horses. But now they say there are too
many of us. And I don’t understand because every horse is working and the
Farm is more prosperous than ever. But they are getting rid of the older
horses and soon a lot of the young ones too. Sure, there will always be some
horses, Farm needs them. So in the time I have left I am telling every horse
what I know. Don’t love the Farm too much and never trust the Masters. They
will break your back but first they will break your heart.
[Three days later, they led Booker to the little hill, for The Choice. He
could see and understand the glue factory but not its bright new sign that
read “Transitions Rendering , a subsidiary of Harvard Corp.”]
by Page Nelson, Cataloger
Sunday, February 12, 2012
My Speech at the Rally Against Layoffs Feb. 9, 2012
Thank you for joining us and helping us shape the world you will inherit: A world where the workers who have helped make Harvard great will be treated as valued partners and collaborators
instead of as a financial burden to be discarded in the new world order.
The library reorganization as it has been announced has set up competing goals for the staff: where we must continue to work toward forwarding the university's goals while struggling for our own survival under the threat of layoff. We are strongly advised to take 3 hour workshops for
skills assessment and resume writing, and at the same time keep up with our workloads, which have increased substantially since the last layoff in 2009. We continue helping researchers in the library, preparing for Open House, and helping plan the reorganization not knowing whether or not we individually will be part of the new vision.
This announcement has pushed us way down on Maslow's hierarchy of needs from self-actualization for many of us to safety. The question has changed from "will I ever achieve my full potential?" to "will I be able to pay the mortgage next month? my medical bills?
send my children to college, pay my student loans? Will I be able to take care of my parents, put food on the table, or have a moment of peace free from worry?
The wealthiest university in the Ivy leagues should not be cutting corners at the expense of its hard working dedicated employees to create a modern library. We have the skill, knowledge and ability and vision to help create a new and better library that works for everyone: The students, the faculty, and the workers.
As Martin Luther King said,
"I dream of a land where men will not take necessities away from the many to give luxuries to the few."
Thank you.
instead of as a financial burden to be discarded in the new world order.
The library reorganization as it has been announced has set up competing goals for the staff: where we must continue to work toward forwarding the university's goals while struggling for our own survival under the threat of layoff. We are strongly advised to take 3 hour workshops for
skills assessment and resume writing, and at the same time keep up with our workloads, which have increased substantially since the last layoff in 2009. We continue helping researchers in the library, preparing for Open House, and helping plan the reorganization not knowing whether or not we individually will be part of the new vision.
This announcement has pushed us way down on Maslow's hierarchy of needs from self-actualization for many of us to safety. The question has changed from "will I ever achieve my full potential?" to "will I be able to pay the mortgage next month? my medical bills?
send my children to college, pay my student loans? Will I be able to take care of my parents, put food on the table, or have a moment of peace free from worry?
The wealthiest university in the Ivy leagues should not be cutting corners at the expense of its hard working dedicated employees to create a modern library. We have the skill, knowledge and ability and vision to help create a new and better library that works for everyone: The students, the faculty, and the workers.
As Martin Luther King said,
"I dream of a land where men will not take necessities away from the many to give luxuries to the few."
Thank you.
Petition to Support Academic Librarians
Harvard Librarians are undergoing a staff reorganization to create "the flagship library of the 21st." Librarians and library workers were asked to participate in the process by contributing new innovative ideas in the course of talks over the past year. We were then informed in the most recent Town Meeting, that a smaller workforce was required, this would be achieved within the current fiscal year, our jobs would no longer exist, and we would be required to apply for the new jobs that would be created. If Harvard is leading the way for all academic libraries, it is a dire prediction indeed.
College and university librarians and library workers, contribute to the advancement of scholarship of the academic community. We assist students, faculty and scholars in locating the resources they need without evaluating or critiquing them.
We support innovation and change in the academic libraries, but ask to achieve it in a way that respects our contributions to the profession and to the academic community. We would like to establish guidelines at the American Library Association Level for library reorganizations in academic libraries that govern the pace, participation, procedures, and information sharing, so that excellence, institutional memory, and experience are preserved along with innovation, streamlined procedures and technological advances.
Link to Petition
College and university librarians and library workers, contribute to the advancement of scholarship of the academic community. We assist students, faculty and scholars in locating the resources they need without evaluating or critiquing them.
We support innovation and change in the academic libraries, but ask to achieve it in a way that respects our contributions to the profession and to the academic community. We would like to establish guidelines at the American Library Association Level for library reorganizations in academic libraries that govern the pace, participation, procedures, and information sharing, so that excellence, institutional memory, and experience are preserved along with innovation, streamlined procedures and technological advances.
Link to Petition
Remember the Children
As the oldest of 13 children who grew up in the family that made less than $13,000 a year I managed to survive and break the cycle of poverty because of a free public education, food stamps, welfare, and social security disability. Only 5 of us as adults no longer depend on these programs. With poverty children are more vulnerable to abuse, drug addiction, and criminal activity.
This will be even more true in the current economic climate. With globalization, outsourcing, and layoffs, more and more families will fall below the poverty line. At the same a Republican controlled Congress seeks to eliminate the safety net programs. While most of America would like to believe in the protestant work ethic, secure jobs with benefits, are becoming more and more scarce.
As the cost of living rises, wages continue to fall, lowering the standard of living for the average family. Student loan debt for students who come from poor families ensures that the cycle of poverty will continue. It becomes a vicious circle: you must have an education to get higher paying jobs, but many jobs that require college degrees do not pay enough to keep up with the cost of living and pay off student loan debt. The middle class continues to shrink, as the gap between the rich and the poor widens.
Politicians like Newt Gingrich tend to demonize the poor. Gingrich even suggests programs that would enforce social stratification, such as eliminating child labor laws, and having poor children work as janitors at public schools to learn the value of money. In reality the link between poverty and intelligence is largely environmental and closely tied to access to basic resources, such as food, shelter, and safety. Most of us would not like to see a return to the Dickensian world of David Copperfield or Oliver Twist.
Poverty is not an intrinsic character flaw, it is imposed on families by a society with decreasing opportunities for employment. I did not choose the family I was born into, and I did not survive by hard work alone. I survived by charity, luck, and the grace of God.
This will be even more true in the current economic climate. With globalization, outsourcing, and layoffs, more and more families will fall below the poverty line. At the same a Republican controlled Congress seeks to eliminate the safety net programs. While most of America would like to believe in the protestant work ethic, secure jobs with benefits, are becoming more and more scarce.
As the cost of living rises, wages continue to fall, lowering the standard of living for the average family. Student loan debt for students who come from poor families ensures that the cycle of poverty will continue. It becomes a vicious circle: you must have an education to get higher paying jobs, but many jobs that require college degrees do not pay enough to keep up with the cost of living and pay off student loan debt. The middle class continues to shrink, as the gap between the rich and the poor widens.
Politicians like Newt Gingrich tend to demonize the poor. Gingrich even suggests programs that would enforce social stratification, such as eliminating child labor laws, and having poor children work as janitors at public schools to learn the value of money. In reality the link between poverty and intelligence is largely environmental and closely tied to access to basic resources, such as food, shelter, and safety. Most of us would not like to see a return to the Dickensian world of David Copperfield or Oliver Twist.
Poverty is not an intrinsic character flaw, it is imposed on families by a society with decreasing opportunities for employment. I did not choose the family I was born into, and I did not survive by hard work alone. I survived by charity, luck, and the grace of God.
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