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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Is the U meeting its grand challenge?

University President Eric Kaler says the University of Minnesota is poised to meet society’s grand challenges, including the challenge of ensuring a just and equitable society.
 
Maybe we should look at how we are addressing that grand challenge here at the University.
 
About 650 administrators make more than $100,000 per year. About 475 workers make less than $15 per hour. I make $15.34, and I am treading water. The school’s wage increase offer to union workers of 0.375 percent (less than half of 1 percent) would be about an extra nickel for me. That’s not just or equitable.
 
Women in our unions only get two weeks of paid parental leave. Our bosses get six weeks. Two of our athletics coaches recently received a $400,000 and $300,000 raise, respectively. That’s not just or equitable.
 
I live paycheck to paycheck, like many workers at the University. I can’t save for my future. I can’t pay the $27,000 in student debt I have from attending the University. I can’t start a family, and I can’t afford graduate courses.
 
The bottom line is that 0.375 percent is not just or equitable. The University is not meeting this grand challenge. Kaler and the people representing management are part of the problem when it comes to ensuring a just and equitable society. Union workers, represented by Teamsters and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, are part of the solution.
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