RIC/AFT Local 1819
@ricaft.bsky.social
We are the union of Rhode Island College full-time faculty.
UIC grad workers have been on strike for a week now and we have just learned that UIC admins are considering locking out grad workers in the summer (cancelling any contracts) and not hiring any TAs in the fall
We are proud to represent so many workers in libraries! Unfortunately, their work is often under attack, when it should be celebrated.
American Library Association@amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 4mo agoIt's National Library Workers Day, our favorite day of #NationalLibraryWeek where we celebrate the hardworking, dedicated professionals who power possibility in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our places of higher learning. Thank you, library workers - libraries work because YOU do! #NLWD26
Thanks to @steveahlquist.bsky.social for capturing our amazing, insightful, deliberative students' words. I want to live in the future these young people will build, not the one in which their elders make decisions based on fear. Our RIC students inspire me, & their voices deserve to be listened to.
Steve Ahlquist@steveahlquist.bsky.social · 4mo agoFear vs. Reason: RIC and CCRI police officers will soon be carrying firearms on campus “Putting guns on this campus without properly hearing from the people who live and learn here every single day is not a safety measure," said student Dante Digregorio. "It’s an encroachment."
I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Stop Charter Expansion: Pass the Moratorium and Cap Reduction. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Stop Charter Expansion: Pass the Moratorium and Cap Reduction
Rhode Island cannot afford to continue expanding charter schools while neighborhood public schools face declining enrollment, rising costs, and increasing student needs. Right now, billionaire-backe...
actionnetwork.org
It’s #401Gives! Donate to the RIC FAST Fund because financial emergencies shouldn't stop a student's education. Every dollar stays right here in RI to help students stay in school. The FAST Fund is run by faculty, not administrators, making us nimble and effective. Give: fastfundric.wixsite.com/fast
Home | FAST Fund RIC
FAST student emergency fund at Rhode Island College
fastfundric.wixsite.com
ricommunitiesfirst.com "When public dollars leave district schools, the impact is real – larger class sizes, fewer programs, less stability for educators, and and budget shortfalls for cities already under strain." Learn more & contact Governor McKee here:
RI Communities First – REJECT billionaire backed charter schools
ricommunitiesfirst.com
Admin at The New School are threatening the cancellation of 23 academic programs. Students, faculty, & staff are fighting back, demanding a public meeting & an end to the manufactured austerity crisis. Check out this powerful song produced by TNS students: @newschoolaaup.bsky.social
What A Wonder School (This Would Be)
YouTube video by Austerity Singers
youtu.be
It's time we ensured that all workers have the right to collectively bargain, regardless of where we live. Solidarity means collective action, not sympathy.
Daniel A Collier, PhD@dcollier74.bsky.social · 6mo agoCan those of us in TN expect our friends in blue states, who are safely wrapped in strong unions and job protections, and previously very into writing op-eds about "being in community” and “solidarity” - to rediscover their keyboards for another OpEd? Can't wait to read that next one....
Recordings of class, other than those done as disability accommodations & kept for only personal use, should be understood as violations of intellectual property law just as recordings of live theatre are. It's time we changed the law to protect faculty intellectual property.
Tom Nichols@radiofreetom.bsky.social · 6mo ago"I agree this thing is bad, but what about this other bad thing?" I think students secretly recording class should be kicked out of class. (For one thing, it's a privacy violation of the other students.) And yes, it's authoritarian - old school McCarthyism. Now, do we agree both things are bad?
URI doesn't have urban police stationed close to campus. & by the way, the Brown shooting shows that armed police don't solve the problem of campus violence. Our students already have to fear being shot by ICE agents; they should not have to fear getting shot by the people we pay to keep them safe.
Ray Baccari Jr.@raybaccari.bsky.social · 7mo agoFor those curious, URI has been doing this since 2014. Background from when I covered this issue for the RIC school paper back in my collegiate days - www.anchorweb.org/post/lawmake...
There are no words. May all those impacted by the violence of the past day experience a complete healing of body and spirit, and may we find a path forward in which our children do not have to live in fear of bullets.
Giving Tuesday is coming up fast (12/2) and FAST Fund RIC needs your help. Donate now: givebutter.com/RhodeIslandC... Don't let an overdue car insurance bill or a broken laptop stop a student at Rhode Island College from earning their degree. #BelieveinStudents #GivingTuesday #FASTFund
Rhode Island College
FAST Fund
givebutter.com
@pvdcitycouncil.bsky.social is considering charging fees to landlords who rent to students, thinking of students as people from elsewhere who are using our city services. But students here at @rhodeislandcollege.bsky.social are people from right here in our community. Their housing costs shouldn't
actionnetwork.org/petitions/tr... Sign to support higher education!
Trump Higher Ed Compact 2025
We stand for education—for science, for students and for freedom—and against this backward, anti-American policy. We call on university leaders, faculty, staff and students to unite in rejecting the T...
actionnetwork.org
The last several days have demonstrated that we need a stronger labor movement to protect worker’s free speech rights
The First Amendment still exists, and Rhode Island needs to act quickly and firmly to protect the rights of our public employees to participate in civic life & speech.
Democratic Activists@democratswin.bsky.social · 11mo agoNEW: The Barrington Public Schools have placed a teacher on administrative leave for “alleged social media activity.” Details: shorturl.at/eLVoN
How can we ensure the academic success & mental wellbeing of students who rely on transit to get around? If @RIPTA.com’s proposed service cuts move forward, many students will be left without reliable transit. Mental health matters. Attendance matters. Transit matters too. 🚌📚
Governor Dan McKee@govdanmckee.bsky.social · 12mo agoStudent mental health is a top priority for my administration. Our new partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Education and Bradley Hospital will strengthen supports in schools—because when students are healthy and supported, they’re more likely to attend and thrive. #AttendanceMattersRI
AFT members from RIC Union Strong at Providence Pride!
RIC/AFT walking the line with the SEIU folks at Butler hospital.
RIC/AFT at yesterday's May Day rally. Our remarks (🧵): "Just a few years before our union was established, folks at RIC, along with those at URI and Brown, worked to abolish a loyalty pledge for public school teachers. It is students who first challenged this pledge, which sharply reduced public
RIC/AFT testifying tonight in RI Senate Finance on behalf of funding for RIC.
Hello world! Migrating ourselves off the other place, glad to be here.
RIC/AFT marching with the RI AFL-CIO tonight at Providence Pride.
Thanks for the warm welcome from the Council on Postsecondary Ed last night, and for hearing faculty concerns re shared governance and transparency. RIC students, staff, and faculty deserve better.
Sad that students and employees at @RICNews will now have to pay $3/hour for charging electric vehicles. An incentive to go electric has suddenly become a disincentive at RIC. After the Act on Climate and other $ to fight climate change, is this the right direction @GovDanMcKee?