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Rutgers University wants to suspend student activists for peacefully protesting on campus.

This sends a shiver down the spine of our entire intercollegiate community.

The Office of Student Conduct at Rutgers - New Brunswick has recommended suspension for three student workers and labor activists, Mary Danella-Mercanti, Christopher Rios, and Matthew Schmeider, for their participation in non-violent protests as part of their campaign to win a fifteen dollar minimum wage for all University employees. The suspensions come after student activists interrupted speeches by President Robert Barchi on two separate occasions. The recommendation of suspension goes against a statement made by Director of Academic Integrity, Kevin Pitt, who previously stated that no students will be suspended for activism on campus. We need to show the administration that this suppression of First Amendment rights cannot be allowed to stand.

As members of Rutgers United Students Against Sweatshops, a student labor rights organization, Mary, Chris, and Matt have been involved in the Fight for $15 campaign for almost two years.

Mary is a fourth year History and Women and Gender Studies student who hopes to graduate in May 2019. She currently works for a non-profit out of the Rutgers University Labor Center and has held multiple positions in dining and recreation at Rutgers in the past. She got involved with labor rights movement at Rutgers four years ago when she attended a rally for Part-Time Lecturers. She fights for a fifteen dollar minimum wage because she believes people should be able to work one job and support themselves.

Chris is a fifth year Cultural Anthropology student set to graduate in May 2019. Chris is currently working for Rutgers Dining Services at Douglas Cafe in the Douglas Student Center. They have been fighting for a 15 dollar minimum wage for 3 years. Chris became inspired to fight for worker power after seeing the conditions that their friends and fellow workers were undergoing and being made to put up with. They believe that every worker has the right to a decent comfortable life. Fighting for worker power has been so rewarding, having worked with faculty and raised the Rutgers minimum wage to 11 dollars an hour.

Matthew is a fourth year Philosophy and Geography major who is not currently attending school due to financial and personal reasons. He currently works for Rutgers Dining Services at Henry’s Diner and has been involved in labor rights activism since joining Rutgers USAS in the fall of 2017. Since then, he has deepened his interest and commitment to labor rights and justice, and over the summer went on an exposure trip to the Philippines where he learned from and stood with different unions and workers on strike for better working conditions.

The current Code of Conduct, re-codified in 2017 when activism at the University was on the rise, betrays students right to peacefully demonstrate for better conditions for people in the Rutgers and New Brunswick community. The conduct policy as it stands limits actions to those regulated by the University and urges students to use predetermined “Demonstration Locations”. This concept is offensive to the strategy and theory of Direct Action Organizing, which has been used to solidify rights for people in this country for the last 250 years, and the history and techniques of which are taught in classes across the University.(Direct action organizing previously won UndocuRutgers recognition and staff persons to advise undocumented students, and has won Rutgers Students with Children early registration for students with children, a website listing University resources, and the identification of student parents as a population at the Universit. Black Lives Matter and the Cultural Competence Coalition won a diversity requirement in our Core Curriculum) 

By targeting leaders in the student movement the university is betraying its stated mission of “providing instructional needs for New Jersey citizens” by removing students from a learning context for their effort to change their university for the better. Further, they undermine their third mission statement of “public service” by eliminating students who advocate for the empowerment of the broader, working community through a quality of life assurance: a living fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage. The aforementioned students have advocated for nonviolent demonstration and been met with contempt, condescension, and hostility from administrators who allegedly represent the interests of the student body. In addition the financial security of these same students is compromised by University actions since suspension may result in loss of housing, federal and private student loans and job termination. For these reasons and a broader moral considerations, we urge you to stand in solidarity with the accused and formally condemn the actions of Rutgers University in this matter and ask that the university overturn the decision to suspend student activists.

In signing this document, you formally condemn the punitive action taken by Rutgers University in it’s recommendation to suspend student activists Matthew Schmieder, Christopher Rios, and Mary Danella-Mercanti for peaceful activities relating to the campaign for a fifteen dollar minimum wage on Campus.

We encourage those to sign to share the link with a statement on how direct action has impacted their life or the lives of people around them.