CADEN HAYNOR / ASST. NEWS EDITOR

The non-tenure track (NTT) union and supporters gathered for a rally on March 20 on the Paseo de Colachis. The protest was in collaboration with the Social Justice Club (SJC) and focused on the union’s negotiations with the University. Additionally, the union asked USD to focus on social issues, such as declaring USD a sanctuary campus; protecting transgender students, staff and faculty; investing in diversity, equity  and inclusion (DEI) programs and defending free speech and the right to protest.

 USD senior Lauren Williams serves as the president of the Social Justice Club. Williams expressed her excitement on this new collaboration in the rally.

“I think the campus needs to be able to support individuals and, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see much going around other than clubs,” Williams said. “I think that there could be more support for trans individuals and their community on this campus because we’ve seen the presidential administration is specifically trying to remove trans people out of the queer community. There has been support through clubs, but not through things like emails that the president has sent out.”

The rally asked the USD administration to agree to a union contract with the College of Arts and Sciences NTT faculty union as soon as possible. Now that the union has been created, they are working to negotiate a contract which puts the change that they are arguing for into practice. USD adjunct sociology and gender studies professor Dr. Melissa  James has worked at USD for 20 years. She spoke in front of the crowd of supporters about the union’s negotiation goals.

“We call on the University to recognize that true changemakers understand that change starts at home, and we call on USD to be the change makers that we are here to foster,” James stated. “We call on USD to pay the NTT as the valuable workforce that we are.”

USD has been in communication with the union since last year. The University’s media relations team commented on the ongoing affairs.

“The university is continuing to meet with the NTT union representatives in the hope of reaching a mutually acceptable collective bargaining agreement,” USD Media Relations said. “The meetings began last Fall, and we  are  in the process of exchanging proposals and negotiating in good faith toward a resolution.”

USD first-year Luke White attended the rally. White expressed his opinion on the speeches at the rally.

“It was interesting to hear different perspectives,” White said. “But at the same time, when you have multiple people talking about the same issue, it is kind of hard for everyone to have an entirely original speech, so there was a bit of overlap.”

Some students still remain unaware of activism on campus, despite the student partnership, and wish more information was available. USD sophomore Justin Cann shared how he wants to see more information regarding the union. 

“I feel like I don’t have enough information on the non tenure track union to be fully informed about the situation,” Cann said. “I wish there was some readily available information from USD online that I could learn from so I could create an informed opinion.”

USD first-year Antonio Distefano also commented on the activism on campus.

“They’re not very down your throats about activism. I’ve only seen protests a couple times”

The SJC and the NTT union are scheduled for another protest asking for support from the USD administration in April. As the union’s negotiations with the USD administration continue, they look for a prompt response to their proposals and propositions for change.

SJC tabled in support of the union outside of the Immaculata Church. Photo courtesy of @sjc_usd/Instagram