Recruiting Organizational Support

A Model Letter with Motions for Support of

Local and International CEW Organizing Activities

The following model letter is designed to help you recruit help from local, state, and national unions, academic senates, and professional organizations. It can be copied and pasted into your word processor, and edited to fit your circumstances. Replace the bold parenthetical items to fit the organization you are approaching for CEW support.


(Date)

Dear (Organization) Colleagues,

Campus Equity Week (CEW), 2003, has been scheduled for the week of October the 27th through the 31st. CEW 2003, like the highly successful CEW 2001, is conceived as a loosely coordinated coalition for concurrent locally developed activities highlighting the issues surrounding the use of contingent academic labor. International coordination allows local and national organizers to gain from the synergy of being a part of something much larger while retaining their ability to be responsive to local issues.

During the first CEW, there were activities on over 150 campuses in over 30 states and 6 Canadian provinces. Approximately 80% of the local organizers were new to broad based coalition activities, and about 10% of these were entirely new local contingent academic labor efforts. The year and a half since CEW 2001 has seen an explosion of organizing and press coverage regarding contingent academic labor issues, and a heightened awareness of the complex broader issues emerging from the increasing corporatization and decreasing public support of higher education.

(Organization) should become an active supporter and participant in CEW 2003. To this end I am introducing three motions for your consideration.

1) Moved that (Organization) endorses Campus Equity Week (CEW), 2003 and will notify the CEW Central Coordinator (storerchris@fhda.edu) of our endorsement.

2) Moved that (Organization) will actively participate in local CEW organizing activities, appointing (representative) to form (or participate in) a CEW Organizing Committee and develop an action plan for CEW 2003. Local CEW 2003 activities and expenses of the Organizing Committee will be supported with an initial commitment of ($200.00-$500.00) and (Organization) will consider further support as the action plan develops and warrants.

(3) Moved that (Organization) will support the organizing and coordination efforts of the Campus Equity Week Steering Committee with a financial contribution of ($200.00 +/- from local level organizations; $500.00 +/- from state/provincial level org.s; $1000.00 +/- national level org.s). Check should be made out to “Campus Equity Week” and mailed to:

Suren Moodliar
Co-coordinator; North American Alliance for Fair Employment
33 Harrison Ave, 3rd flr.
Boston, MA 02111

I strongly encourage your support of these important efforts on behalf of our profession and the fundamental mission of higher education in our society.

In Solidarity.

(Name and Signature)


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