Student activism alive and well at Northeastern U

Socialist Worker - Students and  workers at Northeastern University n Boston have won a series of victories in recent years that are increasing the confidence and radicalization of campus activists.

Two years ago, the school's 400 dining hall workers joined UNITEHERE Local 26 in a union organizing campaign helped by a campus coalition known as HOWL: Huskies Organizing With Labor.

Almost immediately after that, student activists were involved in supporting another campaign, this time to unionize the adjunct faculty, with the help of the Service Employees International Union. After a two-year-long campaign, the adjuncts voted to form the NEU Adjunct Faculty Union in May of last year.

In the spring of 2013, a campaign led by the Progressive Students Alliance (PSA) pressured the university to cut ties with Adidas in light of a report from the Workers Rights Consortium--an organization of which Northeastern is a member--about the company's violations of workers' rights in Indonesia.

Not thrilled by this continual success for the campus left, the university administration tried to flex its muscles in March 2014 by suspending the NEU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). SJPs across the country had been facing discrimination from administrators, but the suspension at Northeastern was unprecedented.

A well-organized campaign in defense of SJP brought out the support of national organizations such as the International Socialist Organization and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as campus and local allies such as the PSA, Husky Environmental Action Team, and the Boston School Bus Drivers Union, among others. After a month of constant protest and continued pressure, Northeastern rescinded the suspension, giving another victory to the left.

The same month as the SJP suspension, DivestNU campaigned for a student government referendum, in which 2,600 students--75 percent of the overall vote--supported a resolution for the university to divest from fossil fuels.

In September, environmental groups at Northeastern wanted to continue that success and organized transportation from Boston to New York City for the People's Climate March. On the morning of the protest, however, the school decided not to pay for the buses, leaving disappointed activists unable to attend the historic march.