During the three day SENS-UAW Local 7902 strike, a private Facebook group titled “New School Parents/Guardians/Emancipated Students” served as a platform for parents to seek advice and share their frustrations.
The strike, which was called off after a tentative agreement was announced on March 8, escalated parents’ pre-existing concerns about the state of the unions and university administration. Between the pandemic and last year’s adjunct faculty strike that spanned 25 days at the end of the fall 2022 semester, news of another strike was disconcerting.
The group is not affiliated with the university. In fact, university employees will be denied access if they attempt to join. As per the group’s first post in Oct. 2020, the exclusion of administration allows parents to convene free from “moderation by New School employees. This becomes especially apparent in light of major university events.”
Opinions differed, comment threads lengthened, and the spectrum of perspectives regarding the strike sparked a fair share of disagreements. But despite these differences, parents’ frustrations were consistently rooted in concern for the students as they bore the brunt of another interruption to their education.
Tracy Reppert, whose daughter is a junior at Lang, explained that in her experience, “a big part of education was momentum, you can’t get a good education just stopping in the middle. Just like anything, you need to be deeply immersed in it. My child has been severely cheated during her education here.”
“As a single mother, making this education happen for my child is a real hardship for me. It seems like there’s not enough regard for the kids and their experience. It’s really just disregarding the kids and parents who are sacrificing” Reppert said.
With parents reporting a lack of communication on behalf of the university, social media was a prominent resource for gathering and spreading information. While some caught wind of the strike through their kids, the Facebook page and even the TNS Affirmations Instagram account were the first to alert parents to the strike.
Nicole Farjani, a parent and former educator, found out about the strike through the parent Facebook page. “I would prefer that the school kept parents informed, as we are usually the ones paying for tuition. Our students can often be too busy to keep us up to date on everything that’s going on,” said Farjani.
“We don’t cross picket lines. So it’s a tough situation. It is important for the student workers to feel appreciated and appropriately compensated for their work,” she added.
Pam Ferrari, a parent of two students at the university, found the Facebook page helpful amidst a lack of communication from the university.
“Some parents have different information than others, they hear different things from their kids depending on [what program] their kids are enrolled in, who they talk to, what year they are in, if they work for the paper, or if they are a student worker.”
Ferrari explained that during the 2022 strike, she sought out information from both the Facebook page and the official statements issued by the university.
“I felt that communications from the union were slanted in their best interest, highlighting only what they want you to see and not the entire picture,” she said.
Despite a lack of university-issued communication regarding the current strike, she said that the school has seemingly “made available their entire proposal,” which has given her a sense of transparency from the administration this time around.
Diane Engelhard Loeser, a parent of a second-year Design and Technology major at Parsons, shared similar frustrations. Engelhard Loeser also initially caught wind of the strike through the TNS Affirmations page.
“I understand wanting more money and that students are looking for an increase, but from what my daughter texted me this morning, the demands are excessive. If you make the choice to go to school in Manhattan… you make the choice to be a [student worker] to have a little extra money to help, It is never, ever a university’s duty to pay the students enough to survive, let alone in a city as expensive as New York. It’s an entitled reaction and the students have lost sight of what they are there to do,” said Engelhard Loeser.
“The faculty should not be encouraging solidarity with the students. They should be encouraging students to go to class. They should be having their classes and doing what they can in [light] of [the strike]. If they truly believe that they became a university faculty member to teach then that’s what they should be doing.” Engelhard Loeser added.
Betsy Wilson, a parent of a photography major at Parsons, placed more blame on the administration for the mishandling of the strike. “I have heard some parents on social media complain that the union is punishing their kids. I think that’s wrong. I think the union is doing what unions do and what they need to do to create workplace fairness. It’s the administration’s adversarial response that’s punishing my kid,” Wilson said.
With 17 years serving as Vice President of her local union under her belt, parent Kim Marcelle shared empathy with the SENS strike. “I feel like most people who make these comments are not in a union and have never bargained, because anybody who’s bargain knows, you always shoot for the stars and then you slowly compromise,” Marcelle said.
“It makes me feel bad to see the way parents have been reacting on social media. The fact that in this country we’re still debating whether people deserve health insurance to me is just mind boggling,” she said.
All interviews for this story were conducted prior to the recent developments that resulted in a tentative agreement to end the strike on Friday, March 8.
Caidin Ferrigno, the reporter on this piece, is currently a Research Assistant at the university and as such is covered by the SENS-UAW contract, but is not in a leadership or organizing role within the union.