Working For A Better World
GAU stands in solidarity with activists and organizers across the country who are fighting systemic racism in American society and governments.
The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and other Blacks senselessly killed were entirely preventable. National conversations about racism against people of color have been intermittent for decades, most recently sparked by the blind eye police routinely turn to racial violence.
Racism and police violence are not limited to one place or one time. The University of Florida, Alachua County, and City of Gainesville must come together and work to end racism. The community must support a healthy and inclusive environment for all of its residents, including UF students, staff, and faculty.
GAU will always to work to represent and protect all members of our graduate community and family. We are committed ensuring a more just, free, and equitable world.
GAU is your union, your voice.
We must honor all of the lives stolen too soon and work collectively to ensure justice means justice for all.
The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and other Blacks senselessly killed were entirely preventable. National conversations about racism against people of color have been intermittent for decades, most recently sparked by the blind eye police routinely turn to racial violence.
Racism and police violence are not limited to one place or one time. The University of Florida, Alachua County, and City of Gainesville must come together and work to end racism. The community must support a healthy and inclusive environment for all of its residents, including UF students, staff, and faculty.
GAU will always to work to represent and protect all members of our graduate community and family. We are committed ensuring a more just, free, and equitable world.
GAU is your union, your voice.
We must honor all of the lives stolen too soon and work collectively to ensure justice means justice for all.
Improving Our Community
GAU believes the following steps are necessary to confront racism and violence on campus and in our community:
- Commission a university student and employee climate survey addressing diversity, racism, and mental health.
- Invite an external review of racial and mental health conditions on campus.
- Hold a public town hall centering around the issues of racism, state violence against, and mental health on campus.
- Release a timeline of the University’s plans for taking concrete actions based on information gained from the above.
- Commit to hiring more Black, Latinx, international, and LGBTQ faculty, and publicly release a strategy for how this will be accomplished, including that UF provides goals, benchmark, and retention projects for faculty assessment.
- Rename University facilities honoring Confederate leaders or individuals with documented histories of racism.
- Divest from any and all companies using prison labor.
- Prohibit the use of prison labor at all University-related facilities and research sites.
- Divest from any and all manufacturing companies that sell arms and military equipment to police and sheriff departments.
- Provide a mechanism for GAU to intervene in any instance where a graduate employee feels their employment or academic status is in jeopardy due to racial, international status, gender, sexual orientation, and mental health discrimination.
