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Join us in examining how debt financing is impacting our university budgets, altering campus leadership’s decision-making, adding to students’ debt burden, and making wall street investors wealthier. Let’s make the burden of university debt visible and organize to fight for free public higher education for all.

April 15, 2021 Debt Reveal Video

April 14, 2022 Debt Reveal Report

Coalition against Campus Debt:

Sofya Aptekar, Associate Professor, City University of New York School of Labor and Urban Studies, sofya.aptekar@gmail.com

Tracy Berger, Senior Business Analyst, University of Colorado Boulder, United Campus Workers (UCW-CWA 7799), Higher Education Labor United

Joanna Gonsalves, Professor, Salem State University, Massachusetts State College Association, Educators for a Democratic Union (Progressive Caucus in Mass Teachers Assn) Joannagonsalves2@gmail.com

Rich Levy, Professor, Salem State University (Retired), Educators for a Democratic Union (Progressive Caucus in Mass Teachers Assn), richlevy@posteo.net

Barbara Madeloni, Labor Notes, PHEW, Educators for a Democratic Union (Progressive Caucus in Mass Teachers Assn), barbara@labornotes.org

Maria del Mar Rosa Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, University of Puerto Rico Cayey, National Coordinator of Association of Puerto Rican University Professors (APPU), profesoramrr@gmail.com

Dana Morrison, PHEW, Labor Notes, APSCUF-WCU, danamo93885@gmail.com

Eleni Schirmer, Freelance Writer, Debt Collective, Postdoc at Concordia University’s Social Justice Centre, eleni.schirmer@gmail.com

Jason Wozniak, Assistant Professor, West Chester University, Debt Collective, PHEW, Labor Notes, jazonwoz1@gmail.com

The Debt Collective https://debtcollective.org/

Public Higher Education Workers (PHEW) https://www.facebook.com/PHEWnetwork Contact: PHEWnetwork@gmail.com

Publications

Schirmer, E., Wozniak, J., Morrison, D., Gonsalves, J. & Levy, R. (2021). Making the invisible visible: Organizing against the instructionally harmful, anti-democratic effects of institutional debt, AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom. https://www.aaup.org/JAF12/making-invisible-visible-organizing-against-instructionally-harmful-antidemocratic-effects

Schirmer, E., Wozniak, J., Morrison, D., Levy, R. & Gonsalves, J. (2021, April 15). American universities are buried under a mountain of debt: How deep in debt is your university? Find out today on Debt Reveal Day, The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/universities-student-debt-reveal/

Gonsalves, J. & Levy, R. (2021, April). Why should I care about my university’s capital debt?, MSCA Perspective. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u2tI6lkDrnayKfY7Yma0GOC5jm-jkTFbJyzGp-F5_EI/edit

Schirmer, E. (2020, November 25). It’s not just students drowning in debt. Colleges are too! The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/student-debt-university-credit/

Levy, R. & Gonsalves, J. (2020, August). Our faculty union exposed the university’s debt—and who’s paying for it, Labor Notes. https://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2020/08/our-faculty-union-exposed-universitys-debt-and-whos-paying-it

Past Consortium Events

November 30, 2021 How Debt Robs Us and How To Take What is Stolen Back, Labor Notes

October 21, 2021 Campus Workers Organizing Around Debt: Practical Ideas and Resources, Labor Notes Watch Video

September 9, 2021 The Other College Debt Crisis, Debunking Myths and Organizing for Action, Labor Notes Watch Video

January 13, 2021 Making the Invisible Visible: University Institutional Debt Retreat

Welcome & Introductions (Eleni Schirmer, UW Madison) Watch video

Exploring Our Institutions’ Debt Service (Rich Levy & Joanna Gonsalves, SSU)

Identifying the Infrastructure (Bargaining for the Common Good & SEIU1021) Video

How and Why Debt Audits Can Be Empowering (Andrew Ross, NYU) Watch video

Debt is the Lifeblood of Late Capitalism (Louise Seamster, University of Iowa) Video