The Rutgers AAUP-AFT Executive Council passed the following resolution:
Whereas, Donald Trump represents a profound threat to democratic rights and the rule of law should he win a second term as president of the United States, including the right to public education at the core of our union’s mission; and
Whereas, the United States has sunk into three historic crises during 2020—a public health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, an economic contraction that may yet rival the Great Depression of the 1930s, and a national reckoning over state violence and racist discrimination and inequality—all made worse as a direct consequence of President Trump’s actions; and
Whereas, the presidency of Donald Trump and Republican control of the federal government have dramatically worsened long-standing economic, social, racial, and gender inequities many years in the making, such as: woeful underfunding of schools, universities and public services of all kinds; working families crushed under a burden of $1 trillion in student loan debt; Black Americans, other communities of color, women, LGBTQ people, and other vulnerable populations denied full justice under the law; immigrants and refugees subjected to barbaric conditions and punishment; lack of access to affordable, quality health care that leaves countless people one illness away from bankruptcy; and the freedom to form unions undermined by corporate interests; and
Whereas, our union has proudly opposed the Trump administration’s persecution of our international students by opposing, along with the majority of higher-education institutions, restrictions on student visas and other draconian immigration measures that harm institutions like Rutgers, our society as a whole, and academic inquiry in general; and
Whereas, Donald Trump’s embrace of white supremacy, intensified state violence, especially against Black people, and right-wing fanaticism has emboldened a minority of society to engage in extremist acts, with the aim of inflicting suffering on large numbers of vulnerable people and intimidating much larger numbers into silence; and
Whereas, Donald Trump has sought to undermine fair and free elections, from accelerating the disenfranchisement of vulnerable populations, to mobilizing supporters to intimidate opponents who seek to exercise their democratic rights, to cynically casting doubt on the basic operations of elections in a 21st century society; and
Whereas, President Trump and the Republican Party’s denial of climate science, rejection of international climate treaties, and destruction of anti-pollution laws and regulations has accelerated the spiral toward a climate catastrophe that can only be prevented by a ecological and social transformation on the scale of the Green New Deal aimed at providing quality jobs and a sustainable future; and
Whereas, the Trump administration has packed the federal judiciary, including the US Supreme Court, with reactionary ideologues committed to overturning institutions and laws that the majority in society holds dear and imposing their own values and morality on those who disagree with them; and
Whereas, the signature action of the Trump administration is a law that cuts taxes by $1.5 trillion, with 83 percent of the benefits going to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers; and
Whereas, the future of our university, our state, our country, and our world depend on defeating a president diametrically opposed to the values we stand for, and therefore electing a practical alternative candidate to the office of the President of the United States; therefore be it
Resolved, that Rutgers AAUP-AFT endorses a vote for Joe Biden for president of the United States; and
Resolved, that Rutgers AAUP-AFT will recruit and engage members to ensure they and their families are registered to vote, are informed about the positions, issues and record of Joe Biden and Donald Trump; and
Resolved, that Rutgers AAUP-AFT urges members to support the Biden presidential campaign in canvassing, phone banking, and otherwise getting out the vote.
Resolved, that Rutgers AAUP-AFT will begin immediately to push a President Joe Biden to support public higher education through a New Deal for Higher Education, to truly defend and sustain working families in the face of a health and economic crisis, to address the climate crisis, and to protect and enhance the rights of labor unions and working people.