Educators are striking at New Jersey’s state university, which has pumped $246 million from its endowment into high-fee hedge fund investments since 2020.
by Matthew Cunningham-Cook, The Lever
Rutgers University is refusing to pay some instructors living wages or give its faculty raises that would keep up with inflation — prompting the first-ever strike in the school’s history. At the same time, New Jersey’s state university has continued to plow ever-more funds from its endowment into high-fee investments that are performing poorly.
The Rutgers strike, which began Monday, is over basic issues like wages, job security, and the cost of university-owned housing. Currently 9,000 educators are taking part in the action. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who appoints members of Rutgers’ Board of Governors, is currently acting as mediator between unions and university management.
The episode underscores the critical role that university endowments are playing in subsidizing the lifestyles of some of the wealthiest people on the planet — at the cost of livable wages for the people who teach students.
The interest from university endowments is used to fund school operations, including educator salaries, as well as designated scholarships and faculty chairs.
Recent Posts
Waterboarding for Dollars in Cuba
Take Action Now “What the United States is doing to Cubans is equivalent to waterboarding them into submission, and all CBS could seem to talk about…
The Surveillance Economy Is Here. This Is How We Fight Back.
Take Action Now Rejecting surveillance capitalism means insisting, clearly and unapologetically, that markets should serve the people — not the other…
While the U.S. Doubles Down on Fossil Fuels, Other Countries Are Charting a Path Away From Them
Take Action Now The recent Santa Marta conference in Colombia was the world’s first diplomatic conference expressly dedicated to phasing out fossil…
The Right Wants to Erase Minority Representation. We’ll Register Millions to Stop Them.
Take Action Now Their insult will arouse us—and put Republican incumbents’ own seats at risk.By Yusef D. Jackson, The Nation When the right-wing…