Double victory! The power of direct action is bringing back cafeteria services and creating a permanent food pantry at the Graduate Center!
On Tuesday morning (3/28), the GC administration sent out an email with two important announcements:
- the establishment of an “on-site pantry that it is [sic] sustainable and safe.”
- “restarting on-campus food services in Café 365 and the Dining Commons, as well as catering services, by fall 2023.”
The email admits that these are the results of the “People’s Pantry” in the commons. Though they claim it was achieved through DGSC negotiation, this is the double victory of a broad, coalitional movement called Reclaim the Commons, comprising students, staff, faculty, retirees, PSC and DC37 members, Rank and File Action, Free CUNY, The CUNY Working Group on Racism and Colonialism, LP2, and more. In just two months, we, the GC Community, have forced the administration to do something they repeatedly said was “impossible.” We did this through direct action, solidarity, and a huge public showing of mutual aid.
We should relish the scale and speed of such an achievement. But we must be clear-eyed about the next steps. Although they are thanking and congratulating one another already, our administration may (probably will) drag their feet on this; it’s as much an attempt to shut us up as to actually fix the problems. Reclaim the Commons will not accept a program that shuts students and workers out of its governance, or a decision-making process that lacks full transparency. We want a direct say in how the food services are developed, and how the pantry is run. We want to make sure that these services are handled with the principles of inclusion, accessibility, nutrition, and labor justice. We also must keep focus on a range of GC demands to fix the Budget Office, for the Childcare Center to be more affordable with expanded hours, to stop rent increases for students in GC housing, for tangible staff and faculty appreciation, and more.
Up on the 8th floor, there is still much to be done together. The Commons is still under student/worker control, and will remain so. We are running the pantry until we see what shape the GC admin’s version will take. We are still transforming our space into a cooperative field of solidarity and association. We are still holding events, including our weekly Wednesday potlucks; a 3/29 LGTBQ visibility and solidarity event, a 3/31 CUNY-wide organizing convergence, a 4/19 pre-Eid iftar celebration, and a 4/26 roundtable on CUNY movement legacies.
CUNY is the Harvard of the Proletariat; and the Commons is our meadow of working-class jubilee!
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