The University of Oregon Administration recently posted a note on the rights of international students to participate in a possible strike. Many international students voiced their concern over this post and were worried about deportation if they were to participate in a strike.
After conferring with our lawyers on the matter and being assured that international GTFs are at no such risk if they participate in a strike, the GTFF sent the University Administration’s lead negotiator the attached letter. It ask the the Administration to remove the posting from their website. This post constituted an unfair labor practice in violation of the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act as it directly intimidates international students to discourage them them exercising their legal right to participate in a strike.
International Graduate Student Rights Letter
The University Administration did remove the posting soon after receiving the letter. It’s been replaced by a comment that international GTFs who cannot pay tuition to attend the University could be at risk of having their visas redacted. GTFs are not at risk of having their tuition canceled for this term (see information here) and participating in a strike this term can have no affect on employment or student status in other terms. International GTFs who rely on their tuition waivers to be a student (and thus keep their visa status) are not at risk of losing their tuition waivers.