The PSA’s Statement concerning events at the September 21, 2023 Board of Trustees Meeting.

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The PSA’s Statement concerning events at the September 21, 2023 Board of Trustees Meeting.

This past Thursday, as members of the NJIT community waited to enter the Public Session of the Board of Trustees meeting (being held in the Agile Strategies conference space, within the Central King Building), an NJIT doctoral student was arrested. The student was peacefully exercising their right to protest the fact that graduate student employees and adjunct instructors have been working without a contract for more than 14 months. The officers of the PSA were first-hand witnesses of what transpired. The reaction to this demonstration, on the part of NJIT was, in our view, unwarranted, and at the very least disproportionate. The PSA cannot condone what was our university’s official response as we believe this arrest was not in keeping with our university’s shared principles that, in the past, have guided relations among NJIT’s various constituencies. These principles have, historically, allowed for open discourse, as appropriate to an institution of higher learning and research, in the pursuit of truth, and in the spirit of equity for all members of the NJIT community. NJIT has since dropped the charges against the student. The PSA appreciates NJIT’s reconsideration of the situation. These events reinforce the continued need for communication, tolerance, understanding, and our shared commitment to fairness. It is our belief that the University is strengthened by open dialogue. We hope that all members of our community continue to have the right to voice their concerns without fear of retaliation.

Amitabha Bose, Mike Kehoe and Burt Kimmelman
PSA President, PSA Professional Staff Vice President and PSA Faculty Vice President

The PSA Office