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Dear George, As a faculty member who is a long-time, staunch supporter of SUUVA (Staff Union at UVA) and of SUUVA president Jan Cornell, I would like to comment on recent media attacks on the union for its November 21 picket against racism at the university. First, a brief account from SUUVA's perspective of the events leading up to the picket. On November 10, the Director of Patient Transportation at the hospital held a staff meeting. Later that day, SUUVA received a complaint that this supervisor, in the course of mentioning the Washington Redskins, had referred to a team hypothetically called 'the Niggers'. The supervisor is white. The complaint, which came by telephone through a third party, originated because some of the African-Americans present at the meeting reported feeling 'shocked' at the supervisors comment. The complaint was vague as to her precise words; the strong implication, however, was that they had amounted to a casual racial slur. Believing that the allegation was credible and serious enough to warrant further investigation, Cornell immediately wrote letters to several high-level administrators, including Leonard Sandridge, Chief Fiscal Officer, and Ed Howell, CEO of the hospital. Sandridge wrote back the next day promising to look into it. Eight days later, on November 19, Howell e-mailed Cornell confirming that the incident had occurred but suggesting that SUUVA had taken the remark out of context. He did not, however, specify what the precise context was. My own response to this e-mail was, quite frankly: Is there ever an appropriate context for a racial slur? Frustrated at what appeared to be at best a lackadaisical response from the UVA administration, SUUVA planned its picket for the 21st. On that day and not a moment earlier, Casteen released his own report not to SUUVA but to the Cavalier Daily asserting that the supervisor had actually been objecting to the term 'Redskin', likening it to the equally objectionable term 'Nigger'. This was SUUVA's first knowledge of this account of the incident, and it raised several questions for us. Since Howell was apparently aware of this account, why didn't he disclose it to SUUVA two days earlier? Why did Casteen break this news not to Cornell but to the CD? And finally, why did it take eleven days for the story to emerge? Dismayed that the administration had been less than fair and frank in its dealings with the unionwhy not speak directly to us and clarify things immediately? Casteen's report nevertheless gave many of us pause. I, for one, would strongly defend remarks made along the lines that Casteen described, and I therefore decided not to attend the picket. Some members made the same choice, while others decided to go ahead with the action -- broadening its focus to address the general, ongoing problem of racial injustice at UVA. SUUVA does not tolerate racism; for the record, however, it most certainly does tolerate differences of opinion within its ranks. What can we conclude from this series of events? Despite disagreement about exactly what occurred and what it meant, one thing is clear. Employees simply do not trust the administration's willingness to address racial issues in the workplace promptly and forthrightly. Staff turn, instead, to SUUVA because they know SUUVA will respond quickly to allegations of racism alerting the administration and, if no response is forthcoming, taking its concerns to the street. And make no mistake about it racism persists at UVA, not least in the continued relegation of African-American workers to the lowest paying jobs. In Patient Transportation, for example, all of the managers are white, while 90% of the lower-level staff are black. Given this context of mistrust between workers and management, and given the persistence of racial inequity, the full recognition of SUUVA by the administration is both crucial and long overdue. SUUVA gives workers the only voice they have with which to speak out against workplace injustice. Jan Cornell and the organization she heads stand for opposition to bigotry of all kinds and for the right of every university worker to be treated with respect. Susan Fraiman (electronic mail, December 5, 2003)
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