In light of Professor Amy Hungerford’s May 9, 2017 article “Why the Yale Hunger Strike is Misguided” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, we, the organizers of the 2017 University of Chicago English Department Graduate Conference, would like to emphasize our support for the rights of graduate students everywhere to unionize, bargain collectively, and protest. We believe such efforts are in keeping with the principles of open debate and free scholarly inquiry. It is precisely in this spirit that, despite our disagreements with the article, we look forward to hearing Professor Hungerford’s keynote address.
Respectfully yours,
Kevin King, Rivky Mondal, Madison Chapman, Jake Fournier, Sarah McDaniel, Jordan Pruett, Rebeca Velasquez, Kerry Boland