The Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is holding a rally against federal grant cuts, anti-DEI actions, ICE on campus and uncertain state support actions today at the University of Connecticut Student Union Terrace and Lawn.
The Storrs Day of Action rally, which is a part of a wider National Day of Action for Higher Education, will take place from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the rally beginning at 12:10 p.m. and a press conference beginning at 12:45 p.m. The event will feature speakers such as Senator Richard Blumenthal, Representative Joe Courtney and Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, according to Chris Vials, president of the UConn American Association of University Professors UConn Chapter.
Members of UConn-AAUP will be joining UCPEA, UConn-GEU-UAW, AFSCME and CEUI for the rally. Graduate union members and Vials will also be speaking at the rally, as well as people who have had their own federal grants “cut or put in jeopardy by federal cuts,” according to Vials.
“The real point of the rally is to kind of call attention to the impact of the federal government on education in this country, and all the various ways that the Trump administration is just hurting education from grant cuts to basically revoking visas for international students and scholars for random reasons, these attacks on DEI and the attacks on the Department of Education,” said Vials.
Over the past few months, President Donald Trump has announced a slew of executive orders, including removing DEI programs and stopping funding for federal grants related to DEI. Trump also worked to revoke hundreds of student visas, with 13 students from UConn getting their student visas taken away.
Vials said that through the rally, AFT hopes to get Governor Ned Lamont’s attention and push him to “fund public higher education in the way that it needs to be funded, and to provide it with enough funding that it would withstand some of the shocks that the federal government is sending its way.”
Lamont’s announcement of the Connecticut state budget in February received much push back due to its cuts to UConn funding. Vials stated that the rally hopes to call for the governor to better fund higher education in Connecticut.
“We want him to step up and just better fund public higher education to kind of fortify it against federal attacks,” said Vials.
Vials stated that the rally also aims to gain the UConn administration’s attention and get them to take a stand against federal government action. Harvard recently announced that they would not follow Trump’s demands related to DEI and Vials hopes that UConn will follow suit.
“We’re hoping that the university administration here kind of joins the resistance that Harvard has now put down and generally has a stronger voice, and kind of lets us know that they have our backs,” said Vials. “I think a lot of people on campus are not sure if the upper administration really does have their backs.”
However, the rally is already facing some setbacks due to UConn’s outdoor amplified and projected sound policy.
During the summer of 2024, UConn revised its noise policies related to outdoor activities following the pro-Palestine student-led protests on campus. The policy states that “any sound that is electronically amplified or projected through the use of equipment such as amplifiers, speakers, DJs, megaphones, or other sound systems” cannot be made from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The policy also prohibits “instruments or items that can produce significant sound levels.”
This has limited the Day of Action Rally, according to Vials, as they cannot use microphones to amplify speakers’ voices. This has led organizers to make some changes to the event, such as having to move the rally to a different location halfway through.
“We’re going to have to improvise,” said Vials. “We will likely move the rally to an indoor room, after a certain point, in the Student Union that we have reserved with amplified sound.”
There has been much pushback against this policy, with many expressing that the policy infringes on free speech by attempting to limit protests on campus.
Vials said he believes that free speech and protest on campus are very important to the working of a university.
“College campuses have been places for student protest or protest in general for hundreds of years, and I cannot stress what a radical shift this policy is to basically just not allow viable protests outside. That sends the message that the university is part of this national move towards a limitation of rights and speech and a limitation of freedom,” said Vials.
Vials said he hopes that students will attend the rally, as it is their education AFT is fighting for.
“I’m hoping that we have a huge student presence,” said Vials. “Students are welcome and invited. Because, I mean, I think it’s their education that’s on the line. Because federal grant cuts, if you’re in the STEM fields, this impacts your future in those fields. It also impacts the ability of students to become researchers and scientists and scholars in the future.”
The press conference will be held in room 304AB in the Student Union and will also be live streamed at AFT Connecticut’s Facebook fan page.
Those wishing to attend the rally can register on the Google form linked on the AFT website.