Washington University Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU) held a teach-in gathering on the Brookings Quadrangle stage Monday afternoon.

The event featured short talks from three University faculty members, two graduate students and a representative of Show-Me $15, a St. Louis organization also working for a $15 minimum wage. They spoke about the history behind student activism and social movements, as well as the campaign for a living wage at Washington University, St. Louis and the United States.

The teach-in was part of WUGWU’s occupation of Brookings Quadrangle, which started April 15 with protestors vowing to not leave until the University raises the minimum wage and provides free childcare for all University workers.

“I hope that we can kind of introduce folks to the broader message and context of the work we’re doing,” Ph.D. student and co-chair of WUGWU’s executive committee Grace Ward said. “I hope that has a mobilizing effect.”

Ward and Brown School of Social Work graduate student Aura Aguilar began the teach-in by talking about the campaign for a living wage at the University. According to Ward, WUGWU formed during the 2016-2017 school year and has followed a “direct action model,” including marches, interrupting campus events and their current occupation of Brookings.

Aguilar then spoke about her experiences last week, when she and a group of fellow protestors occupied Chancellor Martin’s office and were eventually arrested. She also said that she thought it was contradictory for the University to teach about income inequality and the minimum wage but not give their workers a living wage.

“For me, it felt very ridiculous that we were learning all of this in a school, in a really great school, but also being housed in a university that’s not really respecting its workers, not providing a living wage,” Aguilar said.

After Ward and Aguilar, a representative from Show-Me $15 spoke, saying that the organization will continue to support the campaign at Washington University.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Bret Gustafson then talked about what he sees as the “neoliberalization of the university,” or the idea that universities increasingly consider themselves to be businesses with the goal of generating revenue. According to Gustafson, that leads to money being concentrated at the top of the university at the administration level, while other workers struggle.

“Once again, we’re here demanding a living wage–a living wage for people who have gotten this place all cleaned up for graduation, they clean up the bathrooms, they cook for people, they clean up your bedrooms, they clean up our offices, they come in and ask if they can vacuum your floor and you’re sitting there in comfort while folks out here can’t even manage to put three square meals on the table,” Gustafson said.

Professor of Art History Angela Miller then briefly spoke about how she sees the campaign at the University as one part of a broader international campaign for a living wage, which includes activism such as the Yellow Vests movement in Paris.

Finally, English lecturer Michael O’Bryan gave an overview of student activism, movements and occupations. He also mentioned how influential the University could be in affecting the minimum wage throughout the region as one of its largest employers.

“We have the ability to make material impacts in the lives of people here, and anyone who’s going to school here and isn’t paying attention to that isn’t paying attention to their implication within their own community,” O’Bryan said. “That’s one of the things that they used to see back when students were being activists back in the 60s and 70s, with anti-war activism, with anti-Apartheid activism. It’s one of the things that [WUGWU is] doing now, and I think that’s great.”