The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

GESO is asking other organizations to endorse the campaign and to gather signatures on their petition. I've pasted a letter from two GESO organizers
below:

*************

November 9, 2005

Graduate Employees and Students Organization
425 College Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Dear ____________________:

On 5 October 2005, the Graduate Employees and Students Organization
("GESO") at Yale University initiated a campaign demanding the university to divest its approximately $1.6 million stake in Corrections Corporation of America ("CCA"), one of the largest owners and operators of private prisons in the United States. GESO launched the campaign with a rally and press conference that was attended by students, faculty, staff, community organizations, and members of the New Haven community to call for an end to Yale's investments in the incarceration of people of color for profit and the destruction of our communities. Local anti-prison activists and organizations spoke alongside graduate and undergraduate students. Speakers included: Barbara Fair of the New Haven Organization, People Against Injustice; Roger Vann, Director of Connecticut Civil Liberties Union; Carolyn Nyah, President of Bridgeport NAACP; and Jacquelyn James, a New Haven alderwoman.

GESO also released a report titled, "Endowing Injustice: Yale University and the Private Prison Industry," which details Yale's investment in CCA as well as the company's sordid history of human rights violations, egregious labor practices, and legislative influence. Since the campaign's initiation, GESO and UNITEHERE's locals 34 and 35, which comprise the clerical technical, maintenance and service employees at Yale, have gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition demanding divestment from CCA.

We are now reaching out nationally to our allies in the labor, civil rights, human rights, and anti-prison movements to ask that you join in this campaign. As a corporate-university with national and global influence, Yale's divestment can set a powerful example in ethical investments for all levels of higher education. By refusing to invest in incarceration, Yale can make clear that the principles of prison industry and mass incarceration contradict those of critical inquiry, academic freedom, and community development. We urge you to support the divestment campaign by signing the enclosed petition. Your support is critical to the success of this campaign.

If you wish to sign an online petition, please refer to http://action.unitehere.org/campaign/cca. If you choose to sign a hardcopy of the petition, you may mail it back to GESO at the address set forth above. You may also obtain a copy of "Endowing Justice" at www.geso.org.

For your convenience, please find attached a copy of the report and petition for your review. We will continue to update you with information about the campaign as well as opportunities for collaboration with your organization on future actions regarding this issue.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely yours,
Sarah Haley
Sam Vong
GESO-UNITEHERE
sarah.haley@yale.edu
sam.vong@yale.edu