Marquette University President Kimo Ah Yun’s April 29 presidential inauguration was full of pomp and circumstance — and protest.
Inside, the Al McGuire Center was filled with students, faculty and staff anticipating the university president’s inauguration. In addition to the local community members, University Spokesperson Kevin Conway said delegates from more than 40 academic institutions, including 18 presidents and chancellors, were in attendance.
But outside, on the northeast corner of 12th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, a different group of people gathered with flyers and signs with messages like “Unions are an indispensable element of social life” and “Underpaying workers is theft.”
Protesters were making their voices heard as a way of bringing attention to the anti-union stance the university holds, despite some 70% of adjunct faculty in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences voicing their support for a union. One of the group’s main demands is improved financial compensation and working conditions.
“We’re protesting here today because this inauguration is a symbol of the misguided steps that this university administration has been making over the past year,” Grant Gosizk, English teaching assistant professor, said.
Marquette cites a religious exemption in the federal labor law that allows private sector employees to form unions. Union supporters maintain that the university is contradicting the Catholic Social Teaching that supports the right to unionize, and their protest of the inauguration serves as a demand for the university to follow its Catholic, Jesuit values.
“This inauguration is [the university’s] attempt to pat themselves on the back for those actions,” Gosizk said. “We’re here protesting that and calling on our university to follow in the footsteps of their peer institutions, the AJCU or other Jesuit colleges and universities who have respected the rights of their faculty to unionize.”
The Marquette Union is a chapter of United Campus Workers – Wisconsin, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. They are not officially recognized by the university.
Chris Gooding, theology teaching assistant professor, claims that Marquette and Ah Yun have made it clear that they have no intention of negotiating with UCW – WI.
Gooding also brought up a 2021 crowdfunded audit conducted by the American Association of University Professors that found Marquette — among 20 comparable institutions including Creighton University, DePaul University and Georgetown University — ranked first in executive compensation and 18th in instructional spending.
“Kimo Ah Yun has been the primary force behind not negotiating with the university and not negotiating with the union,” Gooding said. “If we want the university to live up to its Catholic values and to negotiate with us, it’s gonna have to be him that sort of comes forward and does it.”
Ah Yun and the Executive Leadership Team received a vote of no-confidence from University Academic Senate in November 2024 amid growing concern from some faculty about communication between university leadership and UAS. Some concerns included the failure to recognize a faculty union, a proposed increase in faculty teaching loads and increased salaries of university executives at a time of budget deficits.
Gosizk feels that the wages and voices of those in the College of Arts & Sciences particularly are being suppressed. He said an anti-union stance may help the university financially but will not serve students in a way that cares for the whole person.
Gosizk added that the responsibilities of Marquette educators do not end in the classroom, but rather that their job is to promote a healthy campus for workers and students alike. He said this is compatible with unionization and a democratic voice on campus that respects the opinion of faculty.
“We can provide a better education for students when we’re not struggling to survive, because our working conditions are your learning conditions,” Gosizk said. “Tuition dollars should be spent in the classroom, which includes fair compensation for faculty so we can offer more resources, and not on things like this inauguration, which is a very expensive party they’re throwing for a president who had a no-confidence vote leveled against him.”
Marquette has historically held inauguration ceremonies to swear in their university leaders.
Neither Gooding nor Gosizk anticipated resistance from the university during their outdoor protest, nor were they met with any.
Conway said Marquette respects the First Amendment right of individuals to assemble and make their voices heard. He added that the university appreciates how protesters stayed outside and did not disrupt Mass by entering the venue.
“This was a historic day of celebration for the entire Marquette University community as we inaugurated Dr. Kimo Ah Yun as 25th president of Marquette, and the first person of color to serve in that role,” Conway said in an email.
This story was written by Mia Thurow. She can be reached at [email protected].
