UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences commencement ceremony was briefly interrupted by three of our student organizers during the college’s second go at a proper commencement.
Despite the relevance, we were not making a statement on how UF can’t seem to provide a graduation that prioritizes student individuality and expression over convenience. Instead, these students forfeited their hard-earned moment on stage to create a platform for those who have had their voice stolen by society. Their action is coordinated in message with the three students from commencement ceremonies earlier this month.
Incarcerated individuals are unjustly regarded as a class that should be disenfranchised from all of their civil liberties and subsequently cannot easily advocate against the living and working conditions they face on the inside. Organizations like the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) have helped bridge their voices to those who are much more privileged, like college students. It is because of prisoner testimonies and letters, tied in with our recognition of labor, that Divest UF campaigns to terminate UF’s involvement in modern slavery.
IFAS, ranked as the nation’s fourth best agricultural program according to U.S. News, has only assumed its size and profit margin because it steals labor from incarcerated workers. Instead of valuing labor and paying Florida residents a living wage for the work, UF IFAS contracts local prisons to send out about 100 prisoners a day to do what the prisoners have described as “grunt work” on several agricultural sites around Florida. The labor performed is not just short in actual trade skill, but also provides zero financial compensation to the inmates. A state solution to criminality should be rooted in reparation and reconciliation; it shouldn’t serve as a cost-saving tool for government agencies, universities or private companies.
By contracting prison labor from the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), UF is choosing to explicitly join the list of corporations that profit off of mass incarceration. We must also be cognizant of the fact that black and brown people remain disproportionately targeted by our carceral system.
Ending these contracts is a primary step in removing moral authority from an inherently corrupt and abusive agency of the state. The Senior Vice President of IFAS, Jack Payne, admitted its capacity to terminate these contracts in a meeting this spring. Help hold UF accountable by telling them to #CutTheContracts. Help us create living wages for those across Florida while creating a tangible end to slavery.
