Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery at UF

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Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery at UF

A coalition of student and community organizations and individuals actively organizing to abolish the exploitation of prison slave labor.

04/20/2021

📢 Call on University of Florida to cut their ties to 📢

⏰ We are still waiting for the University of Florida to address racism and inequity by implementing a set of initiatives it outlined one year ago!

Despite their President stating back then that “the symbolism of inmate labor is incompatible with our university and its principles”, the University of Florida has yet to terminate its contract with Aramark, a company that is facing lawsuits for in prisons.

That is why we are partnering with Freedom United to actively organizing to abolish exploitative , to demand that the University of Florida brings an end to its contract with Aramark.

Call on University of Florida to divest from the , and to specify in upcoming contract negotiations for campus food service contractors, that the chosen vendor will NOT be engaged in any contracts. University of Florida must NEVER again invest in, exploit, or utilize in any way.

We have sent a letter to University of Florida’s President Kent Fuchs stating our demands and sharing our campaign!

Learn more and join our coalition today.

Join our coalition and help today!
https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/end-prison-slavery/

01/19/2021

Unacceptable! Through its contract with human rights violator Aramark, UF continues to exploit its students, food workers, and prisoners across the country.

Join the boycott to demand food justice at UF! Use the link in the bio to send an automated email in support of our demands to UF admin.

Our university is currently on the verge of writing and signing a contract with a new food service provider. This is a historic opportunity for us to demand real change and justice.

We are looking for new collaborators to join these efforts. You can join the growing list of organizations that are signing on to these demands, or you can volunteer with us directly. Message us or to get involved!

Let us know in the comments, via DM, or by email (caps.uf@gmail.com) what your vision is for UF’s food service plan! We ...

12/06/2020

Let us know in the comments, via DM, or by email ([email protected]) what your vision is for UF’s food service plan! We are looking for more collaborators as well as we prepare to renew our efforts against the Aramark contract in the Spring semester.

10/08/2020

Help us kick Aramark out! We have a link to the email template in our bio, and you can also find it copied below. The linked template (in bio) will allow you to directly copy and paste.

Email template:
President Fuchs, VP Reynolds, AVP Daniels, and Director Mueller,

I hope that you are doing well. My name is (insert name), and I am emailing as a member of (insert organization/organizations). I support the demands articulated by the Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery (CAPS) at UF, and urge the University of Florida to immediately sever its contract with food-service provider Aramark. Aramark exploits prison slavery and operates in more than 600 prisoners that collectively incarcerate over 300,000 people (Mother Jones 2020; AFSC 2019; Ruelas et al. v. County of Alameda)—we thus reject the fact that you do business with them. Students, faculty, staff, and community members should be able to eat on campus without giving money to the prison-industrial complex.

I know that you all are currently in the negotiation process for its food-service provider, and also that you can open up the process to other companies. I call on you to carefully vet each company and to choose to work with one that has no ties to prisons. The university must divest from all contracts that benefit from the prison-industrial complex.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
All best,
(Insert name)

10/01/2020

We have a big announcement: UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) notified us that they are no longer exploiting prison slave labor. As of the end of September, the university has terminated their violent practice. This win comes as the result of pressure applied by Florida Prisoner Solidarity, CAPS, Goddsville Dream Defenders, Divest UF, and many more organizations and individuals. Thank you to everyone who has participated in and supported these efforts--especially to those of you who took part in our phone zaps and the email campaign. Your willingness to use your voice is what directly led to this result.

Today we take a moment to celebrate, then we are quickly back to work. Next week we will turn our focus towards UF’s contract with food-service provider Aramark, who themselves profit from contracts at 600+ prisons and have also exploited prison slave labor. Stay tuned for a call to action next week regarding Aramark. Let this first win energize us: there is much more to be done.

09/01/2020

University of Florida has received a lot of praise for for ending their use of prison slavery. The problem? They haven't actually done so. In this article, published by the Gainesville Iguana, we provide the real picture of UF's ongoing exploitation of prison slave labor.

Link to full story: https://gainesvilleiguana.org/2020/articles/ufs-exploitation-of-prison-slavery-an-unfulfilled-promise-profit-motive-administration-in-hiding/

08/15/2020

CALL TO ACTION: President Fuchs and VP Angle are hiding from their responsibilities! admins have now ignored two consecutive requests from us to meet. On Monday, August 17th, call the two numbers in the above graphic and express support for CAPS demands that UF immediately cease using prison slavery. Below are some bulleted points that you can use to help guide your call. If you want further advice on calling, feel free to message us. Talking points and questions to ask:

-Good morning/good afternoon! I am calling to express support for the Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery (CAPS) at UF, and joining their demand that UF immediately terminate all contracts with prison work squads.
-I am also asking that your office respond to CAPS August 3rd email and meet with their delegation ASAP. It is not okay to hide from the responsibility of meeting with students and community members.
-With that said, I also have a few questions for your office:
-Why has UF administration walked away from the discussions about its exploitation of prison slavery?
-When will UF administration begin releasing updates to the university community about their efforts to terminate their prison slavery contracts? This was something that was promised during the prior meeting with UF IFAS, but we have not seen any movement on that.
-Finally, please pass along the following message to the rest of your office: prison slavery is wrong today, and it will still be wrong next July when you eventually plan to end the practice. End it today.
-Thank you for your time. Please let any and all administrators in your office know about the calls that you are receiving today, and urge them to meet the demands from CAPS and other student organizations.

07/27/2020

Join us in emailing these UF admins, urging them to end prison slavery at UF today! Email campaign going on all week.

Here's a template you can use to compose your email:

Dear President Fuchs and Vice President Angle,

I hope that you are doing well. My name is , and I am emailing as a member of . I support the demands articulated by the Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery (CAPS) at UF, and urge the University of Florida and IFAS to immediately terminate their active prison slavery contracts. Slavery is wrong today, it’ll be wrong tomorrow, and it’ll still be wrong next July 1st when you plan to eventually end it. I appreciate your June 18th statement but ask you to please follow through on that expeditiously. I also call on you to reflect on the implications of your statement--and to carry through with that logic as you divest from all contracts with companies that benefit from the prison-industrial complex, e.g. food-service provider Aramark.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
All best, @ University of Florida

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Gainesville, FL

Telephone

+15614012915

Website

http://chng.it/46szN9DDXk

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