UW-Madison Teaching Assistants Association Strike of 1970

The project was conceived to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Teaching Assistants Association strike.

Oral History Interviews

To browse the online collection of oral histories on the 1970 hosted by the UW Digital Collections Center, enter Sterling Hall Bombing AND oral histories when in the UWDC section of the library catalog.

Podcast

• Listen to the TAA Strike of 1970 podcast.
• View the TAA Strike of 1970 podcast transcript. [pdf]

Watch TAA Strike of 1970 mini-movie on YouTube

View TAA Strike of 1970 mini-movie transcript [pdf]

Interview Clips

The Oral History Program staff has complied an album of clips about the TAA Strike of 1970. The name of the narrator and the Oral History Number follow the link.

1. What is the TAA? / Introduction: Loomer, C. William (119)
2. Formation of TAA: Haslach, Henry W. (47)
3. Creation of the Mulvihill Report: Mulvihill, Edward R. (73)
4. Chancellor Young on the Mulvihill Report: Young, H. Edwin
5. Responses to the Mulvihill Report: Mulvihill, Edward R. (73)
6. Original Purpose of the TAA: Haslach, Henry W. (47)
7. TAA Membership Drive: Schmitz, Betty Ann (97)
8. Recognition as a Union: Haslach, Henry W. (47)
9. Chancellor Young on TAA as a Union: Young, H. Edwin
10. TAA’s Relationship with Other Labor Unions: Stern, James L. (116)
11. Marketti and Muehlenkamp Involvement: Haslach, Henry W. (47)
12. Chancellor Young’s Bargaining Strategy: Young, H. Edwin
13. Bargaining with Edward Krinsky: Ginsburg, Robert E. (43)
14. Bargaining or Strike: Burress, David (15)
15. On David Burress: Scott, Charles T. (195)
16. German Department TAs: Russian, Patricia J. (94)
17. Interpretation of TAA’s Bargaining Behavior: Stern, James L. (116)
18. Preparing and Promoting Strike: Haslach, Henry W. (47)
19. Department Identification Among TAs: Russian, Patricia J. (94)
20. Atmosphere of the Strike: Burress, David (15)
21. Women in the TAA: Mulvihill, Edward R. (73)
22. Power Relationships Between TAs and Professors: Russian, Patricia J. (94)
23. Behavior in the Picket Lines:  Russian, Patricia J. (94)
24. Affidavits’ Role in Ending the Strike: Rothstein, Morton (92)
25. Reflections on the Affidavits: Rothstein, Morton (92)
26. Chancellor Young on Violence: Young, H. Edwin
27. Considerations of Escalating Violence: Schmitz, Betty Ann (97)
28. More on Considerations of Escalating Violence: Burress, David (15)
29. Charges for Violence: Young, H. Edwin
30. Student Attacks on Faculty Following Affidavits: Rothstein, Morton (92)
31. Role of the TA, TAA: Herbst, Jurgen F. H. (52)
32. Vulnerability of the TAA Following the Strike: Young, H. Edwin
33. Scott’s Feelings Following the Strike: Scott, Charles T. (195)
34. Burress’s Feelings Following the Strike: Burress, David (15)
35. Organizational Feat of the TAA: Rothstein, Morton (92)

Additional resources for TAA Strike of 1970:

• UW-Madison Archives 1970 Teaching Assistants Association strike subject file
• Teaching Assistants Association (TAA) on Wikipedia
• Andrew Hamilton, “Wisconsin: Teaching Assistants’ Strike Ends in Contract Signing,” Science, April 17, 1970, 345–49
• Mark D. Van Ells, “More Than a Union: The Teaching Assistants Association and Its 1970 Strike against the University of Wisconsin,” Michigan Historical Review 25 (Spring 1999): 103–24
• Steven Zorn, “Unions on Campus,” in Academic Supermarkets, ed. Philip Altbach et al. (San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 1971), 288–302; Handbook (Madison, WI: TAA, 1974)
• Shut It Down (Madison, WI: TAA, 1975)
• Strike and Work Stoppage (Madison, WI: TAA, 1976)
• Early History of the TAA (Madison, WI: TAA, n.d.)