Now here’s a lesson that students of George Washington University can take to heart. Universities and be cruel employers and they can also pass the buck.

While George Washington University markets itself as “a place of opportunity,” for iron workers building the university’s state of the art Square 54 project, the university has become a site of abuse, misfortune and intimidation.

This fall, workers from DC-based subcontractor Wings Enterprises Inc.—which is performing concrete reinforcing on Square 54—walked out on strike in response to low pay, lack of health insurance and drinking water, and verbal abuse from management. This week, an Unfair Labor Practice was filed with the National Labor Relations Board against Wings, stating that an agent of the company “took photographs of the employees and made threatening statements to the employees”; the complaint also noted that “Wings…fired a group of employees in retaliation for exercising their legal rights” under the National Labor Relations Act. More than 30 workers have been unlawfully terminated.

Despite supportive words, George Washington University, who owns the land for and commissioned the Square 54 project, has turned a blind eye to the situation. “President Knapp sent us a letter claiming that he was inspired by our concern,” said Landon Elkind, a freshman at the university who, along with other GWU students, has engaged in several actions in solidarity with the Wings workers. “Yet the administration has done nothing to push for a resolution to the strike or to halt the illegal firings of workers. As GW students, it’s important to us that the workers building our facilities are treated fairly.”

An institution of higher learning indeed! Right now GWU brings shame on its name and the president who it is named after!