We, UNC Charlotte faculty, write in support of Occupy Wall Street and, closer to home, Occupy Charlotte. While some observers claim that this movement has no specific goals, its unified message of "We are the 99%" has clearly focused the country's and world's attention on the various forms of inequality -- economic, political, and social -- that characterize the U.S. today.  Such inequalities affect our students in particular because they're often going into debt to attend college, yet their prospects for a better future are hardly promising at the moment.
The demonstrators in NYC, Charlotte, and around the country are demanding substantive changes -- from us as well as our politicians -- to redress these inequalities.  Although they've yet to make specific proposals, and while there may be disagreement about which changes will be more effective and fair, they and we agree about: the lack of accountability on the part of those on Wall Street and elsewhere who generated our current economic crisis: the rising economic inequality in the U.S.; the intrusive relationships between corporate power and government (including public education); the need for serious action to provide unemployment for the jobless; the imperative of protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, in part by requiring the wealthy to again pay their fair share of taxes; and the damaging economic and social effects of the wars that the U.S. has been conducting overseas since 2001.
We applaud the peaceful and potentially transformative OWS movement and encourage all members of the UNC Charlotte community to lend their support to its members and activities, especially in Charlotte.

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