Chas is a PhD candidate in BU’s Department of Political Science, and a writer whose essays on politics, work, and culture have been published in Jacobin, The Boston Globe, Truthout, and more. He earned a BA in African-American Studies at Brown University in 2000 and then worked for many years as a community and union organizer in Rhode Island, primarily with SEIU District 1199NE. As a member of the union’s elected leadership, he helped to organize thousands of low-wage workers, developed and coached union members to successfully run for political office, and coordinated grassroots legislative campaigns to end mandatory overtime in hospitals and to extend collective bargaining rights to home-based child care and health care workers. His doctoral research stems from his interests in labor and social movements, theories of political change, and building power from below. His CV and published writings can be found on his website.