Graduate Student Organization recognizes grad student workers’ union at latest meeting

By Anjana Dasam, writer for The Daily Orange | Published on February 2, 2023

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Syracuse University’s Graduate Student Organization passed a resolution to officially recognize Syracuse Graduate Employees United — which announced its campaign to gain recognition as a union by SU on Jan. 17— during its meeting Wednesday.

In a press statement released on the day it announced its intent to unionize, SGEU cited low stipends, high workloads and lack of healthcare and parental benefits as factors which necessitated a union for graduate student workers on campus. During GSO’s discussion on the resolution, graduate student employees shared their personal experiences dealing with the concerns SGEU has voiced.

Some international students at the meeting emphasized their concerns about how their allocated $20,000 annual stipends are not enough to cover their living expenses like food, rent and transportation.

Aditya Srinivasan, a PhD student in the Social Science PhD Program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said that graduate students being able to get by doesn’t mean change isn’t needed.

“As an Indian international student who earns far less than what is needed to live in a place like Syracuse — which is not expensive by the way — I could not be more in support of a resolution like this, because for international students, these protections matter,” Srinivasan said.

Emma Culver, also a graduate student worker in the Maxwell School, said her stressful daily schedule as a student and graduate assistant drove her support of the resolution.

“I had to take on a second job,” Culver said. “Now I am working about 30 hours a week, on top of all my schoolwork, and all of my other requirements just to be able to pay my rent.”

Some GSO senators pointed to the need for the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry as a demonstration of Syracuse University’s failure to support students with enough resources. They added that the supplies of the pantry don’t realistically address all issues or meet the demand.

Senators also discussed ways to structure the resolution in order to ensure inclusive language, specifically with respect to language pertaining to international and Indigenous students.

The resolution passed with a two-thirds majority.

Sadie Novak, a fourth year PhD student in the College of Arts and Sciences, said that although graduate students know they are signing up for a challenge, change is still necessary.

“We all know what we’re signing up for when we come to graduate school. We know it’s going to be hard. We know that we are supposed to be very rigorously tasked with intellectual challenges in our research, and in our teaching,” Novak said. “What we’re not really supposed to be tasked with here in graduate school is figuring out how to put food on the table, figuring out how we’re supposed to be paying rent, being concerned about going to the doctor if we are sick and broken.”

Correction: a previous version of this article misstated a GSO speaker’s sentiments on the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry. The speaker intended to draw attention to students needing to access a food pantry at a university with resources like SU. The Daily Orange regrets this error.