Kyle Farley: The alternatives to unionization

As the unionization debate has raged at other campuses, it has whimpered here at Penn. There is no debate among grad students. A number of grad students I have talked to are strongly opposed to a union for grad students, but none of them want to go public with their views. So I will. I think you should vote no to unionization and here, I will explain why. But first a few confessions. I was a TA during my first three years, but I won't be able to vote this week. I confess that I am in the History Department, which is well-funded and treats its graduate students extremely well. I was also on the executive board for GSAC and served as chairman of GAPSA, so I have worked with the administration for years. If you think of the administration as the enemy, I am complicit. I think the administration wants what is best for graduate students, and I think that they have proven that. So why am I against unionization? First, we are not exploited. Let's grant that graduate students are employees. There has been a lot of talk about how we deserve more pay and better working conditions. The rhetoric is that of entitlement: "I demand fair treatment and compensation for the professional service I provide as a TA." I actually think we have a great deal. The average grad student is expected to TA for two years, yet paid for five years. We get free tuition ($27,000 x 3 years, $2,200 x 2 years) totaling $85,000. We get paid to study what we love. The lowest stipend for incoming grad students is $14,000 per year (x 5 = $70,000), with many getting closer to $20,000 per year. We get free healthcare and don't pay the general fee, another $15,000 over five years. That totals $170,000. That is why we all chose to come to Penn -- because it was the best offer we got. In other schools, they are paying around $30,000 a year -- Vet, Law, Social Work, Education, Wharton, etc. (Admittedly MBA students in Wharton can TA, but they only get paid about $1,700 a semester and still pay full tuition.) I realize that the union wants to take full credit for the free healthcare and the stipend increases. The administration argues that Penn is actually just staying competitive with our peer institutions. The schools that are raising stipends the fastest are Harvard and Princeton, two schools that have very high endowments but no unionization movements. Second, GAPSA and GSAC have the best relations with the administration of any of our peer institutions. At some schools, graduate student leaders have never met with their president and provost; we can meet with them weekly. The administration realizes that what is good for graduate students is good for Penn. GAPSA and GSAC have worked very closely with the administration, and it has been very fruitful. The best example of that collaboration is that graduate students developed a proposal for the Graduate Student Center, and the administration responded in two months with a central building and a $1 million renovation. There are a lot of reasons why other grad students don't want a union. Some cherish the mentor relationship we have with our advisers and don't want labor contracts to change that. Some see a union as embracing the "corporatization" of academia when we should fight to keep the model of mentoring. Some don't understand why so many graduate students will be left out of the bargaining unit. Others are happy with their high stipends. Still others realize that all a union can guarantee is that we will have to pay union dues. There are grad students at Penn with real concerns; there is room for improvement. Many of my friends are in GET-UP, and I respect their views. But a union is not the answer. I wish students with concerns would try to work through GAPSA and GSAC before they demand a union. Regardless of your views, you need to vote. Are you satisfied with your conditions here at Penn? If not, if you think the available means to improve conditions have been exhausted and if you think you deserve more, by all means vote for that union. But if you think we have it pretty good, that the administration is not the enemy and that improvements will continue to be made by working within the existing system, vote no to unionization. Kyle Farley is a History Ph.D. candidate and former charman of the Graduate and Professional Students Assembly.

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