Staff Editorial: GET-UP needs to find new tactics

The recent National Labor Relations Board decision regarding the right of graduate employees at private universities to unionize -- or more precisely, the lack thereof -- may not end the efforts of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, at least according to group leaders. However, if GET-UP is serious about continuing its campaign to unionize in hopes of improving pay, benefits and working conditions, the decision will necessitate significant changes in GET-UP's strategy and tactics -- changes that will benefit both the University community and, in the long run, the group itself.

Since the votes cast by graduate employees have not been counted, it is uncertain whether or not GET-UP's leaders have been successful in uniting their target constituency behind their cause. What is not in doubt, however, is that they have failed to unite the student body and University community as a whole. However, with the recent NLRB ruling, unionization will now require the consent of the University. Leveraging sufficient pressure against the University will in turn require GET-UP to gain the weight of the Penn community's public opinion.

While of course public opinion on any issue is often divided, that the backlash against GET-UP is so strong and widespread speaks to the mistakes that the movement has made in pursuing their cause. For example, the poor timing of protests at Amy Gutmann's election as University president by the Board of Trustees and at Judith Rodin's goodbye bash wasted critical opportunities to garner good will at a time of administrative change.

Moreover, GET-UP's primary strategy of protesting the perceived denial of rights rather than appealing to the interests of the whole community have divided Penn rather than uniting us behind their issues. GET-UP's overly-adversarial stance towards the administration has led many students to perceive them as a nuisance but has not effected positive change.

Regardless of one's opinion on the merits of the NLRB ruling, the implications for GET-UP's strategy -- and in it, the quality of discourse on campus -- are beneficial to the Penn community. Moreover, if GET-UP makes these long-needed changes in its strategy -- focusing on uniting the Penn community behind its cause rather than demanding rights for itself -- in the long run it may more effectively accomplish its ultimate ends.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.