On March 27 and 28, eligible graduate students will vote on whether or not to recognize Cornell Graduate Students United as the exclusive representative of Cornell’s Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, and Graduate Research Assistants. Graduate students currently serving in any of these positions this semester are eligible to vote.
As the members of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Executive Committee and the Graduate and Professional Student-Elected Trustee, we have heard from several eligible voters who are no longer comfortable voting in the upcoming election for myriad reasons. We are writing this column in the hopes of convincing those individuals to consider participating.
We would like to stress that we are speaking on our own behalf, not that of Cornell University’s administration, the GPSA or the Board of Trustees. These are our views. Our intention is not to tell our fellow graduate students how to vote or how to feel about graduate student unionization. We do believe, however, that actively choosing not to participate in this election is a mistake with real consequences.
The purpose of this election is to produce a result that is representative of the bargaining unit as a whole, and only a high voter turnout can guarantee this. The stakes are high. There is no required minimum turnout for this election — the outcome of graduate student unionization at Cornell will be decided by only those eligible students who vote. If the election results favor unionization, every current and future eligible member in the bargaining unit will be bound by the result. Irrespective of the outcome, a low voter turnout will cast doubt on whether this election is truly representative.
Consequently, eligible voters must decide what they feel contributes to an academically satisfying, financially secure and personally fulfilling graduate student experience. This holistic assessment is central to graduate student advocacy, and it is by no means easy to make. After examining our experiences at Cornell, we must imagine how those experiences will evolve after the introduction of a union. Whether this change is necessary, acceptable or reasonable is once again up to each individual voter.
This election provides eligible graduate voters with a unique opportunity to decide the future of graduate student advocacy on campus. Shared governance at Cornell has provided graduate and professional students a unique opportunity to advocate their needs and position to the administration. Many of our current benefits are the direct result of numerous conversations between the Cornell administration and our predecessors. However, shared governance is not without its limitations, and eligible voters need to critically assess whether this system is still effective. Our decision next week will potentially restructure student advocacy for future generations of Cornell graduate students, and that is worth considering carefully.
We do not know with certainty what will happen should graduate students choose to unionize. We cannot tell our fellow classmates what choice they should make, only remind them that deciding not to make their voice heard is a choice as well, and should be made thoughtfully, not as a default. We hope that next week, students can go to the polls educated and confident, remembering that their participation in this election is a right, and not one they should forfeit lightly.
Dara Brown is the graduate and professional student-elected trustee. Nate Rogers is the president of the GPSA. Nathaniel Stetson is the executive vice-president of the GPSA. Sarah Hesse is the vice-president for operations of the GPSA. Manisha Munasinghe is the vice-president for communications of the GPSA. This is a special edition of Trustee Viewpoint, which runs every month. Comments may be sent to [email protected]