Big Rat Outside of Bobst Means NYU Grad Student Strike

NYU is truly a special case, shinning the light on the greed of the institution has been long in coming. A University that has few billion dollars in its endowment and owns ¼ to ½ the real-estate in Manhattan is crying poverty. I recently heard that the school’s supercomputer Max is running in an unsupported configuration because they do not want to spend the $13,000 it would cost to run the correct software, thus bring any of the results into question. They actually asked the vendor who discounted the software to donate it. They received the machine valued at over $12 million for free now they are too cheap to spend $13K to run it correctly. The grad students should stay out and let the administration grad the papers would be the first real work they have done in a while.

One thing that should be clarified: NYU "graduate students" are not on strike. NYU "graduate teaching assistants" and "research assistants" are on strike. These people make up only a portion of the NYU graduate community. Many graduate students are not in favor of the strike, viewing it as an abuse of picket line tradition. Whereas a compelling argument could be made categorizing teaching assistantship as "work," such a statement should have remained in the realm of protest and demonstration. The stance that protests and demonstrations were not effective simply shows laziness. By their very nature, protests and demonstrations allow for ongoing dissent, keeping issues at the forefront. They require much time and perseverance, even after long periods of (apparent) defeat.

The teaching and research assistants' move to *strike*, however, represents a final stamping of the foot, an "or else...." attitude that ends discussion, cuts off means of expressions (i.e. the forum of the classroom), and curtails any future chance for various parties to take grievances and agitations seriously. In addition, it puts many in the awkward position of having to decide between agreeing/disagreeing with the position of the graduate assistants and honoring the tradition of the picket line.

After being called a "scab" for returning a book to Bobst library (apparently viewed as "crossing a picket line") I've come to the conclusion that the graduate assistant strike is not in the best interests of the overall graduate student community. The gravity and rhetoric of the picket line seems lost to the dissenters. After all, how can I be a "scab" if I'm not paid for returning the book (much less teaching any of its contents)? Even though I requested assistantships in applying to NYU, I knew that these teaching and research positions were given only to a select, highly qualified few. Also, I realize now that acquiring these assistantships takes much more than intelligence and merit. A certain social finesse is involved, a keen negotiation of academic hierarchies and a modicum of charm--all of which I supposedly failed to cultivate because I had my nose in books.

I was disappointed when I wasn't granted an assistantship, because having the forum of the classroom, payment for doing my research, and an open ear of a professor/mentor all are coveted honors. But I accepted my place as simply a "graduate student," paying full tuition completely out of pocket and private loans, doing my research simply for the love of it, and taking a podium whenever the owner decided to relinquish the stage. I have respect for fellow grad students who are inducted as assistants (at one time, my respect was universal). Now, however, I find the striking assistants exaggerating the conditions under which they were driven to strike, especially since these conditions are far better than many other graduate students (and certainly undergrads). I sense a disturbing amount of greed, selfishness, and subterfuge coming from the strikers, equating their cause to the plight of historically noteworthy union agitators--coal miners, factory employees and auto workers. A "with us or against us" dichotomy propels the graduate assistants' cause: if you are against the graduate assistants than you are against unions. This is simply an unfair and unreasonable ultimatum and demonstrates disorganization, close mindedness, and bullying rather than solidarity.

In regard to professors holding their classes off campus, I believe many are doing this not out of support for the graduate assistants' cause (though some certainly are) but rather because they respect the idea and tradition of a picket line. However, to say that the 40 plus classes being held off campus represents "solidarity" is misleading. Many professors have attendance clauses in their course requirements. A certain number of class absences will adversely affect a student's grade. Some professors still enforce the attendance clause even off-campus (though, as I will come to later, I believe this to be unethical). Students fearing to be marked down for absences does not equate to stalwart support for the strikers' cause. In fact, I believe those professors who chose to support the strikers, honor the traditions of a picket line, OR remain neutral by holding classes off campus should suspend their attendance requirements until they return their classes to the classrooms indicated on their course syllabi. Attending class off campus should not be a requirement (especially since some do not support the strike), but rather a courtesy to those who support or are undecided about the strike.

The viciousness thrown from both sides of this issue shows me that a lot of people are angry. And that anger is finding strange expression. With a complex issue, there are always multiple stances. There are no two sides to this. I am in support of unions and workers' right to strike against dangerous and unfair conditions. I do not support the graduate assistant strike because I do not believe their conditions "dangerous" or "unfair." I am not a "scab" because was not paid to read that book or even allowed to express my opinions of its contents to receptive minds. I'd like to teach. It might be nice to get even a bucket of chicken for my efforts. But I'm not going to worry about it. I'm too busy paying full tuition so that I can continue my graduate studies.

Yeah, Nick wins this thread.

Our class last night at NYU was cancelled because our Professor refuses to cross the picket line. I support the graduate student's right to collectively bargain, though I am dismayed by the involvement of the UAW.

Nick, I couldn't let your brilliant observation concerning my favorite protagonist of all time go unacknowledged. Hilarious.

I just finished grad school at Hopkins this past year and found it a privilage to be paid to conduct my research and teach students. That being said, from what it sounds like, the conditions for graduate students/assistants appear to be much different at Hopkins compared to NYU. I was fortunate that Hopkins respects their graduate assistants for what they are - assistants, not substitute professors. While I did do my share of lecturing and one-on-one teaching, primary lecturing is done (most of the time badly) by the professors themselves.

As for the comment that professors do not work an 8 hour day, that person has no idea what they are talking about. My advisor, though he only taught 1 class per semester, regularly put in 10 - 12 hour days, mostly coordinating the research and grants which make the grad student pay possible.

Now, I am not saying that it is right that undergrads are paying $30K a year to be taught by grad students, nor am I saying that getting paid less than $20K a year is even close to enough compensation for what a grad student does (especially in NYC - I was paid over $20K a year in freaking Baltimore). But there does need to be a culture change. And from what it sounds, mostly on the part of the university. I was fortunate that I went to grad school at a place that respects their graduate assistants for the contributions they make, without needing a union to speak for us. But if the only way to initiate a culture change at NYU, where the univeristy begins to recognize all that the grad students/assistants do, is through unionization and union mediation, I say go for it. Good Luck!

Question authority young nerd. It's fine to question John Sexton, but don't forget to question John Sweeney, the UAW, Morgan Fairchild and the inflateable rat loving professors. Everyone has an agenda.

since when does coverage by gothamist mean that anything has changed in favour of the grad students? the media will cover anything, even a piece of toast that looks like the virgin mary. don't flatter yourselves, or at least not before you accomplish something. but good luck.

Yeah, so ineffectual that it got us covered by gothamist. And it got you to comment on us here on gothamist. Agreed, totally ineffectual. But lame? Dude, we had a giant blow up rat. Check yourself on that one.

i saw the picketing and it was just an ineffectual and lame spectacle. all they had was that pleasing drum rhythm and some whistling.

I went to my graduate class today off campus at my professor's home. Many professors are moving their classes off campus, and I think there are like 400 classes that asked to be moved. How's that for solidarity?

Go GSOC! Eryximachus and his ilk clearly have no idea how large research universities run. No prestigious university, which NYU self-identifies as ad nauseum, charges its Ph.D. candidates tuition. Period. This isn't a "good deal", it's a necessity. Professors in the humanities start out making in the 40-50K range. It's not like med school, law school, or business school - the earnings ceiling is far, far lower in academia. Only the affluent would be able to pay full graduate tuition (which approaches professional school-level tuition) and go on to make peanuts (and, yes, it is peanuts after 5+ years of school).

Woops, here's a better GSOC link: http://www.2110uaw.org/gsoc/

As the nerd who actually helped make the "Nerds on Strike" posters, I want to concur with everything my fellow grad students have already posted here (nice job, guys), and add 2 things:



1) If you really want to know what's going on, check out the union's website at http://www.2110uaw.org, or look to grad student bloggers covering this issue (nerdsforgsoc.blogspot.com is only one of the many). You can also go to nyu.edu to read the university's spin, although even its own faculty have accused NYU of unethically misleading anti-union rhetoric (i.e., lies).

2) As for the inflatable rat, I can't verify, but word on the street is that the union rents it from an outside contractor. So yes, masande, I'm sure you could get your hands on one...

Just to reiterate, the grad assts. aren't asking the university for more than we currently have; we're merely asking them to guarantee that they won't take what we do have from us over the coming months and years. A union contract is the only way to legally ensure that NYU keeps its promises to its graduate workers. Otherwise, academics is no more than an elaborate and exploitative patronage system a la the Middle Ages.

I just got home from NYU, where I had marched in the picket line in front of the library from 8am to 5:30pm. My body is a little sore, but my spirits are up after seeing so many fellow graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty showing support. Thank you all.

I wanted to clarify a few things in this conversation:

1) Not all public university graduate students are unionized. Only about 20 percent are, and that has come from many years of struggles against their respective universities. While getting my MA at the University of California, I worked to get the graduate union contract renewed there a few years ago. Unlike public schools, which fall under state jurisdiction, private schools are regulated at the federal level. NYU graduate students' struggle to get their contract renewed sets a precedent for all private university student workers, which is why this is so important, for safety schools and fancy-pants schools alike.

2) Anyone who claims that professors don't work 8 hour days needs to spend more time with a professor. While they might not be in the classroom 8 hours a day, they are certainly busy. I leave it to you to meet one and actually ask them what they do with their time.

3) Anyone who wishes to learn more about this entire thing can find plenty to read at this website, which has compiled all university, union, faculty, and press documents from the past year or so:

http://www.virtualmind.info/home/french_stuff/events/strike.htm

The AFL-CIO is a business too - that desperatly is seeking new ways to enlarge the pool of dues. It's shocking that the tenured professors do not grade papers and take advantage of their situation. The best solution would be to get rid of tenure, fire slacker professors and hire profs. willing to put in an eight hour day, taking the burden off grad. student/teachers.

>>85% of NYU's classes are taught by graduate students.

Nice completely false figure.

I am waiting for NYU to borrow the cat from the assholes at Cablevision that they had over at Radio City.

To add to "graduate student for contract now!"s comments: while several of the more important issues at stake may not be clear to people removed from the issue, or be outlined in most of the media coverage, here are some worth keeping in mind:

1) The graduate students WERE unionized at NYU until the contract was allowed to expire in August. Many of the benefits grad students receive today have come as a result of the union's existence, including a health care package.

2) NYU was able to let the contract lapse thanks to a ruling by the National Labor board (led by a Bush appointee), which overturned a previous ruling, and now allowed the university to claim that graduate students were not, in fact, workers.

3) This position holds that graduate students do not perform "work" for the university; instead, it reframes thier contribution as part of their "intellectual enrichment." While I'm the first to agree that teaching is a fullfilling activity, and certainly contributes to my own learning, it is also hard work.

4) Graduate study, especially research-based work in the humanities and the social sciences, is very different from college, and from professional training (such as law or medicine). While many college graduates and professionals can go on to highly financially rewarding careers (150k/yr in your 20s, for example) a life/career in academia does not (or rarely does) offer such financial gain/retribution. Rather, the emphasis is on the pursuit of knowledge. The need for a union, then, is born out of the fact that a private university like NYU (the largest in the country) is precisely that: a private, commercial entity. While the university is invested in the pursuit of knowledge, it is also a bussiness. The function of the union is to mediate the relationship between the graduate student/worker and the university/business, to ensure that their rights--and their ability to pursue knowledge--are protected.

5) This brings me to the final, and most improtant, point. The union functions as an arbiter between the graduate student/worker and the university: a third party to help settle disputes. A short conversation with grads who have been at NYU for a few years will reveal that this is among the most important aspects of the union for them. As it stands, and as it stood in the bogus "take it or leave it" contract the university attempted to offer students over the summer, the university has the only say--acting as the lawyer, judge, jury--in any disputes a graduate student may raise.

The issue is not that we want more money (we know the money's not in academia) the issue is grad's right to have the labor they contribute to the university be recognized as work, to have a liveable wage and benefits be guaranteed, and to have the guarantee of an arbiter in our relations with the administration.

If any of these (and I'd like to hear how) constitute the (appropiately vague) "interferance with academic policies" that NYU's PR ppl have been trumpeting, then perhaps we need to reconsider the role and nature of the private educational institution, particularly in regards to the role and nature of graduate study/research, as it stands

Ah New York. how sweet thee bitterness is. Lightn up.

All institutional education is heading for the same thing; sucking. Forget what we think sucks and we get what works better.

A society that has discoverded how to make information "cheap", must break some of it's norms like, 'content is king', and rethink how we educate ourselves through sharing our information. Lets rememeber that 1/2 the world likves on less than 2 bucks a day, everything is relative. But in my opinion, the price of education is a price no one can afford any longer.

Dear people who have no idea what they're talking about,

85% of NYU's classes are taught by graduate students. We do all the grading and the vast majority of lecturing and one-on-one student teaching. NYU cuts professorial hiring so that they can hire grad students at unbelievably cheap prices (19K a year come ON, even the most lowly publishing assistant makes more than that) to do all the actual work. We do NOT make $50,000 a year: we get a $30,000 tuition remission, which is not taxed as income. (Keep in mind that most graduate students don't take any classes, so they get to spend $30,000 a year for the privilege of working on their dissertation.)

And graduate students are not rich kids, either. We are committed to teaching and research as our career, and in order to pursue that career, we are required to live on less than 20K until we are in our mid-30's. I am not sure why people get so angry about this. Without our 20K stipend (which we only got through union agitation) we would all have to work 2-3 jobs to support ourselves, meaning that the amount of time we could spend working with undergraduates would severely suffer.

BTW, all public university graduate students have been unionized for *decades*. And the situation is pretty much the same at all schools: NYU, Columbia and Yale (for example) share the same labor lawyer, and they are collectively hell-bent on preventing unionization. They are scared that a) undergrad parents will realize how little actual faculty contact their students get for their $35K/year and b) that they will be required to pay graduate students (aka TEACHERS) a living wage, which would decrease the amount of profit the school makes.

Please educate yourselves on these issues before you go yabbering on about how spoiled and selfish we are. I am 29 and live on rice and beans, live in outer Brooklyn, and stay up til 2 a.m. working every night simply because I love reading, learning, and teaching. If we don't get a union contract back, I can guarantee you that my health benefits will be cut. How is this a fair deal exactly? How am I spoiled or rich?

Eryximachus

So, you make $150k a year. This along with your incisive comments must make you a fine product of the NY educational system.

Your rant doesn't address the issue however.

Should they be allowed to be in a union?

Are they employees?

Whether you saved money circle-blowing your recently graduated friends for chump change or whether NYU should close down has NOTHING to do with NYU graduate students and their right or lack thereof to organize.

In summary, I think you're a tad bitter, and I hope your expensive therapist doesn't molest you TOO much for said dysfunction. After all, you earn $150k!

does anyone know where the unions get their inflatable rats? sure would like to score one on ebay or some other way.

Nothing more than a bunch of spoiled rich kids. They are PAID $19,200 a year to go to school to earn a degree so they can TEACH as a job. Instead of thanking the gods they are getting paid to do what the rest of spend mortgage on, they bitch and whine.

Hello! I graduated form college in 2000 and lived on $1200 a month in those days. I lived in a crap apartment that cost me $500 a month, and ate rice and beans most days.

Yeah, the city is a bit more expensive, but you know what? I still pay $800 a month and live with roommates in Brooklyn. Why do I do this even though I make $150,000 a year? I want to save money!

$19,200 a month is all these fools should expect. If they want more, they should spend their weekends working like I used to do.

God I hate NYU and I hope the entire school closes down forever!

Safety school.

"NYU says graduate assistants are not employees, they are students who have "assistantship" semesters as part of their financial aid packages of some $50,000 that includes free tuition."

Sounds like a good deal to me. If the grad students don't like the deal they should transfer to another school. Why they want to hand over control to the united autoworkers is beyond me. They don't know who they're dealing with. Maybe the professors should start putting in an eight hour day too.

DOh, DOh, WHoohoo!

Man, we don't need institutional heirarchy in education any more. we can organize more smartly with an open internet. The pillars of education need see a potential in dismantling them selves in favor of smaller groups freely organizing. Good Luck!