Category: Announcements

GSU stands in solidarity with #CareNotCops. We support their most recent demand for a public meeting with Provost Ka Yee Lee to discuss the disclosing of UCPD’s budget and building student-led Cultural Centers and an Ethnic Studies Department. For seven days now, they have been ignored by the Provost and harassed by UCPD and CPD. As graduate students at the University of Chicago and community members of South Chicago, GSU members are directly impacted by these demands. We admire the courage and determination of our undergraduate colleagues. Tonight at 8pm, they celebrate one week of occupying the 4900 block of South Greenwood Ave, outside the home of Provost Ka Yee Lee. We invite you to join them for this special occasion.

Dear Members,

As we ramp up our work on forming our newly independent union, we’ll be taking the GSU newsletter on our yearly summer hiatus. But this hardly means that GSU is not working to protect grad workers on campus! You’ll still receive occasional email updates from us to announce important events and news. 
In the meantime, here’s one last update as to what we’re doing as a union going forward this summer. 

Firstly, check out the list of ongoing meetings below that will be occurring throughout the summer. Can’t make these meetings or want to get involved another way? Join our GSU Discord server, where we’re doing plenty of work asynchronously and supporting each other.

Right now GSU is also engaged in a number of broad initiatives. These include revising our union constitution, with special efforts to making our union more inclusive and committing ourselves to anti-racist structures and work; keeping an eye on developments and ways to support our international student population; incorporating political education into our union; developing new DO training procedures; and updating our website, among other efforts. We’d love to have you involved in any of this work–just attend a meeting or join the Discord Server to learn more about how you can plug in!

We’ll be in touch again soon about our next General Members Meeting and with other updates. Until then, enjoy your summer! Solidarity Forever!

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Upcoming Events: Last week we posted links to some GSU committees and events but the Zoom links didn’t work!  Here is that information again but with working Zoom links. All committees are open to all members always!
Happy Hour: Every Friday at 6:00PM
GSU is hosting a weekly Happy Hour/Solidarity Hour where you can come hang out and chat with your fellow union members, play some games, and talk with members of other grad unions around the nation! Email us for more information and join the weekly Zoom call. Meeting ID: 825 3495 0856 Password: 7cWMiY

Steering Committee: Every Tuesday at 6:00PM
Steering Committee is where GSU’s “big-picture” work gets done, including work around GSU’s direction post-disaffiliation, grievances, and more. Currently Steering is working on recruiting new committee members and streamlining its operations, so much of the work Steering has been doing with regard to the shape of a newly independent GSU will be taken up this week in other committees. However, Steering is the place to come if you want to figure out how to get involved! This work is incredibly important, and there is something for everyone at any level of time commitment (synchronous and asynchronous work available!). Current projects include revising our constitution, communications and design, making GSU a more inclusive environment, and worker organizing (including member outreach, mutual aid, political education, and direct actions)! Please feel free to reach out and join the weekly Zoom call: Meeting ID: 542 212 576 Password: 816543

Stewards Council/Organizing Committee: Every Monday at 6:00PM
Interested in getting involved in charting GSU’s path forward as an independent union? Stewards/OC is going to be using our regularly scheduled meeting this coming Monday to hold a Working Groups session where we will consider the future of GSU via small group discussion (topics TBD). We really want to see a lot of union members (not just stewards and DOs!) show up for this, so please try to make it out! Going forward this summer Stewards/OC will be alternating between our normal meeting and Working Group sessions, so if you can’t make it this Monday, we look forward to seeing you sometime later this summer!
Please reach out to Lilly Judge (lillianjudge1@gmail.com) if you have any questions or suggestions for Working Group topics in the future. Zoom link here. Meeting ID: 853 8180 0548 Password: 658126

FORCe (Funding Overhaul Research Committee): Every Wednesday at 6:00PM
This summer, FORCe is focused on preparing for the fight against the coming austerity from COVID-19 budget cuts. This incredibly important work includes building organizing capacity around the university, brainstorming around potential future actions, working with other workers organizing on campus, and more! To get involved with FORCe or find out more, join the Zoom call here. Meeting ID: 602 861 460 Password: 511950

Mutual Aid Committee: Currently deciding on a new time! Email gsu.mutualaid@gmail.com to get the Doodle poll link!
Our Mutual Aid Committee is one of our newest committees, which focuses on building membership and community solidarity through mutual aid. We are currently working on how to build solidarity with local organizations, identifying and compiling local mutual aid networks for members to get involved with, and providing information about the ongoing protests. Join the Zoom call here. Meeting ID: 821 1403 2598 Password: 410160

Communications Committee: Every Tuesday at 2:00PM
The Communications Committee focuses on communicating with our members and the wider public about our organizing work and the issues facing grad workers and other university employees at UChicago and around the country and world. We are responsible for GSU’s social media presence, newsletter, and media representation. To get involved email us or join the Zoom call here.

GSU stands in solidarity with campus organizations including #CareNotCops, the Library Activist Network, and other campus workers in demanding that President Zimmer and Provost Lee meet all the demands of #CareNotCops, beginning with disclosing the budget of the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). As workers on this campus and members of the university community, graduate students need to understand how much has been spent, and is budgeted to be spent, on the UCPD. This information affects all aspects of campus life, especially when there are very real needs felt by campus workers, needs which have only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and recent shocks from changes in ICE’s directives. We fully endorse the Library Activist Network at UChicago’s statement, Open the Books on UCPD, and call on all members of GSU and the university community to sign their petition. 

Dear Members,
The past week has seen minor victories and increased solidarity across our union. We have some updates on recent events, as well as upcoming meetings and a couple (brief) requests for member feedback. Read this email to find out more!

ICE Regulations Update

As we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, GSU stands in solidarity with all international students affected by ICE’s recent change in regulations, a shock to many members of our union and university community. While UChicago did eventually join in writing an amicus brief alongside Harvard and MIT’s lawsuit and the US government rescinded ICE’s order, the changes of the past week and half reveal how UChicago does not take student voices into account, often leaving them in difficult and precarious positions. We can see this with their stonewalling of our union, their lack of transparency about plans to reopen the university in the fall, and the lack of input from grad workers about fall plans. These decisions affect the health and safety of everyone at this university and in the surrounding community, and graduate workers–the people whose labor makes this university possible–need to have a say in the matter.

CARES Act Funds Survey 

As we reported previously, the University was awarded $6.2 million by the Department of Education as part of the Federal CARES Act, and decided to accept the funds and dedicate the entire amount to student aid. Even with that enormous amount of funding, students reported that they weren’t determined to be eligible, or that their application was denied. In fact, we learned that the university administration not only established eligibility criteria narrower than those stipulated by the CARES Act, but also pre-selected and contacted those they decided to be eligible, leaving many graduate students out of this process altogether. When members raised questions about this, they were turned back and forth between different administrators, to be eventually provided with insufficient answers and silenced. We will not allow that. 

We want to know how this policy’s limitations and lack of transparency has affected members, and especially assess our members’ experiences regarding the funds and application process. 

Please help us do this by filling out the brief survey here. Many thanks to those of you that have already filled it out!

TBT: GSU Disaffiliation Featured in the Hyde Park Herald

Shouts-out to Christian Belanger for his in-depth write-up about our vote to disaffiliate from AFT and strategy moving forward in the June 29th Hyde Park Herald. The article has a great overview of the history of grad worker organizing at private universities, the legal and material struggles that have led to this moment, and GSU members’ visions for what our union could become. If you’re out of the loop and are looking for a good rundown of where GSU is at, this article is a great place to start!

GSU Culture Survey 

As part of our reflection and self-evaluation of our newly independent union, we are looking into gathering feedback from members on various issues, including GSU culture. There are many exciting ways to get involved, but one, short, and very helpful one would be to fill out the anonymous short survey our dedicated working group prepared about GSU’s culture. It doesn’t matter how long or how deeply you have been involved! We want to gather as much feedback as possible in order to prioritize setting norms and values for work, creating structures of accountability. By filling out the survey, you will contribute to making GSU more equitable and inclusive, so we really value your participation. Thank you! 

Things that make you go hmm? Provost call leads to more questions than answers

Earlier this week, on July 14th, UChicago’s provost held a zoom call with the Covid-19 Student Advisory Board, consisting of Grad Council co-presidents and other students. This call highlighted the ongoing need for graduate worker input on Fall reopening plans, the same input that is often not taken into account. 

While there has been an outline for how the university will handle scheduling, with moving to a hybrid plan to the fall, labs and libraries are already open. Workers in those settings have a variety of safety concerns, but are left with uncertainty and a lack of guidance. Similarly, with the sudden shift online last Spring, many workers–both Masters and PhD–lost their work-study jobs. Does the university have a plan to somehow make more remote work or come up with other positions to intentionally make sure that students are able to access the financial support that they need to continue doing the research and education that makes this university possible? 

These questions are all left unanswered. What we need are fewer zoom calls and more deliberate actions taken by the university administration–things that could happen if they just recognized their workers as workers and were willing to bargain with GSU. If you want to help make that happen, here are some ways to get more involved:

Upcoming Events:
Happy Hour: Every Friday at 6:00PM
GSU is hosting a weekly Happy Hour/Solidarity Hour where you can come hang out and chat with your fellow union members, play some games, and talk with members of other grad unions around the nation! Email us for more information and join the weekly Zoom call.Meeting ID: 825 3495 0856Password: 7cWMiY

Steering Committee: Every Tuesday at 6:00PM
Steering Committee is where GSU’s “big-picture” work gets done, including work around GSU’s direction post-disaffiliation, grievances, and more. Currently Steering is working on recruiting new committee members and streamlining its operations, so much of the work Steering has been doing with regard to the shape of a newly independent GSU will be taken up this week in other committees. However, Steering is the place to come if you want to figure out how to get involved! This work is incredibly important, and there is something for everyone at any level of time commitment (synchronous and asynchronous work available!). Current projects include revising our constitution, communications and design, making GSU a more inclusive environment, and worker organizing (including member outreach, mutual aid, political education, and direct actions)! Please feel free to reach out and join the weekly Zoom call:Meeting ID: 542 212 576Password: 816543

Stewards Council/Organizing Committee: Every Monday at 6:00PM
Interested in getting involved in charting GSU’s path forward as an independent union? Stewards/OC is going to be using our regularly scheduled meeting this coming Monday to hold a Working Groups session where we will consider the future of GSU via small group discussion (topics TBD). We really want to see a lot of union members (not just stewards and DOs!) show up for this, so please try to make it out! Going forward this summer Stewards/OC will be alternating between our normal meeting and Working Group sessions, so if you can’t make it this Monday, we look forward to seeing you sometime later this summer!
Please reach out to Lilly Judge (lillianjudge1@gmail.com) if you have any questions or suggestions for Working Group topics in the future. Zoom link here.Meeting ID: 853 8180 0548Password: 658126

FORCe (Funding Overhaul Research Committee): Every Wednesday at 6:00PM
This summer, FORCe is focused on preparing for the fight against the coming austerity from COVID-19 budget cuts. This incredibly important work includes building organizing capacity around the university, brainstorming around potential future actions, working with other workers organizing on campus, and more! To get involved with FORCe or find out more, join the Zoom call here.Meeting ID: 602 861 460Password: 511950

Mutual Aid Committee: Currently deciding on a new time! Email gsu.mutualaid@gmail.com to get the Doodle poll link!
Our Mutual Aid Committee is one of our newest committees, which focuses on building membership and community solidarity through mutual aid. We are currently working on how to build solidarity with local organizations, identifying and compiling local mutual aid networks for members to get involved with, and providing information about the ongoing protests. Join the Zoom call here.Meeting ID: 821 1403 2598Password: 410160

Communications Committee: Every Tuesday at 2:00PM
The Communications Committee focuses on communicating with our members and the wider public about our organizing work and the issues facing grad workers and other university employees at UChicago and around the country and world. We are responsible for GSU’s social media presence, newsletter, and media representation. To get involved email us or join the Zoom call here.

Dear Members,

It has been a difficult week for many of us. GSU stands in solidarity with international students across the country. We hope that you are all staying safe and well amidst so many confusing changes in the world, and we also hope that this week’s newsletter will provide some context and ways forward for people who either need questions answered or would like to get involved with GSU.

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Recent Changes for International Students and ICE Regulations

Earlier this week (July 6), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced stronger visa regulations for international students in the United States. In particular, the policy forces students with F-1 and M-1 visas whose course loads will be fully online to leave the U.S. or face deportation, and it imposes other conditions and restrictions with harmful consequences. This is a reprehensible action that puts numerous students in danger. On Tuesday (July 7), GSU issued a statement condemning these actions and calling for UChicago to use its legal and financial resources to fight this action: “We call on the University of Chicago to denounce these immigration restrictions in the strongest possible terms, and to take all measures necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of its international community.”

Yesterday (July 8), at 8pm, President Zimmer and Provost Lee finally responded to ICE’s changes in a university-wide e-mail, writing, “We firmly oppose this new measure and will work to lessen its impact on the University’s international students.” It is great to have a university that “firmly opposes” actions that put many of its students in danger. However, this statement lacks any indication of substantive support for the students affected by ICE’s regulations (the email mentions the offer of remote classes, in-person courses and “community building” at UChicago’s international campuses in Paris and Hong Kong. As usual, students are being turned to UChicagoGRAD’s resources, including events and workshops for international students, though the email doesn’t explain how these will help the current problems international students are facing).
UChicago has yet to take any substantial action to protect students put at risk by ICE’s order. In contrast, a number of other universities, including Harvard and MIT, have sued for an injunction to prevent ICE from taking this action, or written amicus briefs in support of the lawsuit,. UChicago must similarly take action to protect its international students. 

GSU is currently organizing a town hall with legal experts to help international students and workers to understand how this situation will affect our community. We will also discuss how we can collectively help vulnerable members of our student population. Please stay tuned for an announcement soon.

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CARES Act survey

Have you filled out our CARES Act survey yet? We want your thoughts on the university’s lack of transparency and limitations around access to CARES Act funds so that we know how to best address this issue going forward. You can fill out the (very short!) survey here. Many thanks to those of you that have already filled it out!

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Protest Etiquette and Safety Guide

Our mutual aid committee has put together a document for members of GSU and our local community to get more information on how to get involved with the ongoing protests. This has suggestions on what to do before going to an action to stay safe, what to do after an action, how to get involved even if you can’t make it to the protests, and more! We will be adding to it throughout the summer and if anyone has any suggestions or would like to get involved with the mutual aid committee, please email us at gsu.mutualaid@gmail.com.
The Protest Etiquette and Safety Guide can be found here.

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Things that make you go hmmm…UChicago takes down its plaque honoring Stephen Douglas

In its efforts to build “a stronger, more inclusive University of Chicago,” President Zimmer and Provost Lee announced earlier this week, in another campus-wide e-mail, that the university would remove its bronze plaque honoring Stephen A. Douglas, who was a slaveowner and donated much of the land on which the University of Chicago was originally founded. While purported to be a step of reckoning with the University’s problems of racial bias and inequities, in the same statement, UChicago distances itself from Douglas’s investment in slavery. The e-mail states that “Douglas died in 1861 and had no connection to the University of Chicago that was founded in 1890 as a new institution with a distinct mission.” As the Reparations at UChicago Working Group (RAUC) pointed out, these ties are stronger than the university readily admits. Moreover,  merely removing the plaque does not go nearly far enough toward satisfying the demands made of UChicago’s administration by the members of the University community and South Side community. Some of these demands, such as reparations in the form of affordable housing, healthcare, and education, and others, are much more urgent and stronger actions of accountability than the removal of a plaque,honoring a person to whom the University denies any connection. 

Read more in the paper “A Case for Reparations at the University of Chicago”  written by RAUC.

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Call for Participation

As GSU re-charts its path forward post-disaffiliation and continues to monitor the administration’s response to emerging and intensifying crises, we want to heavily encourage our membership to get more involved this summer! This is an exciting time to get involved with GSU and all it takes is hopping on a Zoom call. Hope to see you all this summer!

Upcoming Events:

Last week we posted links to some GSU committees and events but the Zoom links didn’t work!  Here is that information again but with working Zoom links. All committees are open to all members always!

Happy Hour: Every Friday at 6:00PM

GSU is hosting a weekly Happy Hour/Solidarity Hour where you can come hang out and chat with your fellow union members, play some games, and talk with members of other grad unions around the nation! Email us for more information and join the weekly Zoom call.Meeting ID: 825 3495 0856Password: 7cWMiY

Steering Committee: Every Tuesday at 6:00PM

Steering Committee is where GSU’s “big-picture” work gets done, including work around GSU’s direction post-disaffiliation, grievances, and more. Currently Steering is working on recruiting new committee members and streamlining its operations, so much of the work Steering has been doing with regard to the shape of a newly independent GSU will be taken up this week in other committees. However, Steering is the place to come if you want to figure out how to get involved! This work is incredibly important, and there is something for everyone at any level of time commitment (synchronous and asynchronous work available!). Current projects include revising our constitution, communications and design, making GSU a more inclusive environment, and worker organizing (including member outreach, mutual aid, political education, and direct actions)! Please feel free to reach out and join the weekly Zoom call:Meeting ID: 542 212 576 Password: 816543

Stewards Council/Organizing Committee: Every Monday at 6:00PM

Interested in getting involved in charting GSU’s path forward as an independent union? Stewards/OC is going to be using our regularly scheduled meeting this coming Monday to hold a Working Groups session where we will consider the future of GSU via small group discussion (topics TBD). We really want to see a lot of union members (not just stewards and DOs!) show up for this, so please try to make it out! Going forward this summer Stewards/OC will be alternating between our normal meeting and Working Group sessions, so if you can’t make it this Monday, we look forward to seeing you sometime later this summer
Please reach out to Lilly Judge (lillianjudge1@gmail.com) if you have any questions or suggestions for Working Group topics in the future. Zoom link here.Meeting ID: 853 8180 0548Password: 658126

FORCe (Funding Overhaul Research Committee): Every Wednesday at 6:00PM

This summer, FORCe is focused on preparing for the fight against the coming austerity from COVID-19 budget cuts. This incredibly important work includes building organizing capacity around the university, brainstorming around potential future actions, working with other workers organizing on campus, and more! To get involved with FORCe or find out more, join the Zoom call here. Meeting ID: 602 861 460 Password: 511950

Mutual Aid Committee: Currently deciding on a new time! Email gsu.mutualaid@gmail.com to get the Doodle poll link!

Our Mutual Aid Committee is one of our newest committees, which focuses on building membership and community solidarity through mutual aid. We are currently working on how to build solidarity with local organizations, identifying and compiling local mutual aid networks for members to get involved with, and providing information about the ongoing protests. Join the Zoom call here.

Meeting ID: 821 1403 2598 Password: 410160

Communications Committee: Every Tuesday at 2:00PM

The Communications Committee focuses on communicating with our members and the wider public about our organizing work and the issues facing grad workers and other university employees at UChicago and around the country and world. We are responsible for GSU’s social media presence, newsletter, and media representation. To get involved email us or join the Zoom call

Written by Jordan Cooper, undergraduate at UChicago

1. Undergraduates seem to be, in general, most preoccupied with “getting their money’s worth”. That’s fair enough, but we tend to conflate several contradictory ideas when defining what constitutes the “value” that our tuition covers. Undergraduates have been exposed to this firsthand and in a rather unique manner this spring quarter. Regardless of your position towards UChicago for Fair Tuition and their tuition strike, ask yourself these questions: was this quarter of classes on Zoom worth the full tuition price? Do you think that your education and experience this quarter was the same as in normal quarters? The University has announced that tuition won’t increase for next year: will you be getting your money’s worth in an experience significantly altered by necessary measures against COVID transmission? Even more significantly though, were you really getting the full value of the exorbitant price we pay before COVID-19? Think about how hard it would be to teach if you’re worried about being able to afford rent, or if you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from, or you can’t see the students you’re teaching because you don’t have vision insurance and can’t afford glasses. Especially don’t forget that there are hundreds if not thousands of undergraduates here who are expected to learn and do good work while experiencing the exact same problems. How hard is it for them? How hard is it for you? 
2. The University of Chicago functions because of undergraduate students who pay tuition and because of the labor of graduate students, faculty, and all of the non-academic staff we rely on to actually facilitate the university’s ‘product’. 
   1. UChicago for Fair Tuition organized a tuition strike to compel the university to meet a list of demands, including a spring quarter tuition reduction. Although that demand was not met, their campaign nonetheless succeeded at forcing the administration to comply with several of them. The university didn’t plan to pay RAs for this quarter, until students organized to demand that they do so; the university didn’t plan to pay furloughed staff for this quarter, until students organized to demand that they do so. We have power because there is strength in numbers. 
   2. Regarding faculty, we also need to demand their active solidarity with GSU. In this regard I remember and am inspired by one of my professor’s last spring, who moved our class session off campus rather than cross the picket line to hold it normally. We should ask all of our professors to do the same, and refuse to cross picket lines to attend class out of principle. Again, there is strength in numbers. Talk to your classmates and organize this with them. 
3. Graduate and undergraduate students are natural allies with a common enemy: the university administration. This alliance goes far beyond the fact that a significant chunk of our education depends on graduate students’ teaching and grading. When I say that the administration is our common enemy, I mean that the key issues raised by GSU in this walk out–just as in their strike last year–are nearly identical to the issues that undergraduates have also been raising with the administration for years. For instance, one of the primary issues prompting GSU’s action is that, in the past year, the University has implemented drastic funding overhauls impacting graduate workers in the Social Sciences Division, the Humanities Division, Social Services Administration, and the Divinity School. The callous response to this pandemic is going to have a dramatic impact on graduate students’ time to degree and on their financing. It will have that effect on us too. But also, the university has imposed sweeping changes to our academic programs without any consultation or notice, too. We found out about the introduction of latin honors and the complete overhaul of the honors system only when they updated the course catalog. The administration got rid of part time status without student input, and student activists have been fighting to make them bring it back ever since. How many years have we been telling them that SCS was badly underfunded? We’re talking about the same administration who held a townhall on about the damning results of a survey about sexual violence on campus in the middle of the day, so students would be in class and unable to attend. How long have they refused to address the realities about sexual assault on campus? How they let the frats be gaping blindspot? 
4. Dean Ellison said that “students don’t decide how we assess them” in response to demands for universal pass/fail this quarter, something many peer universities enacted. My question: why don’t we? The university has made it abundantly clear that they view themselves as running a corporation: what other business have you ever heard of that ignores its consumers? I know we just recently began a business economics major, so maybe they can put their thinking caps on and explain this to us. If the university makes changes to everyone’s programs without advising or asking, what precludes us from the realization that most of the things people are running for SG or doing campus activism about things which are also completely tied up with the exploitation of grad labor?
5. GSU is campaigning for visa support to international students and for a universal $4000 relief check to graduate workers: are these not things that we need too? They’re things that undergraduate activists are talking about too! This university has a multi-billion dollar endowment and yet it is imposing austerity on all of us. None of us should stand for it. United we stand, divided we fall. Undergraduate solidarity with GSU is absolutely imperative, whether you view yourself as an ‘activist’ or not: we want the same things, and supporting GSU is in your direct interest, too.