Who We Are

We are Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago. We’ve been organizing since 2007 to improve the lives of graduate students and gain recognition for the work we do at this university. Together, we’ve won dramatic pay increases, better healthcare, improved parental leave policies, stipends for childcare, and a freeze in Advanced Residency tuition. We have joined with our peers at public and private universities across the country in calling for the abolition of all tuition and fees for graduate students, and in seeking the right to organize and bargain collectively for our wages and benefits.

We also serve as sounding boards and advocates for our peers, and seek structural solutions to individual grievances. Above all, we support each other in our shared venture of earning an education, and a living, during the years we spend at this university.

To get to know us better, you can read about our history here. If you have questions or concerns about what a graduate student union is for, please visit our FAQ. We also invite you to read and contribute to our evolving Survival Guide, a resource written by and for graduate students at the University of Chicago. Finally, we invite you to join the mailing list for our weekly newsletter, come to our next quarterly meeting, and consider becoming a member. Join us!

GSU is jointly affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors. These organizations work together with GSU as we build our union and prepare to bargain a first contract. GSU recently disaffiliated with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) after our membership voted to proceed as an independent union. You can read more about that and how to get involved here.

The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) represents 103,000 teachers and paraprofessionals in PreK-12 school districts throughout Illinois, faculty and staff at Illinois’ community colleges and universities, public employees under every statewide elected constitutional officer, and retirees. The IFT represents faculty, staff, and graduate workers at the University of Illinois (at the Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, and Springfield campuses), Chicago State University, City Colleges of Chicago, community colleges throughout Cook County, Northeastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, and more.