Why We Unionized: A Letter from a Research Assistant
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| Stony Brook Statesman |
| December 8, 2008 |
| The purpose of this article is to describe the recent activities of graduate students at Stony Brook University and to explain how and why we formed a union, from my own perspective.
There are three main points: (1) I love Stony Brook University. It has assisted in turning me from a student into a professional. (2) I believe that this union will benefit the school and its students. (3) Graduate students should be allowed to organize their union peacefully without interference as they voted to do so on Dec. 5, 2008. Stony Brook University conducts a tremendous amount of research in engineering, chemical, physical and life sciences. The majority of this research is enthusiastically conducted by graduate students, who are termed Research Assistants (RA’s). These RA’s come from all over the globe to attend graduate school here, learn from Stony Brook’s internationally renowned professors, and to conduct their cutting edge research in pursuit of a Ph.D. These same RA’s are technically employed by the Research Foundation, a private commercial non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. This non-profit tax designation gives the Research Foundation the best of both worlds: a non-profit company with no taxable income and a private commerical employer who has no official obligation to make any of their financial data accesible to the public. |
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