Now that my second term as president of the Graduate Student Government has ended, I wanted to reflect on the last year and the work of the GSG. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as the advocate and voice for my community over the past two years. I’m tremendously optimistic about the future because the GSG is now in the excellent hands of new GSG President Anupama Kothari and her dream team of executives.
Last year, much of the work of the GSG was devoted to raising the profile of the graduate student community both on and off the campus. Many of our issues stem from a simple lack of awareness of our most pressing concerns. We expanded the role of graduate student leaders and the GSG in the larger university community, taking active leadership roles on policy issues affecting broader populations. I sincerely hope this new tradition of high profiles and meaningful leadership will remain for many years to come.
One of the principle issues this past year was the fight to give graduate student employees the right to collective bargaining – a right currently denied them under Maryland law. Many graduate student employees at world-class public universities across the country enjoy this right, and in most cases, those who are unionized enjoy higher stipends, better workplace protections and superior living conditions to students here.
It has been the position of the GSG for almost two years now that university graduate students should have the right to choose whether collective bargaining is the best course of action. This year, we pursued legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to make that possible. Although the legislation was defeated in a back room maneuver by a member of a subcommittee, I promise, next year, the fight will continue. Pursuing the legislation served as an opportunity to raise the visibility of graduate students at the university and even to state leaders at the highest levels of government.
We fully recognize the efforts being made by the university to improve our situation, and collective bargaining is not a tool to extract concessions; it is a way of creating a contract that guarantees the delivery of tough promises.
Another major policy debate this year was over the best alignment for the Purple Line on our campus. The pages of The Diamondback have been filled with the debate over Campus Drive versus the various alternatives for months, so I won’t rehash the details. I’m immensely proud of the GSG Assembly for being the first advocacy group on the campus to support the Campus Drive alignment. As Campus Drive looks increasingly like the best option, I hope graduate student leaders in years to come will remember this example of how a well-reasoned position and persistent advocacy can make us leaders in the broader campus community.
We have fought in Annapolis for controls on the prices of textbooks, for increased higher education funding and broader recognition of the unique concerns of our community. On the campus, we have advocated better disability access, tolerance after last year’s regrettable noose incident, greater transparency from our university leaders and partner benefits. For the second year in a row, the GSG has continued the revived Graduate Research Interaction Day conference with the generous support of many donors. This year, over 160 graduate students presented their research and competed for more than $16,000 in prize money. And we haven’t forgotten that sometimes graduate students just need a little down time: We’ve continued to put on Grad Pub, the ever-popular kickball tournament, dive-in movies and other free events for graduate students. We have been on hand to address a variety of constituent issues including problems facing international graduate students, graduate students’ parents and those just lost in the maze of university bureaucracy.
This job has been harder and more rewarding than I ever expected, and I could not have accomplished any of it without the dedication of the many GSG members and other leaders who worked with me over the past two years. I hope we have set an example for our successors, and graduate students at this great university will continue to be able to depend on their GSG for world-class advocacy and leadership in the years to come.
Laura Moore is a former president of the GSG and now works in the office of County Councilman Tom Dernoga.
