The university administration has finally woken up to the importance of graduate students, evidenced by the strategic plan’s emphasis on our concerns. Stipend increases were higher this year than in the recent past, and for the first time in many years, they were actually higher than rent increases at university-owned graduate housing.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence these gains have been made at the same time as a union has formed for graduate employees: Maryland Teachers and Researchers. This has been a trend at universities across the country: As soon as unionization is a possibility, the administration panics and makes a few high-profile, short-term improvements in the hopes that the masses can be quelled until the threat goes away. If unionization doesn’t succeed, it’s back to business as usual.

The GSG and MTR both serve unique and important purposes. The role of the GSG is to advocate for the entire graduate student community on a broad variety of issues and to take a public leadership role in policy debates affecting graduate students, the entire university and higher education at large.

MTR is dedicated to protecting graduate employees and their families. Its role is focused on the workplace – stipends, benefits, workload, etc. Getting fair treatment for graduate employees is no easy task, and it requires vigilance and ongoing advocacy. The GSG does not always have the resources to fight every fight. But this one is extremely important and it must be fought to the best of our abilities. This is why we also need MTR.

One of the more misleading arguments we have heard from administrators is that graduate students don’t need a union to represent our concerns because we already have shared governance. I’ve poured my heart and soul into the GSG for the past two years because I believe wholeheartedly in shared governance. The GSG has been a force for positive change on the campus, but I think I know better than anyone the limitations to student government. The administration can choose to ignore us at any time, as they have often done, with no consequence to them.

A union, on the other hand, guarantees a seat at the table by means of a negotiation process. Those represented by the union have a right to bring their concerns directly to administrators and be a part of the process of addressing them. Without that guarantee, the ability to meet with administrators is entirely dependent on their willingness to do so.

Administrators have consistently only dealt with problems after they have become dire or there has been negative publicity: doctorate degree completion only started being addressed when it was below 50 percent. After a shooting and other safety concerns at Graduate Hills, safety phones were installed. After negative Diamondback coverage of the rents being set too high at East Campus ($1,900 for a 2-bedroom), the administration pledged to further subsidize rents.

After fighting for graduate students for two years, I have learned the hard way that we cannot trust the good will of the administration to address or even be aware of our concerns. We have to advocate, and we have to organize.

Contrary to what the administration would have us believe, we don’t have to choose between the GSG and MTR – we need both. As MTR continues to organize and to grow, my hope is that both organizations will continue to partner together to address graduate student issues. Our concerns are quite fundamental. There are still graduate students who spend up to 90 percent of their take-home pay on rent for subsidized graduate housing; there are still graduate students who suffer egregious abuse at the hands of faculty members without any redress (the graduate school promised to draft a grievance procedure months ago); and there are still many graduate students who do not complete their degrees because they simply cannot afford to continue.

We need a true, legitimate right to engage in legal negotiations with the university to ensure that our needs are addressed. This is the only way we can be sure that we won’t be ignored, and we won’t settle for anything else. We need as many graduate student advocates as we can get – through both the GSG and MTR.

Laura Moore is a former president of the Graduate Student Government. She can be reached at laura@lauramoore.com.