University President Judith Rodin and the leaders of Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania met in a closed-door meeting late last semester to discuss the still unresolved controversy over graduate student unionization.
Both sides remain deadlocked, but GET-UP members are more optimistic about presidential nominee Amy Gutmann.
GET-UP -- the organization formed nearly four years ago with the goal of creating a graduate student employees' union-- cast votes last February in the union election held by the National Labor Relations Board.
The University has since filed an appeal with the NLRB, causing the voting results to be impounded pending judicial review.
Those present at the meeting were GET-UP Chairman David Faris, Secretary Andrew Heath and Political Director Tina Collins, along with President Rodin, Chief of Staff Pedro Ramos and presidential assistant Leah Popowich.
Rodin's response to the discussion was that it "was a very cordial meeting; we really went back to fundamental issues about the graduate student experience."
Though Rodin said the two sides had some "shared views," they also were "differing in some instances about the impact of a graduate student union on the Penn community and ... agreed to keep the line of communication open."
Despite this agreement, the two sides saw eye to eye on little else .
"Our feeling was that it was nice to get things out in the open and to have the chance to talk to Dr. Rodin," Faris said. "But unfortunately, nothing really changed, and our goal is to convince Dr. Rodin to reconsider their stance on the issue, to drop the appeal and to get those votes counted -- and unfortunately that didn't happen."
Also discussed at the meeting was the possibility of Rodin meeting with New York University President John Sexton -- the leader of the only private university with a student employee union currently in existence.
Yet Rodin has announced no plans to meet with Sexton.
"I don't have policies on graduate student unionization," she said. "It's a stand that the trustees of the University have asserted."
With the situation at a standstill, GET-UP members were left frustrated.
"Dr. Rodin did state that she didn't intend to recognize us as employees or change her position on the appeal, so we were obviously a little disappointed," Collins said.
"We're definitely going to use the one-year anniversary of the NLRB vote as an opportunity to emphasize our goals and to emphasize our persistence. ... We hope that the administration will also see the anniversary as an opportunity to reconsider its position."
If the issue is not settled this year, GET-UP will be left to communicate with Gutmann.
"We're really looking forward to establishing a relationship with professor Gutmann," Faris said. "She's a respected figure in political science, and I've heard nothing but good things about her.
"I hold out hope that Dr. Rodin is going to change her mind [but] frankly from what I hear of Dr. Gutmann's work, it seems like she would be receptive to our message and our goal."
Princeton's graduate student population represents roughly one-fifth of the total student body, whereas graduate students represent one-half of the student body at Penn.
Princeton has no organization advocating graduate student employee unionization, leaving Gutmann with much to learn about GET-UP.
"I'm quite unfamiliar with it, so I just have to learn more about it ... . I know about it. I know where things stand," Gutmann said.
"I have no idea -- neither does anyone else -- how it will come out, before that happens," she added. "I'll learn more on the ground."
