Research, administrative assistants excluded from graduate student union
Graduate students were told Feb. 25 that research assistants and administrative assistants are to be excluded from the newly-formed graduate student union.
Midland graduate student Mike Hoerger said he was told by Central Michigan University's lawyer the two types of employees do not substantially contribute to the primary goals of the university.
"We think (research assistants) do really important things for the university," Hoerger said. "Research brings in $10 million a year to CMU."
The meeting last Wednesday lasted 15 minutes when the graduate students thought it would last a couple of hours, Hoerger said.
The meeting was a disappointment, said Jon Curtiss, union organizer and member of the American Federation of Teachers.
"But the union is in a good position to argue their case," he said.
The union was told they either accept the exclusions or see a judge, Hoerger said.
Bob Martin, associate vice provost for faculty personnel services, could not be reached for comment.
Hoerger said a short meeting between research and administrative assistants and the union could solve the problem.
"That's impossible to do in 15 minutes," he said.
Curtiss said the union did anticipate this outcome, but they did not anticipate the fact that the union and the university's lawyer, Robert Vercruysse, did not sit down and talk about it.
In 1981, a ruling stemming from a case at the University of Michigan did not include research assistants in graduate student unions, Curtiss said.
"What research assistants did at U of M in the late 1970s is not what research assistants are doing today at Central," he said.
At U of M, research assistants were using their research for their dissertations and for their own benefit, Curtiss said.
But at CMU, most research assistants are not using their research for their own benefit but for the benefit of the university, he said.
Emily van de Water, a Mount Pleasant graduate student, got a research assistantship to help a professor get better research faster.
"I didn't do it for myself," van de Water said. "I don't understand why doing research and getting published isn't contributing to the university on the whole."
Roger Coles, interim dean of graduate studies, said this is all part of the negotiation process and it will be worked out through legal processes.
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