the
Justice www.thejustice.org
T h e I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9 Volume LXXVI, Number 2
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Waltham, Mass.
NEW LEADERSHIP
UNIVERSITY COMPROMISE
Student Union president and vice president outline their goals for the year ■ The Union is planning
initiatives to improve its reputation, connect with students more, and improve school spirit. By AMANDA CHEN
JUSTICE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
SMILEY HUYNH/the Justice
NEW ALUM: graduate student walks during the 2023 Commencement Ceremony, celebrating their academic achievement.
Graduate research assistants publicize unionization decision ■ Due to limited support
from the University, graduate student advocates are taking matters into their own hands. By LIN LIN HUTCHINSON
JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
After years of organizing efforts to garner support, assess interest, and increase union card signing, on Sept. 11, Brandeis University Research Assistants announced they have filed a petition with the Nation Labor Relations Board for a formal union election, according to a press release from the the Service Employees International Union Local 509. In July 2018, Brandeis University and Service Employee International Union Local 509 agreed on a collective bargaining agreement for PhD students who work as teaching assistants or teaching fellows during their academic time at Brandeis. Benefits of the current agreement include the following: a raise in graduate assistants’ pay, set limits to their work hours, supplies and textbooks provided for TAs and TFs, and opportunities to attend professional development workshops, free of charge. Despite what were seen as wins
JOSH KASTORF/the Justice
in the collective bargaining agreement between TAs and the University, members of the union continue to find themselves with financial concerns. Last May, the Justice investigated the food, housing, and transportation insecurity faced by many graduate TAs and TFs. The article highlights the inadequate financial compensation that graduate TAs and TFs face in proportion to the cost of living in the greater Boston area. Students are struggling with staggering debt and are often choosing between rent, food for the month, medical treatments and bills, expenses for an unforeseen circumstance, and the quality of their teaching. Olivia Leland, a physics Ph.D. student and Graduate Department Representative, recounted a time of “complete nervous breakdown” in an April 27 email to the Justice, when an emergency with her cat left her having to decide whether the $150 left in her bank was going to feed herself or her cat. The harsh physical, emotional, and mental realities that TAs and TFs face, as a result of inadequate support from the University, are not isolated. Like graduate TAs, graduate research assistants are University employees who play an integral role in conducting and furthering research. Currently, research assistants are not represented by the union
and do not receive the aforementioned benefits and conditions that graduate TAs and TFs are entitled to. If the outcome of a formal union election with the National Labor Relations Board is in favor of the graduate research assistants, “approximately 250 PhD graduate research assistants would join nearly 200 TAs who are already unionized with SEIU Local 509, expanding the union’s presence and creating a pathway toward bargaining with the University over key issues,” according to the Sept. 11 press release from SEIU Local 509. The initiative to include research assistants in the union started in 2020. Since the unionizing efforts in 2018 only included TAs and TFs, there was a lack of support, organization, and representation for student research workers. Lauren Crosser, a PhD candidate in sociology and union organizer, explained that she, along with other graduate workers in the social sciences and humanities, initiated the process, as they suspected RAs shared the same need to have a union as TAs. “We began talking to some STEM graduate workers about their working conditions at Brandeis,” Crosser wrote in a Sept. 15 email to the Justice. “I met with graduate workers for coffee or called them on the phone, and tried to engage them as much as I could.”
On Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, the Justice held interviews with Vice President Erica Hwang ’25 and President Noah Risley ’24, respectively, to outline the Student Union’s goals for this year. Before becoming Student Union president, Risley held several other roles in the Union. As a first-year, they were a Class of 2024 senator and the chair of the Social Justice and Diversity committee. In their sophomore and junior years, they were the director of communications and a chief justice, respectively. As the president, they will appoint and oversee the Executive Board, represent the Student Union when interacting with the administration, and set policy. Risley is proud of the Student Union’s diversity this year. “To my knowledge, I am the first nonbinary trans person to be [Union] president,” Risley said. “In a national moment of antitrans attitudes, it’s really humbling to be in charge of a large organization as a trans person.” Hwang also previously held roles in the Union as the Class of 2025 Senator and chair of the Health and Safety committee last year. As the vice president, she is the president of the Senate and serves on the Executive Board. Every three years, the Student Union conducts a review of its constitution and bylaws. After the review, the student body votes on and either approves or rejects new changes in the spring. Risley understands that students may be fatigued with so many Student Union elections and wants to reduce it to three elections per year, one in the fall and two in the spring. The Constitution states that if there is a vacancy, an election must be held within 10 days, and Risley intends to change this rule. Moreover, Risley referenced growing domestic movements around caste discrimination — they want to include caste as a category in anti-discrimination clauses. They are also working on revising the constitution for the Brandeis Sustainability Fund so money is more easily distributed to students. While current students may not feel an immediate impact from the amendments, the Student Union hopes that future classes will feel its effects. An overarching goal for the Student Union is to offer more support to clubs. The Union created a new
position on the Executive Board called the director of Club Support that will assist the Club Support senate committee and the Committee’s Chair. The new position allows the Student Union to collaborate more with clubs and answer their needs. Moreover, the Events Senate Committee — previously called the Services and Outreach Senate Committee — can help clubs promote their events more by creating a calendar to avoid double booking and increase event turnout. Risley highlighted the importance of devoting more time to listening to clubs’ concerns. They attended the Student Leaders Round Table at the Gender and Sexuality Center and talked about what the Student Union does and collaboration opportunities with women-led and LGBTQ+ clubs. They discovered that clubs were confused about the club funding process, so they want to set up a town hall in the GSC where the Allocations Board co-chairs will answer funding questions. Julián Cancino, the director of the GSC, told Risley that this was the first time a Student Union president came to talk to students at the GSC in his tenure. Risley also wants to respond to the Intercultural Center’s concerns, as well as meet with LeManuel “Lee” Bitsóí, the vice president of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Another main goal for the Student Union is to strengthen school spirit. Some potential ideas included creating more student spaces, funding more Campus Activities Board events, and organizing spirit weeks. Additionally, the Student Union wishes to improve mental health resources, particularly the Brandeis Counseling Center. They are working to expand the BCC’s online presence by revamping their website, creating an Instagram account, and providing an option for students to book an appointment online as opposed to calling the BCC. Hwang acknowledged that seeking mental health care can be daunting and adding an online option can mitigate those fears. Risley stated that they want to “bake accessibility into decision making,” and Student Union’s Director of Accessibility David Cahn ’26 has been developing some proposals. For example, future projects include buttons that open doors outside of the Sherman dining hall, more ramps, high visibility stairs, captions for videos, and photos that have the ability to be read by a screen reader. Cahn has also been collaborating with the Disabled Students’ Network to incorporate students’ concerns. The Student Union formed another new position, the assistant director of Sexual Health, which supports the director of Sexual Violence Prevention. These two positions along with the director of
See UNIONIZATION, 5 ☛
See GOALS, 5 ☛
Channel 781 shutdown
Time to make a choice
Waltham preliminary election results
Channel 781, a local Waltham YouTube channel, was shut down after complaints by WCAC.
Isabel and Lauryn discuss "The Summer I Turned Pretty" characters.
By MESHULAM UNGAR
By LEA ZAHARONI
WILLIAMS
FIBA basketball season wraps up
ARTS AND CULTURE 14
By JACKSON WU
FEATURES 6
By ISABEL ROSETH AND LAURYN
Photo courtesy of CREATIVE COMMONS
For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
Make your voice heard! Submit letters to the editor to forum@thejustice.org
We need to create school spirit By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
COPYRIGHT 2023 FREE AT BRANDEIS.
NEWS 3
FORUM 8 SPORTS 12