Graduate school can be an amazing experience. One addresses the pressing problems of our time and makes lifelong colleagues and friends.

Graduate school, though, can also be challenging. Regardless of institution, department, or research project, all graduate students confront core problems, such as those related to the financial and social impact of taking a path where the career prospects are, like the research, uncertain. 

Being able to address these core problems in solidarity with others makes everything more manageable and meaningful.  During my own training, I remember benefiting from connections with other graduate students made via housing, my department, and extracurricular groups (e.g., mindfulness groups, fitness classes).  Being supported and supporting others as they navigated graduate training was essential to my experience, as well as a profound privilege.

To me, a graduate student union falls along these lines.  It is a group designed to support graduate students as they navigate the core issues faced during training.  The union is there to listen to you, understand your experience, and communicate effectively on your behalf.  

To show my support for the graduate unionization efforts, I signed a union card.  

If a union is formed, I hope it will improve the experiences of future graduate students.  In the end, our society needs you – statisticians, scientists, and educators.  The more support you have during your training, the more you can turn your hard-earned skills outward to benefit the world.  

I am excited to see what you do, and we are in it together!

If you are a graduate student, please consider signing a union card at this link.