The Key — Balancing Labor and Learning: Graduate Workers or Graduate Students?
Last night, Penn’s graduate student union voted 92% in favor of authorizing a strike. The nineteen students on the Graduate Educators Together – University of Pennsylvania (GET-UP) Bargaining Committee can now call a strike at any moment, an unprecedented move for any union at Penn. Because graduate students teach and conduct research across the university, a strike could disrupt academics and upend classes and research campus-wide.
Since 95% of voting graduate students chose to unionize in May of 2024 under the United Auto Workers (UAW, a nationwide union which is known to also actively take public stances on social issues, including calling for an arms embargo on Israel in 2024), GET-UP and the university have been negotiating their first contract. Progress is now stalled.
The implications of a strike on academics could be grave, and Penn is hoping to minimize disruptions by preparing faculty and staff to cover educational and research gaps if needed.
Penn insists it has engaged in good faith contract negotiations for over a year. GET-UP says Penn is dragging its feet. In reality, the dispute reflects a fundamental tension: graduate students are both workers and students, and the union is pressing for provisions that blur the line between the two roles.
Penn must keep that distinction clear. Graduate students are at the university primarily to be students. Protecting graduate workers’ labor interests is important, but letting a graduate student union set or supervise their own academic standards is not. Excellence in research and teaching depends on maintaining that boundary.
Where negotiations stalled
The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty cites eight unresolved issues that fall into two categories: academic authority and financial demands.
Academic Authority: These issues touch the university’s core mission and would expand the union’s role from labor advocacy into academic governance.
“Management and academic rights”
Penn proposed language ensuring that the university administration and faculty hold sole authority over “academic standards and rigor in graduate education,” including the requirements for classes and programs. GET-UP has not agreed to this proposal.
“Overreach on academic issues”
GET-UP proposed provisions that would let the union intervene in academic matters, such as requests to lodge complaints with the union about grades members earned in classes and to bring union representatives to academic meetings. Penn says this request is clearly out of the union’s jurisdiction.
GET-UP’s proposed contract would give the union leverage over academic decisions that affect the value of a Penn degree, and academic standards would risk becoming bargaining chips that threaten the value of an education.
Financial Demands: These requests are costly, and in some cases, unprecedented. Increased costs per graduate student could result in budget cuts which may meaningfully reduce graduate student programs and student numbers.
“Stipends”
Penn proposed raising the minimum PhD stipend from $40,000 per academic year to $42,000 in year one (5%) and to $42,840 in year two (2%). GET-UP first requested $60,000, then countered with a $51,500 minimum, still a 41% increase.
“Tuition remission”
GET-UP wants additional tuition benefits for TAs and RAs beyond their pay, including for Master’s students and not just PhDs. Penn has not agreed.
“Paid time off”
GET-UP wants four weeks of paid time off and 20 paid sick days, in addition to university vacations and holiday breaks, more than many of Penn’s full-time staff in their first few years.
“Relocation reimbursements”
GET-UP suggested $3,000 per incoming student and $500 per dependent. Penn argues this is not work-related and should not be part of union negotiations.
“Union dues”
GET-UP wants all graduate student workers to pay dues. Penn insists that students should opt-in to supporting the union. In unions across fields, compulsory payment of dues is common even for those who don’t join, since all employees theoretically reap the financial benefits of union-negotiated contracts. Penn points out that there are ongoing lawsuits at other universities challenging these practices.
“International graduate workers”
Penn’s International Student & Scholar Services currently helps international students during their time at the university, but GET-UP requested further specified support, including Penn’s responsibility for the costs of students seeking asylum and any legal costs of international students getting jobs after graduation. Penn says this is beyond what is appropriate for a union contract.
Together, these demands would significantly increase the cost of graduate education, prompting tradeoffs in size and scope of graduate education. As GET-UP continues to push on contract elements that Penn considers an overreach, the university is balancing two key challenges.
Graduate students are at Penn first and foremost to be students. In all negotiations, the university must consider not only labor implications, but also how contract elements of collective bargaining may sustain or erode excellence in their graduate education.
Increased costs per student likely come with a trade-off to save money, which may lead to reductions in the number of PhD students, programs, or resources available. As we discussed last week, Penn must exercise financial restraint to secure a sustainable future, so more benefits for graduate students may mean fewer graduate students.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
As Penn continues negotiations, it is also preparing for a strike. Faculty have been instructed to make contingency plans for teaching and grading to minimize strike disruptions.
Meanwhile, in an FAQ page for graduate students, the administration has told graduate students that they may strike but are not obligated to strike. Penn has also warned that a long strike may slow degree completion or lead to a loss of certain positions for students. The university has made it clear that it will protect academic continuity, even amid conflict.
Drawing the line between labor and learning
Penn’s fundamental mission is academic excellence. In both education and research, this requires the labor of graduate students, at least in Penn’s current model. Although some union members identify themselves as graduate workers before graduate students, Penn must remember that they are at the university first to earn an excellent education, which requires the university to retain control and accountability over academics.
By pushing back on the union’s academic authority requests, Penn is protecting the principles essential to maintaining excellence:
Faculty and leadership authority over curriculum and academic standards
Separation of academic judgments from labor disputes
Financial stability of graduate programs
Integrity of a Penn education
Graduate students deserve respect and fair treatment alongside a world-class education. Penn’s task is now to deliver both. The university must continue negotiations in good faith while preserving academic control as a non-negotiable.
The Almanac
EEOC sues Penn, alleging refusal to cooperate in antisemitism investigation
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Penn on Tuesday for “refus[ing] to comply with the EEOC’s subpoena” seeking information about Jewish community members as part of an ongoing antisemitism case. Penn says it has cooperated but will not share “lists of Jewish employees, Jewish student employees and those associated with Jewish organizations, or their personal contact information.” Penn is also refusing to share information from people who chose to be anonymous complainants.
The EEOC opened the investigation in December 2023, amid rising antisemitism on campus. Unlike typical hostile work environment complaints filed by affected employees, this case was initiated by EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas (C ’08), who argued Jewish employees were unlikely to come forward due to “fear of hostility and potential violence.”
This lawsuit comes as Penn continues to address recommendations from its University Task Force on Antisemitism Final Report. Penn has recently acted on the recommendation to “lead in Jewish Studies and education” by establishing new professorships in Judaic studies and hosting a Jewish history professor and father of a former Israeli hostage on campus. Penn is also working on the recommendation to “promote Jewish student life on campus,” including through building community among Jewish students.
So what? This EEOC investigation began under the Biden administration, and since January, the Trump (W’ 68) administration has further pursued antisemitism cases in higher education. Columbia, Brown, and Cornell have entered settlement agreements, and Harvard engaged in litigation that restored its federal funding. Penn has not been subject to funding freezes around antisemitism so far, but this new lawsuit could lead to a settlement agreement like Columbia’s, which required reforms to address antisemitism and multimillion-dollar payments by the university, or a protracted legal battle similar to Harvard’s.
Law professor Amy Wax files additional lawsuit, alleging violations of academic freedom
Professor Wax has filed a new lawsuit in Montgomery County court alleging Penn violated her academic freedom by punishing her for comments on race, immigration, and affirmative action made in non-teaching settings, including in op-eds and podcasts. She argues Penn broke contractual obligations, including allowing a disciplinary Hearing Board co-chair with an undisclosed conflict of interest, barring her attorney from cross-examining a witness, and conducting a process that did not meet the “clear and convincing evidence” standard.
The suit claims Penn violated the faculty handbook by issuing a one-year suspension and permanently revoking Wax’s named chair and summer pay, despite the handbook’s assurances that “[w]hen speaking or writing as an individual, the teacher should be free from institutional censorship or discipline.”
So what? In September, a district judge granted Penn’s motion to dismiss a similar case by Wax alleging discrimination in her disciplinary proceedings. The new filing will likely focus on the line between academic freedom and “violations of university standards” and whether that line shifts when statements are made as in a faculty role versus as a private citizen.
State Department finds no evidence of DEI in Penn’s hiring practices
This review comes after President Trump’s January executive orders effectively banning DEI in hiring at federally-funded institutions, like Penn. Penn promptly rebranded its DEI website, removed references across all 12 schools, and shut down DEI-focused programs.
So what? The Diplomacy Lab, which started under the Obama administration in 2013 to fund partnerships between universities and the government to conduct foreign policy research, is a relatively small grant program. However, these DEI audits may signal broader federal scrutiny. With Stanford, Harvard, and Yale suspended from the program beginning next year, Penn, MIT, and other approved universities may gain a competitive advantage in funding and research opportunities.
Thank you for reading the Franklin’s Forum newsletter! We love connecting with our readers — send us your thoughts and questions, Penn news, and ideas for future issues. If you enjoyed this edition, please spread the word by forwarding it to friends and classmates.