Pitt grad students deserve right to unionize
By Delilah Bourque, Senior Staff Columnist
October 17, 2018
Graduate students may be here for an education, but at universities, including Pitt, grad students don’t just function as scholars, but employees as well. They should have the right to unionize.
University Senate Council talks grad student unions, Campus Master Plan and mental health
By Madeline Gavatorta, Staff Writer
October 11, 2018
Filed under News, Top Stories
University Senate Council engaged in conversation with the Graduate Student Organizing Committee at Wednesday's meeting.
Graduate students make their case for unionization
By Janine Faust, Managing Editor
October 9, 2018
Filed under Administration, News, Top Stories
After a week of testimony in front of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the administration could not present all its witnesses in the original time frame allotted to them by the board.
Faculty show support for unionization
By Madeline Gavatorta | Staff Writer
January 23, 2018
Filed under 2. Featured, Campus, News
Jennifer Lee, a senior English lecturer at Pitt for the last two decades, said it was luck and allies in the tenure faculty that got her the job she currently holds — and she remembers realizing how privileged she was compared to faculty who don’t have those benefits. “My very good friend and colleague — who...
Toomey’s got mail: Grad students deliver letters
By Rachel Glasser | News Editor
December 7, 2017
The Grinch is best known for stealing Christmas, but he left Whoville and showed up on the doorstep of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s Downtown office Wednesday. It was a blustery day, windy and in the low 40s, but Ph.D. epidemiology student Abby Cartus attributed the conditions to something other than ...
Union organizers talk tax bill, moving forward
By Remy Samuels | Staff Writer
December 4, 2017
Filed under 2. Featured, Campus, News
Graduate students sexually harassed or assaulted by a faculty member have the option to file a claim with the Title IX office.But Hillary Lazar said a graduate student union would help hold Title IX and the University accountable, pressing the office and the administration to investigate these types ...
Pitt faculty, grads present political support for unions
By Janine Faust | Assistant News Editor
September 13, 2017
Filed under Campus, News, Top Stories
As grad students and faculty gathered outside Chancellor Patrick Gallagher’s door in the Cathedral of Learning Tuesday afternoon, a Pitt police officer cut a path to the front and addressed the crowd. “Who’s in charge here? Where’s your leader?” he asked the people clutching signs and came...
Union supporters convene at cookout
By Janine Faust | Assistant News Editor
September 4, 2017
Filed under Campus, News, Top Stories
Abby Cartus figured celebrating Labor Day surrounded by fellow union organizers and supporters was a good way to kick off the academic year. “Everybody’s just here to chill out and reconnect after being away for the summer,” Cartus said. “Then we’ll buckle back down on organizing.” Ca...
Student organizers react to admin’s union oppositon
By Kirsten Wong and John Hamilton / The Pitt News Staff
August 30, 2017
Filed under Administration, Campus, News, Top Stories
Rachel Coombs was conducting research in a biology lab in late July when she found herself enraged by an email from Pitt Provost Patricia Beeson. Coombs, a Ph.D. student studying biological sciences, read Beeson’s letter outlining the Pitt administration’s opposition to the grad student union eff...
Letter to the Editor | There is no third party. We, the students, are the union
By Beth Shaaban / PhD student
July 30, 2017
Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinions, Top Stories
Surprise! I just returned from presenting some of my research at a conference to a union busting email from the provost. One of my personal favorite lines: “The education, not the financial support, is the goal of graduate study.” Buckle up kids, if you can’t afford your medications, rent, food ...