Dear Graduate Students: 

As you have probably heard, United Auto Workers is collecting signatures to call for an election to represent UVM graduate students. 

UVM is committed to inclusive, student-centric graduate education that supports the whole student experience in a welcoming environment where all of you thrive and achieve your goals. 

In this context, UVM has serious concerns about a graduate student union being in the best interests of either our students or the university. This position is based on the unique relationship between the university and its graduate students. While UVM enjoys many successful relationships with current unions representing its faculty and staff, it views its relationship with graduate students as significantly different.  

UVM believes the graduate student relationship is primarily and predominantly an educational and mentoring relationship. While some students receive academic appointments in the form of stipended assistantships that help defray the costs associated with graduate education, the primary purpose of these positions is to help students make steady progress toward their graduate degrees while they gain valuable professional experience in preparation for impactful careers in academia, government, industry, or the non-profit sector. This is unlike any employment relationship, and the inherently individualized approach to graduate education does not lend itself well to a “one-size-fits-all” collective bargaining approach.  

For these reasons, UVM believes a robust shared governance approach, relying heavily on the relationship between the Graduate College and Graduate Student Senate, provides the best possible model for addressing graduate student issues. Such a model is not constrained by legalistic and technical provisos and instead enables a flexible, holistic response to issues impacting graduate studies. The new leaders of the Graduate College and Graduate Student Senate are committed to these efforts now more than ever. This ongoing work has already yielded meaningful outcomes,  including adopting the Vermont Basic Needs Budget as the standard for the calculation of minimum stipend levels, which resulted in a very significant increase in stipend levels for all graduate assistants, and adopting a Parental Accommodation Policy for new graduate student parents. This productive relationship deserves further time to bear its fullest fruit. 

The law protects your rights to engage in union activity or not; you are free to sign a union card or you are free to choose not to sign such a card.  Because signing the card has important implications, you should understand the significance of what your signature represents before you sign it. A union card is more than just a general show of support: it carries long-range implications for students, both current and future, and for the university. Just as with any important decision, students should learn as much as they can before deciding on a shared governance versus a union approach.  A union would likely affect different students in different ways and to different degrees, so it is important for each student to evaluate this thoughtfully. 

We welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and questions as part of the ongoing discussion of this issue. You can offer them at gradstudents@uvm.edu.  This webpage has been created with answers to questions the community may have about graduate student unionization; we will keep the FAQs updated as information evolves. 

Enhancing inclusive excellence in graduate education and providing broad and deep research opportunities for graduate students are strategic imperatives articulated by UVM in Amplifying Our Impact and our Academic Success Goals. We are deeply appreciative of the unique and valuable roles graduate students play in our campus community and are committed to further enhancing your experience.  

Sincerely, 

Patricia A. Prelock, Provost and Senior Vice President 

Holger Hoock, Dean of the Graduate College