As graduate student employees of Fordham University, we have decided to organize ourselves into a union: the Fordham Graduate Student Workers (FGSW). Through our union, we will ensure fair, safe, and humane working conditions so that we can effectively educate students and do our part to realize Fordham’s Jesuit mission. We are joining the union of the Communications Workers of America to organize our cause. As employees, we teach core classes, run labs, tutor students, support faculty’s work, provide administrative assistance, and more. Our work is essential for the university’s functioning, yet, unlike many other employees at Fordham and at peer institutions, we currently have limited power over our working conditions. We are organizing to form our union to:

• Create formal grievance structures that ensure effective protection and recourse against harassment, overwork, and other workplace issues.

• Raise our pay, which is currently between $15,000 and $20,000 below a living wage in NYC.

• Secure affordable health insurance that includes dental and vision coverage.

• Ensure reasonable accommodations and paid leave for those of us who are parents and caretakers and establish a fund to subsidize childcare.

• Enhance legal protection and financial support for international graduate student employees.

• Extend funding for graduate employees, who have worked many extra hours under difficult conditions to keep the university functioning through the ongoing pandemic.

• Cut student fees and ensure that existing fees are faithfully used to fund graduate student programs.

As a union, we will have a meaningful and legally recognized role in determining the conditions of our own work. We will bargain with Fordham’s administrators to institute binding structures to address existing and future workplace challenges.

By unionizing we are working to realize ideals that are fundamental to Fordham University. As an institution in the Roman Catholic tradition, Fordham is obliged to carry out the Catholic teaching that workers have a right to organize to improve their working conditions. Moreover, the entire Fordham community, including our administrators and the board of directors, professes a commitment to the Jesuit principle of cura personalis. Our union will empower all graduate employees to participate in securing working conditions that ensure Fordham is a just and equitable university that truly cares for the whole person.

Signatories:

Maral Aghvinian, Psychology
Jungwon Rachael Ahn, Psychology
Stefani Nicole Alcantar, International Political Economy and Development
Grace Anderson, Psychology
Mardoqueo Arteaga, Economics
Ana Avalos-Chavez, Theology
Michael Au-Mullaney, Philosophy
Jiwoon Bae, Psychology
Dylan Bailey, Philosophy
Philip Balla, Theology
Jacob Ballew, English
Theresa Barkasy, Theology
Madeline Barry, Psychology
Melissa Bean, English
Maggie Benda, Psychology
Benjamin Bertrand, History
Lisa Betty, History
Tatyana Bidopia, Clinical Psychology
Alyssa Biondo, Biological Sciences
Rachel Bloom, Psychology
Elizabeth Bolger, English
Elise Bragard, Psychology
Kate Bresee, Philosophy
Marshawn Brewer, Philosophy
Matthew Brown, Theology
Ken Bruce, Philosophy
Isabelle Bunten, Medieval Studies
Kyle Campbell, English
Bianca Campagna, Psychology
Grace Campagna, Medieval Studies
Zihuan Cao, PQP
Corinna Cape, English
Carolyn Cargile, English
Preston Carter, Philosophy
Bruno Cassara, Philosophy
Maya Castellanos, English
Cathy Che, English
Xing Chen, GSAS
Nicholas Clark, English
Owen Clow, History
Patrick Connelly, Biological Sciences
Rachel Contos, Theology
Leticia Cortes, Center for Ethics Education
Jasmine Cosby, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Justine Costanza, English
Timothy Couper, Theology
Ciaran Coyle, Philosophy
Molly Crawford, Theology
Seth Cunningham, Biological Sciences
Sonia Da Silva Monteiro, Theology
Paul Daniels, Theology
Hannah Daru, Philosophy
Gwen Daugs, Philosophy
Charles Stafford Davis, Philosophy
Lennox Debra, English
Patrick DeBrosse, History
James Dechant, Theology
Ariana DeJesus Rodriguez, Psychology
Emmanuel Deleon, Theology
Daniel Delgado Poveda, Philosophy
Xinyue Deng, PQP
Richard Desantis, Philosophy
Joshua Deson, Psychology
Nicole Disanto, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Admissions Office
Chaoyu Dong, Economics
Jessica D'Onofrio, English
Vincent Donofrio, Clinical Psychology
Christian Emrich, Philosophy
Emma Emrich, Philosophy
Liam Engel, Biology
Amanda Esau, Ethics and Society
Frances Eshleman, History
Zoe Feingold, Clinical Psychology
Ye Feng, Psychology
Alexandra Finn-Atkins
Lia Fior, Philosophy
Mara Foley, Theology
Madison Forbes, English
Nicola Forbes, Psychology
Anthony Fortuna, Clinical Psychology
Jillianne Fowle, Psychology
Stephen Fragano, English
Elana Frank, Biological Sciences
Antavius Franklin, Theology
Angela Furry, English
Andrew Gardner, IPED
Anwita Ghosh, English
Matthew Glaser, Philosophy
Aaliyah Gray, Psychology
Hannah Griggs, Theology
Joseph Gruber, Philosophy
Ginger Guin, Philosophy
Nisa Hafeez, Urban Studies
Christian Halstead, Philosophy
Douglass Hamilton, History
Colleen Hanley, Ethics
Anna Harsham, Biology
Zhen He, Economics
Daniel Heffernan, English
Jada Henry, GSAS Biology
Mark Himmelstein, Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology
Maria Hincapie, International Political Economy and Development
Michelle Hiner, Psychology
William Hogue, History
Zinedine Hoque, Biology
Murat Hosgor, Clinical Psychology
Kim Hughes, Biological Sciences
Maria Hurtarte Leon, English
Yasmin Hussein, Psychology
Ali Idrissi, International Political Economy and Development
Gabrielle Ilagan, Clinical Psychology
Anna Irwin, Theology
Joseph Jaros, Biology
Sheniqua Jeffrey, Psychology
Lina Jiang, English
Nan Jiang, Economics
Maria Jimenez-Salazar, Psychology
Shadane Johnson, Psychology
Jasmine Johnson, Psychology
Elissa Johnston, English
Valerie Joly, Center for Ethics Education
Yvette Karvay, Clinical Psychology
Andrew Kilada, Biology
Alana Kilcoyne, Medieval Studies
Hae-Joon Kim, Clinical Psychology
Ebru Kizilkaya Unal, Philosophy
Claire Koen, Theology
Jinghan Kou, Economics
Galina Krasskova, Theology
Gage Krause, Philosophy
Peter Krause, English
Wing Tan Lai, English
Allysa Lake, Philosophy
Joseph Laske, Biology
Hyunjung Lee, Psychology
Joun Lee, Psychology
Tore Levander, Philosophy
Ellis Light, English
Christine Lim, Biological Sciences
Theresa Lin, CPDP
Danny Lorenzi, Quant Psych
Sean Loritz, History
Kyle Benjamin Lorenzo, Psychology
Linden Loutzenhiser, Clinical Psychology
Jennie Lukoff, Clinical Doctoral Psychology Program
Srdjan Maksimovic, Theology
Nino Mamisashvili, Biology
Wenwen Mao, English
Matthew Maresca, Medieval Studies
Rhianna Marks-Watton, English
Mathew Matthias, Ethics and Society
Layla Mayorga, Philosophy
Jenna McAllister, Philosophy
Molly McCargar, Biology
Eric McConathey, Psychology
Nicholas McIntosh, Philosophy
Meredith McLaughlin, Medieval Studies
Igor Migunov, Psychology
Charlene Minaya, Psychology
Matt Mulhern, History
Alana Murphy, English
Daniel Mutale, Economics
Christopher Myers, Philosophy
Cristina Nardini, Clinical Psychology
Trevor Nau, RSA
Nicholas Joseph Norita, Philosophy
Denise Oleas, Psychology
Christie Olek, History
Gabriel Ortiz-Hernandez, English
Medha Pandey, Biological Sciences
Swornima Pandey, IPED
Jack Pappas, Theology
Brianna Pastro, Clinical Psychology
Ana Paula Penunuri Gomez, GSAS/Biology
Timothy Perron, Theology
Jessica Plourde, Quant Psych
Sara Pope, Philosophy
Chunyu Qu, Economics
Ana Rabasco, Clinical Psychology
R. Maxwell Racine, Philosophy
Sanjana Rajagopal, Philosophy
Uttara Rangarajan, English
Jason Ray, English
Erica Restaino, Theology
Tripat Rihal, Office of Research and Asian American Studies Working Group
Devin Rocks, Biological Sciences
Katharine Rush, Biology
Richard X, Theology
Samer Sabbour, Ethics and Society
Yevgeniy Safronov, Theology
John Samuels, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program
Aakriti Saraswat, Economics
Nindyo Sasongko, Theology
Marcus Schweiger, Philosophy
Amanda Seabolt, History
Khutso Segooa, IPED
Danusha Selva Kumar, Psychology
Douglas Shepardson, Philosophy
Izzy Sheck, Psychology
Matthew Siebert, Theology
Francesca Small, English
David Smigen-Rothkopf, English
Jordan Smith, English
Miles Smith, English
Nicholas Sooy, Philosophy
Corey Spencer, English
Sean Spillane, English
Anna Stein, Theology
Emily Steinberg, Clinical Psychology
Ryan Sullivan, History
Riley Swart, Communication and Media Studies
Medhat Tadros, Theology
Xiangyu Tao, Psychology
Katherine Theiss, Economics
Ela Tokay, Philosophy
James Tompkins, History
Rebecca Tutino, Psychology
Benjamin Van Dyne, Theology
Hope Vanderwater, Biological Sciences
Anya Wang, Philosophy
Malorie Watson, Psychology
Emily Weinberger, Clinical Psychology
Hayden Wilke, Biological Sciences
Sara Wilkerson, Clinical Psychology
Kayla Wilson, English
Alyssa Wolak, Biological Sciences
Madelaine Wrey, Biological Sciences
Mengzhe Wu, Economics
Hardik Yadav, English
Wei Ye, Economics
Luyuan Yu, Philosophy
Amal Zaman, English
Danqi Zhu, Psychology