The Northeastern administration announced yesterday that a Graduate Ombudsperson, Dr. Kimberly Wong, is now available to us, and can be reached at graduateombuds@northeastern.edu. Her office is located in 005 Holmes.
The GENU-UAW Organizing Committee welcomes Dr. Wong and we hope that she will support us to the furthest extent her role allows. With the hiring of a Graduate Ombudsperson, we now have the same access to resources that our colleagues at Harvard, Boston University, Georgetown University, and others across the country have had for some time. At all of those schools, as in ours, graduate workers are continuing to organize and fight for the strong protections that come from a union contract.
We appreciate that the university chose to hear our voice as we advocated for increased attention to the issue of workplace abuse, harassment, and discrimination. Last summer, we held our first working group on harassment and abuse, where participants created a pamphlet showcasing anonymous testimonials of our experiences with this issue. We distributed this pamphlet widely and directly into the hands of Title IX Coordinator Mark Jannoni. Most recently, alongside several other organizations, we brought STEM grads together in an event called “Power in the Lab” to share their experiences and envision a better workplace.
We need real recourse against sexual harassment and discrimination that holds the administration accountable. An ombudsperson—while a welcome resource—is merely raising us to the low standard that already exists at other schools. With a union contract, we can secure robust protections that we define for ourselves. We will be empowered to elect representatives to serve as advocates and enshrine protections and a grievance procedure in a union contract. For this, we will continue fighting.
If you are interested in getting involved with GENU, our organizing committee meetings for the summer are Thursdays at 11AM in Curry 335. We hope you will join us.
In solidarity,
GENU-UAW Organizing Committee