Yesterday, as NYU President John Sexton led an embassy of NYU students, faculty, alumni and administrators on its annual trip to lobby for increased funding of aid programs, GSOC attended with a decidedly different agenda.
The move further marks what we have noted as GSOC's recent tactical shift — its campaign is no longer primarily focused on garnering student support, instead concentrating its efforts on establishing contact with with various public leaders to intensify external pressure on the university to negotiate for a new contract.
GSOC consistently articulates that its campaigns are in no way meant to harm undergraduates, but, in fact, to fight for the good of the undergraduates. Unit chair Michael Palm took care to reaffirm this sentiment when he specifically told WSN that NYU was lying in its assertion that GSOC was lobbying against New York State's Tuition Assistance Program, as GSOC "completely support[s]" it.
That's all fine to say, but GSOC's presence in Albany was, at its core, a presence in opposition to NYU's. By piggy-backing on the university's annual NYU in Albany Day, it cannot avoid implicitly standing against what NYU was advocating, which, today, was more student aid. In the minds of legislators, it may have seemed that GSOC — a group of NYU's own students — attended the event to take a stand against their university. Such a fact that inevitably damages whatever goals NYU had in mind.
Indeed, Palm explicitly stated that GSOC sought to have the legislature revoke its audience with NYU. How could the university directly appeal to lawmakers for more aid for students — who need it now more than ever — without an audience? Attempts by GSOC to reject such a totalizing assessment are undermined by Palm's assertion that New York State tax dollars could fund union busting, an assertion that equates all funding NYU receives with funds used against the graduate assistants.
By hurting an off-campus event, you're hurting student life. But by hurting an opportunity to gain more financial aid for future students, you are hurting academic progress, which is both unfair and disrespectful.
Be the first to comment on this article!