As an undergraduate student, it is almost certain you have a graduate instructor teaching one, if not several or most of your classes. Undergraduate students face rising tuition costs every year, yet it does not go toward higher pay for some of IU's most under-recognized and exploited workers. Graduate students face the burden of receiving low stipends for their living costs every month, well below IU's own calculation for a liveable wage in Bloomington, are charged ridiculous student fees, especially as international students, and are not recognized as workers for the university. The university could not function without their roles as instructors. Their platform includes 5 points:

An End to the Fees
A Living Wage & Annual Raises
Fair & Protected Benefits
Equity for International Graduate Workers
A Formal Grievance Procedure

You can read the full Graduate Workers statement here.

While all of this is reason alone to support a living and equitable wage and a union for the instructors who make the university we depend on run day-to-day, the Provost has recently sent out an email in which the status and academic well-being of undergraduate students are weaponized against the graduate workers. As an undergraduate student who depends entirely on financial aid and Federal Pell Grant money to attend IU, I support the Graduate Student Workers Union and know, rather than jeopardizing the quality of my education at IU, it will better it. IU's union busting tactics and responses to engagement and demands by grad workers are unsurprising, but unacceptable. Any disruption to our education is at the fault of the university for treating its graduate student unfairly, not the instructors.

Undergraduate students show your support for the people who make IU run and send a message to the current IU administration - We want our grad students unionized! We will not be used as fodder to discredit union organizing! We support the strike! Meet their demands!

If you are not an undergraduate student, but a resident of Bloomington who supports the workers, please sign! The standards of how one of Bloomington's biggest institutions treats their employees is relevant to the community at large and can pave the way for better conditions for all workers at IU. The Grad Workers Union has already compiled ways they are asking for undergraduate students and community members to get involved and support them here.

Solidarity!

Edit: I found this comment on Reddit with some other concrete things and the link to the Zoom call they are hosting at 7 pm tonight!

Here are some actions you can take right now:

Attend the undergraduate info session on Wednesday, April 6 at 7 PM

Zoom link: http://ueunion.zoom.us/my/igwcue

Walk out in solidarity on April 13: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSce3hvvCDVxsPblLvlCQMpIors68dLXWqpqHj5puIzQSIBcnA/viewform

Ask your parents to email the provost:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczrG7N9A1tfSy6k9PD_N5SEmMDnvJPwX2VfBvQIWrO7P34iw/viewform

Join us on the picket line:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSec9HqyLlnTBBRQ--KbcnE3a6ezQoA2rjtk0a9ZhYCm8gsvGA/viewform

Volunteer:https://docs.google.com/forms/u/3/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJEUC4SPi3ITQguf4UHVH3PjRg6Vq-qT9n7FeJJurSKbk-Lg/viewform

Learn more about our platform, our union, and why we’re ready to strike:https://www.indianagradworkers.org/

Email Provost Shrivastav (provost@indiana.edu) & cc indianagradworkers@gmail.com with a message similar to:

Dear Provost Shrivastav,

I am emailing you as an undergraduate student at IU, to express support for graduate instructor efforts to gain a living wage.

My family and I pay tuition to support the university’s educational programs. I am surprised to discover that the graduate instructors teaching at IU are paid so little that they [can neither teach nor research to the best of their abilities] / [they have to take on outside employment to earn a living wage] / [worry about making rent, paying for food, utilities, healthcare, and other basic needs]. I am concerned that this undermines the educational mission of the university.

Now that the majority of graduate workers have requested to be represented by a union, I urge the Provost to recognize the union to avoid a strike.

Best,

[Student Name]