My name is Aditi Shenoy and I'm a rising fourth-year Ph.D candidate in the Department of Literatures in English. I've been organizing with CGSU since my first year at Cornell (2022-2025) and am also currently the president of the English Graduate Student Organization (2024-2025). I have consistently believed that CGSU should be run by the members of our local, not by a national strategy or by UE staff. To this end, I am running for an At-Large Delegate position to represent us in the larger UE delegate body. I have consistently believed that CGSU should be independant - that is, it should be run by the members of our local, not by a national strategy or by UE staff. To this end, I am running for an At-Large Delegate position to represent us in the larger UE delegate body. If I am elected, I will promise to advocate for more transparency and accountability of elected officials both within our local and on the national level. I strongly believe that CGSU members should have a greater say in our local's strategy, decisions, and how we use our funds. Cornell students have particular needs that other grad unions may not share, and we should be able to decide amongst ourselves how to best support our members.

In my work with our graduate union, I have continued to advocate for all CGSU members being fully informed and making consensus-based decisions. To that end, I co-organized CGSU's very first Town Hall as part of an ongoing effort to increase transparency, accountability, and member participation in CGSU. During the bargaining period, I co-wrote a petition to the then-Bargaining Committee to open all bargaining sessions to ALL members, and later was a part of the open bargaining taskforce. As the fight to win union shop ramped up, I co-organized a workshop with ILR faculty member and labor law expert Risa Lieberwitz to create a space for members to discuss and understand union shop beyond official communications.

Most recently, I advocated for these values as an elected member of CGSU's Constitution Committee. Currently, I am contributing to the first-year writing seminar workload grievance, and am an interim steward. I am especially  interested in comming to advocate for the needs of international students like myself. Outside of CGSU, I have been organizing for almost a decade in various spaces. I helped organize the country's first undergraduate Residential Life union at my alma mater and worked communications on the Yes on J campaign to divert police funding in Los Angeles. Before grad school, I was also a Coro Fellow for Public Service, as a part of which I worked at the Writer's Guild, a labor union for screenwriters. These experiences help me understand how national unions function and how to best advocate for our needs within UE.

I am Andrea Aster Cicirello, a third year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering. I have spent a year organizing with CGSU-UE, focusing heavily on membership engagement and milestone exams in engineering, and spent the last two months as a member of the Constitutional Committee. I am running for Region 4 Lead Steward to help this union continue to build its rank-and-file democracy, while also ensuring that the needs of engineers and trans grad workers do not go unheard. 

Throughout my time organizing in engineering and MSE, I have seen how faculty and departmental administration have abused milestone exams and academic standing to fire grads from their labs and programs, and this has only gotten worse as the federal funding situation gets more uncertain. I personally have been affected by the results of my own MSE Q exams, which significantly harmed my ability to focus on my research for the past year. CGSU-UE won industry-first contract language enshrining academic due process and protections for grads being unfairly placed into bad academic standing, and I aim to ensure that grads in engineering are protected and the departments are held accountable. As an Interim Steward, I have already helped fight for grads put into these situations, ensuring funding for multiple grads who had been fired from their labs due to the Q exam in one of our first successful grievances and first ever academic due process victory, and I vow to continue this fight for every grad worker. Cornell has already shown us that they will try to ignore enforcing the contract, and we need to fight as a union to maintain and enforce academic due process and appointment security.

Trans rights have been under attack from sources up to and including the current federal administration. Even Cornell, despite claiming to support and protect the rights of their trans students and workers, has removed pledges to protect access to trans healthcare from both Cornell Health and Weill Cornell’s websites. I will fight for the rights and protections of every marginalized grad worker, and to guarantee protection for everybody we must ensure that trans workers are not left behind. Our CBA ensures access to trans healthcare as well as protection from discrimination due to gender identity, but without focused organizing, these protections cannot be enforced. Due to this, as part of my position on the Executive Board I will push for the creation of the Trans Rights Action Committee, a standing committee focused on ensuring access to trans healthcare, protecting trans workers from discrimination through organizing and the grievance procedure, and ensuring that the fight to protect trans rights has the power of our collective action behind it. 

As Region 4 Lead Steward I will help lead CGSU-UE to continue building a rank-and-file democracy to protect every grad worker, regardless of background, and to ensure no fight remains unfought.

I am a fifth-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department. I started organizing in the union in Summer 2023 during the first membership card drive and the union recognition election. In December 2023, I was elected to the Bargaining Committee as a representative from Region 4. I helped guide our local when we  together demanded our rights, built strike power, and won a strong first contract. I helped develop departmental organizing, monthly general membership meetings, and worker-to-worker dialogue, which ensured mass participation and was pivotal in our strike escalation. I also helped establish relationships with other student, faculty and worker organizations on campus and in Ithaca, advocating for labor rights, just cause, disability rights and academic freedom.  Since April, I am helping grads enforce the contract as an interim steward and a member of the Interim Grievance Committee. My motivation to pursue union work comes from my organizing, the conversations with members, and the unity that graduate workers show on all our campuses. 

As international workers, we face vulnerable situations due to the fear of losing funding or our legal status. International workers are at the forefront of our union, and we all stand united. Our strength lies in continued collective efforts; converting our fears to unity and collective labor power. With the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate, we will pursue strong fights, prioritize worker-to-worker organizing, establish a strong and wide steward structure, and build a thriving member-run union. Rank-and-file control and Member-run unionism is the basis of our collective action. Cornell continues to violate our contract. It is up to all of us, graduate workers, to build our union, enforce our contract, and fight together for our rights.

As an at-large delegate, I will represent our member’s priorities and interests at the UE National and Regional conventions, and build solidarity and union power. The principles of UE have helped build the labour movement since its founding in 1936. These principles are rooted in a union run by all workers, workers building solidarity and trust, and workers pursuing collective actions. My goal is also to learn from UE’s history and experience, strengthen our rank-and-file structures at the local level, and build unity and actions. For international worker rights, rights of minorities, and in defence of science and academic freedoms, CGSU-UE will fight together with workers both at Cornell and nationally. 

To learn more about our slate and platform, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

My name is Colin Stragar-Rice and I am a fourth year PhD candidate in the department of the Literatures in English. I’ve been involved with CGSU since my first semester at Cornell starting in Fall 2022 and began actively organizing as a member of our Contract Action Team (CAT) in Summer of 2023.

I believe a strong union emerges from the creative, active and informed participation of its membership. This demands creating a culture of transparency, accountability, principled disagreement and enthusiastic collective decision making. As your Recording Secretary, I promise to foster these values at every opportunity. 

These values are not mere slogans. Nor have I waited for electioneering to practice them. 

In February 2024, I helped organize a town hall encouraging union members to attend and create a collective dialogue around our needs and concerns. The town hall was accompanied by an open letter to our Bargaining Committee encouraging open bargaining sessions that was signed by more than 30 union members. In October 2024, I was part of a collective effort to organize a region 3 town hall to respond to growing discontent among union members concerning Cornell’s repression of graduate students who participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations. This work eventually led to the creation of the Graduate Workers Action Caucus (GWAC) of which I am an active member. In March 2025, we organized a town hall exploring what union shop is featuring Professor Risa Lieberwitz from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Outside of CGSU, I have ten years of experience organizing within Left wing organizations and movements. This includes but is not limited to administrative work with the anti-gentrification nonprofit ONEDC as well as educational programming with their labor organization The Black Work Center in Washington, DC, a brief collaboration with the Black-led abolitionist organization Black Spring Cleveland building an administrative network during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, most recently, creating Black August workshops with the Alliance of Families for Justice here in Ithaca.

The Recording Secretary is a historian—but these records are our history. They tell the story of our successes and failures. We cannot build a strong union without these records responsibly and purposefully made accessible to our membership. As such, I welcome inventive and strategic collaborations during my tenure—ones that will keep our elected officers accountable while also shaping how we organize as Local 300.

As the late great CLR James insists, every cook can govern. Despite the difference of vocation it nonetheless remains true—any graduate student is capable of leadership in our union. It would be an honor to be entrusted with this responsibility by you.

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering and have been an active organizer for CGSU since my first semester at Cornell. From the initial campaign to secure union recognition to our most recent contract fight, I have been deeply engaged in building worker power. I have served as an organizer, interim steward, and an active leader within the CGSU Action Team (CAT), where I regularly work collaboratively to coordinate our organizing and actions. I’ve done extensive boots-on-the-ground organizing in engineering, building relationships and mobilizing colleagues in a space often overlooked by traditional union models.  I was elected as a Region 4 representative to the CGSU Constitution Committee, where I helped draft a constitution that reflects our core principles and member priorities: militant democracy, shop floor power, and structural preparedness to confront and defeat the boss. I am deeply passionate about creating a community that genuinely cares for and uplifts each other, because I believe sustainable organizing is only possible when we all see ourselves as CGSU – recognizing that no matter what department we’re in, we are all in the same struggle.

Looking ahead, I want to help build a union that reflects the complexity of our campus and stays responsive in the face of employer opposition. That requires systems that support both quick coordination and broad member engagement. I see real potential to expand our efficacy through reliable documentation, democratic decision-making, and clearer pathways into union work. I believe transparency should be grounded in member control, ensuring records are well-maintained and accessible to members, while being thoughtful about how we share information to promote organizing efforts, protect member privacy, and encourage open internal discussion. I am running for Recording Secretary with the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate because I believe rigorous documentation and standard rules of conduct for leadership accountability and member transparency are not bureaucratic formalities. Rather, they are foundational tools in the struggle for a truly democratic, rank-and-file-led union. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

My name is Chris Wang; in the fall I will start my 4th year as a graduate worker in the math department. I’m running for the delegate-at-large position in order to voice the concerns and priorities of our local to the national union, and to help shape the policy of UE national to better serve our local needs. In short, my priorities as a delegate will be

1. To ensure that our local, and grad locals with UE in general, have the financial and logistical support we need from the national to fight encroachments on our contract and our academic freedom by both the university and the federal administration, as well as to save up the funds we will need in case we strike during our next contract negotiation in 2026-27;

2. At the same time, to ensure that our local is able to maintain control of our internal affairs, including democratic elections and transparent finances and record-keeping, i.e., to maintain a healthy distance from the national UE affairs;

3. To ensure that financial and legal support for international and/or undocumented workers facing deportation or other immigration-related challenges is enshrined as a priority by the national UE.

I began organizing with CGSU during the card drop campaign in 2023. Since then, I’ve been active with office visits and one-on-one conversations with grad workers in Gates Hall and PSB to keep folks informed and engaged with various union issues, including onboarding first-year students to what the union is and how it works; educating workers on the legal protections and financial benefits our union can provide; and building support for the strike threat this spring which won us our first contract. 

As far as organizing goes, I really enjoy having one-on-one conversations with people in different departments, multiple times throughout the year. I like knowing what people care about and sharing the ideas people have for improving their own working and living conditions. As such, I feel well-suited for representing the interests of our local members (that means you) at the national convention, whether you feel super engaged with our union, or not. I understand both what we as grad workers need in terms of tangible, material benefits in order to lead fulfilling and stable lives; and, as a result of the time I’ve spent organizing, I understand how both our local and national union can better help us attain those material benefits."

I'm Emmy Marra (she/her), a rising 5th year in the math department. I am also a trans woman and mother to a wonderful 3 year-old. I have previously been elected to and served on the Bargaining Committee (BC) and the Constitution Committee. 

I am running for President of our local because I have a specific positive vision for CGSU and have built up the experience to lead a democratic, effective, and long-lasting member-run union. If elected, I would prioritize building campaigns to:

- Organize fellows for recognition in our bargaining unit 

- Build direct dues contributions if Cornell continues to undermine union shop

- Push departments to guarantee health insurance coverage for grads on medical leave

- Organize towards majority support on a membership vote for Cornell to divest from genocide and weapons manufacturing

Our union is built not by any one person in it, but the personal relationships between those people, aligning their goals and efforts for a better life. Building a long-lasting union means building a steward network that values forming one-on-one relationships with the members we're fighting together with. If elected, I will foster these values in recruiting and training new organizers and stewards to build an effective union, by working directly with members to enforce the protections in our contract and through organizing mass actions. 

My organizing experience began at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in 2018. For 3 years I was the lead organizer in the successful grad student union drive with UE. Our eventual wins taught me the power of organizing successfully and effectively to improve grad workers' lives.

I've been organizing with CGSU since the fall of 2022. Upon becoming a new mother, the lack of support from Cornell drove me to organize leading-up to our union election, where I made sure every grad in Math and CS had the chance to have in depth discussions about what a union meant for them. I organized to ensure that my department would pay for insurance extensions for grads who lost their health insurance going on medical leave. After the union election I mentored grads across campus who are now effective organizers in their own right. I also coordinated our organizing logistics, including planning all of our rallies and our pickets, later helping build the logistics of our strike threat to win our contract!

In bargaining with Cornell, I established and co-led the effort to center strong contract language for Discipline & Discharge. Through our efforts to defend pro-Palestine protesters from discipline, we built enough power to win unprecedented Just Cause and Academic Due Process protections to defend all grads against the increased attacks on protests, on labor, on funding, on international students, on trans rights that we are facing right now.

I know that our power comes from our workers, from each other, and, as president, I will continue to prioritize building relationships with and between members so that we can continue to build long-lasting and effective power together. I will lead the union ensuring we are democratically responsive to all of our voices, and that we stand together to organize for each other and our futures.

I am a second-year Ph.D. Student in Computer Science with a history of labor organizing at local and national levels. Before coming to Cornell, I was a member of Newsguild Local 32035. Since starting at Cornell in the Fall of 2023, I worked with CGSU during our first card drop and union election, with regular office visits and individual conversations to hear feedback throughout Cornell Bowers. After moving to Cornell Tech, I have continued to collaborate with other organizers across departments, putting on Tech-specific info sessions on strike mobilization and bargaining updates. In the coming year, I hope to build up a more sustainable and close-knit stewardship structure with the help of former union leadership at Tech. As a part of the PhDs At Cornell Tech student government, I intend to add union backing to ongoing advocacy issues – censorship and restrictions on student communication, mismanagement and cost of living at The House, and the unique challenges to staying at Tech when changing advisors. Similarly, I plan on collaborating closely with the CS/IS Region 6 in Ithaca to address department-level issues together, such as insufficient course offerings at Tech to meet graduation requirements. I am running for Region 5 Lead Steward with Fight Together 4 CGSU slate to build up strong, cross-campus union leadership that will support our unique needs at Cornell Tech. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

My name is Ewa Nizalowska (she/her) and I am an international graduate worker from Poland and a rising fifth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Government. I am running for President of CGSU-UE on the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate (http://fighttogether4cgsu.org). Amid growing attacks on international and LGBTQ+ workers, cuts to DEI programs and funding for vital scientific research, and silencing of protests against the genocide in Palestine, we need a fighting union that can stand up to the federal administration and hold Cornell accountable to protecting its graduate workers. 

Our slate, Fight Together 4 CGSU, has developed a platform dedicated to addressing these issues. Our platform is the result of experienced organizers across campus reflecting on conversations with grads and envisioning a collective future for our union. Our priorities will be:

1. Standing up for international workers: Real-time support for international grads facing visa revocations and immigration issues; dedicated campaigns for promoting international worker involvement; and campus-wide education on rights when interacting with ICE and border control.

2. Robust contract enforcement: Building a robust steward network across campus to protect our coworkers; filing grievances for contract violations, particularly around discipline and discharge and academic due process, where we know Cornell has already been violating our contract; and educating all members on the protections and benefits of our industry-setting contract so that everyone can recognize and address potential contract violations.

3. Rank-and-file democracy for collective power: Fostering department-level organizing to monitor potential local issues and facilitate easy access to the union; build a strong union culture through mass participation in monthly General Membership Meetings (GMMs) where members can share their input and take part in unit-wide votes; working with student advocacy groups, including OISE organizations; and creating multiple points of entry into union involvement to cultivate a diverse and inclusive union.

4. Safeguarding academic freedom: Protecting our right to assemble and protest without retaliation, including against the ongoing genocide in Palestine; ensuring our teaching and research are free from censorship and surveillance; and supporting grads through interactions with the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS) and Cornell Police.

5. Waging national-level fights: Continuing to fight for the inclusion of fellows in our bargaining unit, alongside other graduate unions across the country; strengthening relationships with our fellow UE higher education unions and organized labor in Ithaca and beyond; protecting all workers at Cornell and other higher education institutions from austerity measures and budget cuts. 

I am excited to work with other elected officers and stewards and the broader membership bring this vision to life, after so many years of work to form our union and fight for our first contract. I represented Region 3 on our Bargaining Committee, where I spearheaded our fight for industry-leading protections and benefits for non-citizen workers, including improved communication with the International Student Office; a new pathway to ITAP exemption; and guarantees that Cornell does not release graduate workers’ information to government agencies unless required by law. 

Along with Jenna Marvin, I established a robust organizer network in Region 3 and facilitated weekly region-wide meetings to build a strong culture of sustainable worker-to-worker organizing. This culture shift encouraged worker-to-worker participation, and empowered grads to take ownership over organizing in their departments to mobilize their coworkers. This model of organizing gave us the power to reach a supermajority of strike pledges in our region. 

I also co-lead the Communications Committee, which focuses on mass communications for broad membership engagement. During the many major fights to protect suspended graduate workers, I led the national and local press strategy to raise awareness and exert pressure on Cornell. As part of my work spearheading our media strategy, I represented our union through direct conversations with local and national reporters, which led to extensive coverage of our contract fight in outlets like NPR and The Nation.

Since our contract was ratified, I have been working to build the foundation of our union through our constitution and steward network. I served on the Constitutional Committee to ensure that our union is firmly rooted in the principles of member-run unionism and rank-and-file democracy. I am also an interim steward, and have been coordinating many of the interim steward training and education sessions.

In the past two years, I have been one of the leaders of the UE Higher Education Conference Board, a body composed of nearly all of UE’s Higher Education locals. As part of my work on the Conference Board, I spearheaded the campaign for a Mutual Academic Defense Compact, which demands that our universities pool legal and financial resources to collectively weather federal attacks on international grads and funding cuts. This campaign involved coordinated local actions at twelve universities, and was covered by major news outlets, including MSNBC. Over the years, I have represented our Local at UE sub-regional and regional meetings and trainings, including the MIT-GSU Union Leadership Training; the International Worker Power panel; and a workshop on strike power at UE Local 506 in Erie, Pennsylvania. 

We have a strong vision for the future of our workplace. Central to all of our priorities is shifting the culture away from profit over people and towards valuing workers. As your president, I would be proud to be on the front lines of this fight by developing our union’s power and enforcing our major contract wins. Our slate, Fight Together 4 CGSU, shares this vision for our union and is dedicated to carrying it out. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/."

I am a rising fifth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Information Science and I have been organizing since the first membership card drop in the Fall of 2023. Throughout this time, I conducted office visits to keep members informed about contract negotiations, gathered feedback from my colleagues, and organized information sessions and office hours concerning the history of CGSU and our economic platform. More recently, I met with members to discuss the urgency of our strike escalation campaign and now, I spearhead the weekly CS+IS organizing meetings. These are fundamental to build the department-level stewarding structure that supports Region 6’s workers and foster a culture of collective power-building. I also serve as an interim steward, helping graduate workers switch advisors when necessary and ensure that faculty and the Bowers administration respect our hard-won contract. Before joining CGSU’s organizing efforts, I served as ISGSA President, where I listened to graduate workers’ concerns and discussed solutions with the Department Chair and DGS with respect to appointments, courses, and campus access. I am running for Lead Steward for Region 6 on the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate to build a strong network of stewards to hold Cornell accountable for respecting our contract, advocate for graduate workers throughout the grievance process, and protect international grad workers’ rights.

https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/federica-bologna

I am a second-year Ph.D. Student in Economics and have been an organizer for CGSU-UE since my first semester at Cornell. I began organizing in my own department– completing office visits, participating in phone banks, and holding personal conversations with colleagues to promote a unified strike threat from one of the most union-skeptical departments in the social sciences. Since we have won our contract, I have spearheaded our Fellows Inclusion and Ratification Bonus Working Groups. In this capacity, we have mobilized our organized power to force Cornell to extend the $1,300 ratification bonus to graduate workers on fellowship. Although Cornell does not formally recognize fellows as graduate workers, it is imperative that CGSU-UE fights for and represents every graduate worker, especially when enforcing our constitution and collecting dues. I've additionally taken the lead on several grievances in the social sciences, and the fight for timely appointment notification across departments. Outside of organizing, I have relevant experience in financial accounting, and understand precisely what the job of maintaining our local’s finances will consist of. I am running for Financial Secretary with the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate because I understand the complexity of receiving and accounting for dues within our membership structure and the necessity of ensuring all graduate workers on this campus, including fellows, are represented by CGSU-UE. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

I am a rising third-year Ph.D. Student in the Soil and Crop Sciences Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS). I started organizing in my first semester of graduate school during the membership card drive in 2023. Since then, I have been an active organizer for SIPS and Region 1, serving on both the Bargaining Committee and Contract Action Team. In SIPS, I have led town halls, FAQ sessions, and office visits to hear about the experiences and priorities of fellow grads. Outside of CGSU, I serve as Vice President of the Soil and Crop Sciences Graduate Student Association and Chair of the Graduate Student Council. Through these experiences, I have loved connecting with and learning from my community. Going forward, I see CGSU playing a critical role in combating historical inequities that often lead to people being excluded from or unable to thrive in graduate school, specifically through concrete protections of international and BIPOC folks and academic freedom of expression. I am excited to run as Regional Chief Steward for Region 1 on the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate as we are dedicated to building a strong, inclusive coalition of graduate workers who enforce our contract and uplift each other. To learn more about our slate and platform, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

I am a rising fifth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering, and I have been organizing across campus since our membership card drop. Since my very first phone bank, I have worked towards building a union that can go toe-to-toe with Cornell. During our contract negotiation, I led our Contract Action Team and co-facilitated our weekly meetings. Last semester, I helped establish a unified, credible strike threat, with over 1000 graduate workers pledging to strike within the first days of the pledge launch. Additionally, I worked to foster a more communicative and bottom-up organizer structure that brought new, excited, and capable people into our contract fight. Now that we have won our contract, I serve as an interim steward and lead the post-contract-ratification membership drive. I am ready to keep fighting and mobilizing our membership so that we can build our worker power, enforce the rights and benefits we won in our contract, compel Cornell to abide by our Union Security article, and defend ourselves against a federal administration that threatens our well-being, our research, and our livelihood. I am running for Vice President for Membership with the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate because I want to build a member-run union ready to exercise power through solidarity – one eager to win big fights. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in History of Art & Visual Studies, and I have been organizing with CGSU-UE since before our membership card drive in 2023. In addition to serving as a Region 3 representative on our Bargaining Committee, I helped create and coordinate the humanities and social sciences organizing structure during our strike escalation campaign from the ground up. Since we ratified our contract, I have served as an Interim Steward in Region 3, our facilitator for Interim Steward meetings, a member of the Interim Grievance Committee, and a member of the Labor Management Committee, which meets with Cornell to implement our contract. 

From the stewarding work that I have done, it is clear that Cornell graduate workers deserve better. Now that we have an industry-setting contract, we must hold Cornell accountable by building out a powerful network of stewards to fight for the issues that matter most on this campus—international worker protections, protections for political speech, and academic due process. I am running for Campus Head Steward as part of the ""Fight Together 4 CGSU"" slate because establishing our steward structure as a powerful, inclusive, and collaborative force in every department across campus will enable us to take on more ambitious fights and protect grads for years to come.  To learn more about our slate and our platform, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

My goals if elected:

• Building a robust steward network to ensure that the contract is proactively enforced across our campus. Departments with more stewards will be better protected from Cornell’s “involuntary headcount reductions,” harassment, and biased discipline. 

• Ensuring our steward network is inclusive and collaborative at the department level. Creating a working culture that is sustainable, collaborative, and transparent will be one of the most important jobs for our union’s first Campus Head Steward. 

• Enforcing our industry-setting academic due process and non-appointment discipline and discharge protections to their maximum potential, especially in the context of the recent attacks on academic workers. Interim stewards are already fighting and winning cases across campus wherein grads have been denied funding based on unfair policies and lack of academic due process. This work must continue. 

• Educating members about the rights won in our contract so that they can fully understand the benefits and protections they are entitled to. 

I am a second year Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering and have been organizing inside and outside my department since the Spring of 2025. During our strike escalation campaign, I met with many of my peers to discuss their concerns and inquiries regarding a potential strike. I was able to guide them on how to best balance their research alongside the integral fight for a contract. At the Strike Pledge GMM, I shared my story about inadequate wages and lack of relocation assistance. I am proud to have contributed to our fight for the best contract in our industry and secured higher wages plus a matriculation bonus. Now, as an interim steward in Region 4, I have begun working alongside students to protect their appointment security. In addition to my stewarding work, I am a Region 4 Representative on the Constitutional Committee and a member of the Contract Education Working Group. In both of these capacities, I live and breathe each contract article and have continued my dedication towards protecting workers at Cornell. I am excited to run for Regional Steward for Region 4 with the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate because I want to continue working towards a campus where students can feel safe and exercise their rights to a better tomorrow.

I am starting the fourth year of my Ph.D. in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, and I have been organizing with CGSU since the Fall 2022 semester. When I found out that CGSU was switching affiliations from the AFT to the UE, I was thrilled because I come from a UE family - my wife was a worker at a UE shop in North Carolina. I was already familiar with the UE's principle of worker-led union democracy and excited to talk to grads about how “workers run our union” during our first card drop. Shortly after I was elected to CGSU's first bargaining committee, I was chosen to represent our local at a worker exchange to the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo, the UE's counterpart in Mexico. During this exchange, I had an opportunity to agitate with grads at the University of Chapingo against their neglectful supervisors. This moment of shared struggle would not have been possible if the UE did not believe so strongly in its principles of worker solidarity and outreach. I am running for the at-large delegate position on the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate so CGSU can continue to learn from the values of our national affiliate and so we can provide examples of a healthy and democratic union to other workers in the UE and beyond. If elected to be delegate, my plan is simple: I will reflect the democratically decided position of our local at UE national and regional conventions. The delegate's purpose is to connect our local to the national labor struggle, and if elected, I plan to do just that by advocating and voting for positions CGSU membership has endorsed in a membership-wide vote. Grads at Cornell deserve to feel connected to the broader labor movement, because in my experience, this connection can be an antidote to fear, cynicism, and lack of agency! To learn more about our slate and its platform, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/

I am a fifth-year D.M.A. Candidate in the Music Department, and I have worked within CGSU-UE’s Communications Committee for over a year. As a member of this team, I have designed, produced and distributed much of our social media content. I have also helped develop sections of CGSU-UE’s website and their print communications–such as our contract zines, flyers, posters, which I am sure you have seen around your buildings. During our strike escalation campaign I organized across the arts and humanities to build a credible strike threat. I currently serve as Interim Steward for Region 3, working on grievances related to appointment notification, access to benefits, overwork, accommodations, and protections for international workers. 

As an international worker, I am driven by a genuine desire for a campus culture which promotes true academic freedom, and where we are not unfairly punished for defending our principles. In addition to my work with CGSU-UE, I have been the co-chair of the Music Graduate Association for the past two years. Through this leadership experience I have learned that all meaningful changes start with a strong and organized community. With this same sentiment in mind, I am running for Communications Secretary with the Fight Together 4 Cornell slate, a group of team players who are dedicated to making a better community for workers at Cornell.

I know that keeping an informed membership is the basis of a membership-run and democratic union. In this capacity, I will strive to keep clear back-and-forth communication channels between members and organizers. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

I am a sixth-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Medieval Studies Program and began formally organizing in the humanities as a part of CGSU’s strike escalation campaign in Fall of 2024. During this time, I fielded concerns from my colleagues regarding the logistics of a potential strike. To this end, I spearheaded the FWS Strike FAQ and guidelines for how graduate instructors-of-record could discuss our contract fight with their students. Now, I serve as an interim steward in Region 3 and have taken up workload grievances for humanities instructors-of-record and facilitate our weekly Region 3 organizer meetings. Additionally, I serve as an organizer within the Ratification Bonus Working Group and the Contract Education Working Group. Outside of my work with CGSU, I have served on the Executive Board of the Medieval Studies Graduate Association for three years and have worked in the Writing Center as both a tutor for the Graduate Writing Service and Co-Facilitator for WRIT 7100. I am excited to run for the Regional Chief Steward for Region 3 as a part of the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate to advocate for reasonable working hours for all graduate instructors-of-record, sustainable models of organizing, and our right to political expression. To learn more about our slate, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

I am a rising 4th year in the physics department. I have been an organizer in the physical sciences, mainly physics, for my entire time here at Cornell. I have experienced the entire scope of serving the union - office visits, phonebanks, attending rallies, leading rallies, delivering letters, open bargaining, coordinating departmental coverage, and stewarding across multiple departments. I have been a member of CAT as well as the CAT logistics team, giving me experience in organizing meetings and documents. I was also the president of the Physics Graduate Society my 2nd year, which gave me a good understanding of what my department and the physical sciences face in their day-to-day. I care deeply about the physics department and physical sciences, and stewardship has always been my favorite part of union organizing. I have strong logistical, interpersonal, and security and privacy skills that lend themselves well to coordinating stewards across departments, and I care deeply for every individual I have worked with as part of the union. Being the regional chief steward would, I think, be a great fit of what I am good at and what I want to do. It would be my honor to serve Region 2 as the chief steward.

My name is Thea Rugg (she/her), and I am a rising third-year Ph.D. Student and interim steward in the Math department. I am running for Region 2 Lead Steward with the Fight Together 4 CGSU slate because I want to continue the rewarding work of stewarding and help build a strong steward structure and mass participation in our region for the long-term strength of CGSU-UE. If elected, I would prioritize:

1. Contract education efforts. Contract enforcement can only be effective if grads can recognize when a potential contract violation occurs. I will build on my and others’ past work to provide contract education sessions to grads, especially for new grad workers.

2. Recruiting new organizers for sustainability. In an industry with such a high turnaround, it is vital to continually welcome new organizers to our fight. In addition to outreach, I aim to provide clear avenues for grads to join our efforts and to distribute labor sustainably.

3. Open and regular communication between organizers and grad workers. I will work to ensure that every grad worker has the opportunity to have their voice heard and that CGSU is conscious of the diverse circumstances and struggles of grad workers in our region.

4. International grad workers rights. Amid attacks from the federal government, it is important to give special care to including non-citizen grad workers in all of the above areas. Specifically, I will emphasize know your rights trainings and recruiting international grad organizers for representation in leadership. 

I have been organizing with CGSU since the spring of my first year, when I was involved in our first department-wide organizing campaign. Over the past year and a half, I have gone on countless office visits and participated in numerous phone banks where I engaged with grad workers from across Cornell. This past spring, I co-organized an information session for Math grads on the bargaining process, all while working to build a strike threat to win our first contract. 

Since our contract was ratified, I attended our local’s first interim steward training to begin the work of contract enforcement and have subsequently trained numerous other interim stewards. I am currently leading an effort to secure overdue appointment letters for grad workers in Math, a fight which has spread to other departments. I also serve on committees working to secure ratification bonuses for grad workers who did not receive them and to develop contract education materials. In Region 2, I am working to hold regular meetings for organizers to collaborate on outreach and recruitment plans. For more information about our slate platform, visit https://www.fighttogether4cgsu.org/.

My name is Zanaya Hussain, I am a second-year MS student in the Industrial Labor Relations School. I am a first-generation college student and Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Scholar. I graduated from the University at Buffalo, and grew up in the city of Buffalo after moving from Queens, NY. I research immigrant-led organizations and unions, and specifically how immigrant communities develop mutual aid networks to address inequalities. Broadly, I focus on how mutual aid networks between residents and incoming immigrants exist as an alternative to capitalism. With a commitment to their neighborhood and a need to survive, immigrant workers build livelihoods by filling the need for resources within underserved communities. My lived experiences have not only informed my research, but have motivated me to organize. I began organizing as a teenager in high school through an organization called Open Buffalo that was dedicated to serving the historically red-lined area of Buffalo, the East Side, which is the community I called home. As part of the youth action group, my comrades and I created a text line for community members to communicate information and updates on missing children in the city, as opposed to siloing efforts within law enforcement. We also became a line of direct support for community members after the May 14th Tops Massacre, where a white supremacist attacked a Tops grocery store in the East Side because of its majority black and brown population, and killed ten innocent people. Community members showed up; cared for; and fought for one another during this painful time, in the same way we did during a devastating storm that took place in Buffalo the same year. Where government leaders and representatives have invisibilized our community, we continued to show up for one another in recognition that all of our lives were connected and that together we were stronger. This collective power has bettered the lives of so many, and my belief in collective power is why I strive to make CGSU a union for all, and a union that moves to protect each and every worker. As the regional lead steward for Region 7, I will prioritize transparency and cooperation. As a lead steward I refuse to be the voice for my region, but rather I seek to amplify the voices of graduate workers in my region. I believe that a strong union requires true democracy and be bottom-up, which can only exist when graduate workers are civically engaged. So it must be the visions and ideas of stewards that make up our region that will shape our region. I sincerely hope you will choose me as the regional lead steward for Region 7.