Dr. Crouch,
I recognize that your primary purpose for this email is encouraging participation, and to provide your perspective on this issue.
As someone who is still deciding which way I will vote when the unionization vote comes up, I have a few questions.
Primarily:
-Your email is clearly targeted at CSE students, which is reasonable given your position as the CSE Dean. That said, many of the points you address do not pertain to other parts of the University. Do you mean to suggest that this decision ought only be made in our personal self-interest?
-Can you expand on what, specifically, types of conversations with out advisor would be required to have a third-party present? Is this a legal issue, or an issue decided upon in a voted upon union contract?
-One of the primary premises behind collective-bargaining is that it allows a mechanism for graduate assistants to negotiate a contract. The alternative, as I understand it, that the University has provided is that graduate assistants have the opportunity to individually negotiate a contract, and that the University would prefer this method. Who would a graduate assistant talk to in order for this to occur? What are the mechanisms we would/do have to participate in this form of negotiation?
It seems as though much of what you've suggested is based on historical perspectives of unions, and that it doesn't necessarily apply to this particular instance, given that the union contract has not been discussed (and cannot be until the vote passes). Could you provide some unbiased evidence/demonstration that these questions/fears are likely to bear out, in this instance?
I appreciate your time, and I look forward to your responses.