Groups and Committees
Join a committee, working group, or caucus to help support and expand our rights and benefits as union members!
Join a Committee
Membership in our committees is open to all GSOC members. Reach out to committee chairs to get involved!
Organizing Committee
The goal of the organizing committee is to build a strong union culture on campus. We coordinate the efforts of our elected stewards to build networks of support and solidarity in different departments and schools across NYU. We do this by visiting grad student workers in their workplaces and offices in walkthroughs, one-on-one relationship building, and special events. We also help coordinate public-facing campaigns. By sustaining and expanding these networks over time, we ensure that every grad worker has a voice, and that we can amplify that voice together. This allows us to draw on our collective strength during crucial periods when our rights as workers are on the line, ensuring that GSOC’s historic gains are enjoyed by future grad workers.
Communications Committee
We maintain social media, write member updates, archive our news, and coordinate among the press and our allies. Our work is a combination of on-going grind and long- and short-term projects. We are currently working on redoing our website after the new contract and spreading the word via email and social media about our hard-won gains. We welcome expertise in anything from writing, to meme-making, to webdesign.
Political Solidarity Committee
We support and liaise with social justice organizing efforts at NYU, in the broader labor movement, and throughout New York City. This includes direct communication with other student groups, participating in citywide organizing coalitions, drafting letters of support and proposing resolutions to be ratified by the Assembly of Stewards or membership, coordinating GSOC participation in protests and forums, and generally making sure we remain active fighters in the city’s struggles for social, economic, environmental and racial justice.
Bylaws Committee
This committee is formed on a seasonal basis to review and recommend changes to our unit bylaws. Members also serve as a resource throughout the year when folks have questions about matters of procedure, governance, and representation.
Working Groups
Membership in working groups is open to all GSOC members. Reach out to a working group chair to get involved!
Healthcare
Contract Campaign
International Students
Health & Safety
Anti-Oppression
We work to fight oppression in all forms at NYU and beyond. Our previous campaigns have included fighting for paid family leave and combatting sexual harassment/assault and working towards justice for survivors. We are currently working on pushing NYU to sever ties with the NYPD, divest from policing and the prison industrial complex more broadly, and address anti-Blackness at NYU. If you would like to get involved in any of this work, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Hardship Working Group
Help students who are facing extreme financial hardship and whose academic careers have been made precarious by NYU. Our work involves regular check-ins with the student, assisting meetings/communications with dept and the bursar office, and just help navigate the very stressful situation that so many people are experiencing.
Form or Join a Caucus
GSOC is a space for political advocacy and debate, driven by the interests of its members. We invite GSOC members to form formal and informal caucuses to organize around special issues, common experiences, or shared visions for what the union should endorse and practice.
Caucuses are independent of GSOC, and their views are not automatically those of the union.
Form a Caucus
Any member of GSOC is entitled to start an Official or Unofficial Caucus. Official Caucuses have a more public facing character and are entitled to a share of GSOC’s communications infrastructure.
To start an Official Caucus, a member must submit their caucus name, a short description of the caucus’ goals and positions, and a caucus representative (including name and email) to a steward. All complete submissions are automatically approved.
For more information on caucuses, please consult our caucuse policy (approved 2/16/2016).
Join a Current Caucus
Academic Workers for a Democratic Union
Academic Workers for a Democratic Union (AWDU) seeks to build a transparent, member-led and democratic union with a social justice orientation. We believe that a strong democratic union flows from the bottom up, centered around rank-and-file in and across departments. Only through an organizing model that puts members at the center can the union defend and improve the rights of NYU graduate employees. We also affirm our commitment to social movement unionism: fighting not only for bread and butter contract issues, but also bolstering the various social and political movements that shape NYU graduate workers’ lives inside and outside the university.