Early last week, the wonderful folks of the Daily Princetonian Editorial Board painted a sobering portrait of what Princeton will look like if graduate students decide to form and affiliate with a union (hint: they already have) after this summer's National Labor Relations Board ruling,which defined graduate students at private universities as employees. The graduate students at Princeton are planning to unionize so, you know, they can advance the cause of being treated more humanely and respectfully — I mean, so they can "damage private sector graduate education in this country and ... represent an inappropriate intrusion into long protected areas of academic freedom and autonomy" (according to our wonderful, comfortably 6-figure-salaried buddies in the University administration).
Anyways, while I was nodding my head in profuse agreement with the Editorial Board's warnings for the graduate students — and, may I add, in no way does the Daily Princetonian function as reactionary mouthpiece for Princeton's own reactionary administration — I realized that their article was lacking something. This something, of course, was a collection of propaganda images complementary illustrations to scare the shit out of people who would otherwise support grad student unionization clarify what a Princeton with organized grad labor would look like. Thus, I took it upon myself to help out the beleaguered folks at the Prince with their lack of visual flair. Here are some choice quotes from their article along with illustrations penned by me:
"Current graduate students who elect to form a union will likely graduate in a few years; however, future graduate students will still be bound by their decision."
"A graduate student union could turn into an external third party that would negatively affect relations between graduate students and others in the University."
"After all, many unions limit the amount of work that their members are allowed to put in per week."
"These negotiations, which could potentially include the threat of strikes, would likely result in a much higher administrative burden..."
"...the University would reduce the amount of work opportunities to compensate for higher costs..."
Anyways, if you're on the Daily Princetonian Editorial Board, and you read this, let me know what you think of my contextual illustrations! I would be willing to let you use them in an edited version of your article for a nominal fee. Contact me at nickysteidel@gmail.com if you wish to negotiate a price.
