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Mathilde Børch is a graduate student worker at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute.
Two years ago, post-graduate researchers at the University of Maine hit a new high — the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education designated the University as an R1 institution, adding it to a list of just 3.7 percent post-secondary universities in the United States. And it was well deserved: Researchers at the University of Maine consistently produce top-tier research with global significance.
As a graduate student worker at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, my lab and I collect historical aerial photographs from Danish and American archives, dating back to the 1930s. Our goal is to create a comprehensive 90-year timeline of computed 3D glacier models from Greenland’s southern coast. Analyzing these models will deepen our understanding of glacier evolution amid rapid climate change, potentially aiding predictions of global sea level rise.
This research has been a dream of mine for a long time. Coming from Denmark, I was taught that to make a difference, I needed to master English and go beyond my home country. Growing up, I perceived American research institutions as second to none. When I was given the opportunity to come to UMaine I was beyond thrilled.
But upon arriving I quickly became acquainted with a myriad of uniquely American social ills — the huge loans people take out to get an education, the high bills required for health care, extreme housing insecurity, and the lingering cultural divisions and distrust present in the communities even within the university. Housing was scarce, and I settled for on-campus graduate housing amidst the shortage of options. Regrettably, the inadequate meal plan, rent and fees I pay to the university (my employer) ended up consuming more than my entire paycheck. Adding to the challenge, visa regulations stipulate that I cannot take a second job to supplement my income.
This experience caused me to marvel at all the things I had taken for granted at home. In Denmark education is free, with all students even receiving substantial monthly financial support from the government. Additionally, universal healthcare and legal provisions for compensation in cases of income loss due to unemployment or illness are seen as unimpeachable rights.
Therefore, after just a few weeks in the U.S., I was in touch with our local union. I immediately recognized that they were fighting for the bare minimum of what I had taken for granted growing up. I was excited to participate in a lobby day at the State House in Augusta, where I shared with legislators our union’s goals as we bargain our first contract with the university. One of them told me plainly that what we are working to achieve — affordable health care, decent pay, support for parents — is a fantasy.
Except it’s not a fantasy: I’ve seen these initiatives work, and they work remarkably well. Researchers often label Scandinavian countries as being more happy than the rest of the world. However, my brief time in America suggests that Scandinavians aren’t necessarily happier — we just experience less misery. Unlike in America, where people face overwhelming debt, limited healthcare and a cutthroat economy, we prioritize societal well-being. If you’re injured in a car accident and taken to the hospital, they don’t ask about your insurance, they simply provide care because we believe that is what’s best for society.
And winning the change we want isn’t a fantasy here in America either. Graduate student workers across the U.S. have formed unions and made significant gains in all the areas we want to here in the University of Maine System, including both Ivy League schools like Columbia and Harvard, as well as other land-grant public universities like the University of Massachusetts, University of Connecticut, and the University of California system.
As researchers, it isn’t lost on us that we are the very people responsible for applying for and winning the annual funding that drives UMaine’s research mission. Without our work, the university would not have attained the R1 prestige and secured the financial well-being that it enjoys today.
That’s why this week, seven months after my colleagues and I democratically formed our union and over four months at the bargaining table, we are calling on UMaine to agree to a fair contract that would improve our working conditions and acknowledge our significance to the university. But despite months of negotiation, administrators have still not agreed to contract provisions to address the ongoing issues we have identified around low and inconsistent pay, substandard health benefits, unequal protections for international graduate student workers, and the lack of a voice at work.
A fair union contract would allow researchers like me to focus on our work instead of making ends meet. It would help make UMaine’s research enterprise stronger, fairer and more sustainable. And amid the nationwide movement of American graduate workers to unionize, it would set an example for other universities, helping to correct some of the systemic problems that have negatively affected the American academy for so long.
Imagine the opportunities researchers could pursue with the security of a contract and the resources of an American university.
It is not a fantasy. Let’s bargain and make it reality.
