ELECTIONS MEETING: Tuesday April 17, 2007 @7pm in the GEO office

For more information about the available positions, check out the March Issue of the Graduate Student Worker.

PRESIDENT

Helen Ho, Communication Studies

My activity with GEO began three years ago, during the ’04-‘05 contract year. Since
then, I’ve served on various committees, been a department steward and, this past year,
had the pleasure of serving as Secretary and Communications Committee chair. As
Secretary, my duties have included coordinating the creation of this year’s planner,
updating GEO’s newsletter and other publications, and working to ensure that members
receive information regularly and consistently. I have also taken steps to strengthen
GEO’s relationship with local media and press. Most recently, I developed language and
strategy for the Benefits for All campaign. I see next year’s bargaining efforts hinging
on clear and consistent communications. Building the relationship between GEO and the
University, as well as creating effective communication strategies within union
leadership, will be vital to successful bargaining. Most importantly, we need to
consistently strive to maintain constructive and transparent dialogue among GEO members.

As President, I aim to work closely with members to create a consistent and clear message that GEO can present to the university and the community, along with an inclusive and articulate bargaining platform to increase the quality of life and to foster an
atmosphere of respect at UM. While GEO’s contract will be top priority next year, I also
aim to continue building our relationship with our parent unions and to strengthen our
ties with our brothers and sisters at other locals, in Michigan and across the nation.

VICE-PRESIDENT

Kiara M. Vigil, American Culture (concentration in Native American Studies)

What qualifies me for this position? Well, I admit to being excited about organizing (in both the labor, political, and literal senses of the word) and to setting agendas, taking notes, and following up on emails! This excitement about task-mastering demonstrates the qualities I have that would make for a strong Vice President for GEO. As a previous New York City Public High School Teacher (who worked without a contract for two years under Guiliani’s regime no less!) I developed crucial interpersonal skills that will enable me to effectively facilitate Stewards Council Meetings and the internal affairs of the union as needed. And, as an active member of SPAC in the Fall of 2006 (working to defeat a ban on affirmative action), the spring of 2007 with the “Benefits for All” Campaign, and through a number of other important on-campus and off-campus labor movement actions, I have recently gained valuable experience working with GEO. I am excited about the opportunity to continue networking with the people I have met via SPAC and look forward to the opportunity to meet new people interested in labor and assist in the upcoming contract negotiations in any way possible as the Vice President of GEO for next year.

SECRETARY/ COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Patrick O’Mahen, Political Science

As we head into a contract negotiation year, the Graduate Employees’ Organization needs to drastically ramp out its external media relations strategy as well as continue to improve internal communication with members. Thanks to my careers as a journalist and participation in GEO, I have the insight to serve the union well as secretary/comm. Chair.

My primary experience with the union has been as the lead designer on its weekly planner. Working closely with current secretary Helen Ho as well as other officers, I’ve worked to incorporate feedback from the membership to create a professional-looking planner that serves our members’ assignment-notebook needs while getting our logo visible on campus and basic information on GEO and its services to the membership. In addition, I have recently redesigned the union’s press release form. Finally, I edited copy for the newsletter, and will finish a redesign this summer to give it a sharper appearance as well as ease monthly layout work.

Now, GEO desperately needs to present its message to external sources. That includes forging a relationship with the news media so we can effectively present our case to the community. Providing a corrective to the university’s message can translate into gains at the bargaining table. From three years of running a newspaper, I have a good idea how journalists’ minds work and of effective public relations. My counsel can help GEO understand the trade offs of various PR strategies and help the union effectively implement the strategies that it chooses. Thank you for your consideration

TREASURER/FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR

Ksenya Gurshtein, History of Art

What, I suppose, qualifies me for any officer position in GEO at all is a consistent interest in the organization and a desire to continue my commitment to it after having served as a department steward this year. The upcoming year promises to be both challenging and exciting, and I’d like to think that given the aforementioned commitment, I would make a good member of the team that’ll guide GEO through next year’s bargaining process. My interest in being the Finance chair specifically has to do with personal qualities—meticulousness, attention to detail, and a fascination with budgets and balancing them—as well as with prior experience managing the finances of a student-run organization, albeit on a smaller scale.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE CHAIR(S)

Hi everybody—

We are both running for Organizing Committee chair, but we’re not really competing; we’d actually like to co-chair the OC together. We have a strong working relationship and we each have experience in community organizing and with GEO. Because next year is a contract year, we understand the importance of mobilizing our membership base. In order to keep the OC strong during such a busy and important time, we’d like to co-chair. So vote for both of us. Thanks!-Matt and Sara

Matt Desan, Sociology

What could be more exciting than spending 2 hours every other week in a stuffy room while eating stale goldfish crackers? How about spending 6 hours every week in a stuffy room eating stale crackers! No, seriously, that does sound exciting to me. I’m really psyched about the upcoming contract year and I’m prepared to step up and make sacrifices in order to ensure that GEO wins an awesome contract—even if that means missing episodes of Project Runway Season 4 (don’t flatter yourself GEO, I’ll still watch the afternoon re-broadcasts). All kidding aside, contract years give the union an opportunity to go on the offensive and energize our membership. As a longtime activist, I relish these moments and look forward to doing all I can as OC chair to make sure that we go into bargaining from a position of strength. All the hard work we put in this year amending the constitution and launching the Benefits for All campaign has provided us a unique opportunity to enter the contract year with an already mobilized membership. With a strong OC, we’ll be able to build on this momentum and put unprecedented pressure on the university to meet our demands in this time of uncertainty. These kinds of mobilizations are what I live for, and frankly it’s been too long since I’ve been involved in one. That’s why it is with a great sense of excitement and possibility that I submit myself as a candidate for OC chair.

Sara Crider, Sociology and Social Work

Hi! I’m a student in social work and sociology. I’ve been an active member of the Organizing Committee this year, and I’d like to co-chair the OC with Matt next year. I wanted to show you all how organized I am, so I made a list, Letterman-style.

Top Ten Reasons I’m running for OC Chair
10. I worked on the organizing committee this year. So I’m pretty much an expert.
9. It’ll be fun.
8. It gives me an excuse to hang out in the GEO office and make buttons.
7. I’m a social worker. I do community organizing in my sleep. (That’s why they pay me the big bucks.)
6. Next year is a contract year, and the OC will be an important part of that. I’m totally pumped about reaching out to members and mobilizing our membership as we enter bargaining.
5. Matt needs me. (Just kidding, Matt!)
4. I have goals. Here’s one of them: I’d like to foster more interaction among the committees. What happens in the Communications committee, the Social/Political Action Committee and the Bargaining Committee are not separate from Organizing. In fact, the OC is a critical part of communicating this information to members; in turn, the OC also brings members’ concerns to the other committees. Increased inter-committee communication just makes sense.
3. Free cocktails! Wait, what do you mean “no free cocktails?”
2. When I told Lloyd Grieger I was on the OC, he thought I meant the TV show.
1. I care about GEO. I am committed to our members and want to do my part to strengthen our union and make it as inclusive as possible!

Colleen Woods, History

I became active in the Solidarity/Political Action Committee and GEO in November. In the past few months S/PAC has been hard at work raising awareness around the threat to same-sex domestic partner benefits (SSDP). Coming out of this ruling, we decided that one of the goals of the Solidarity committee was to reach out to potential allies throughout Michigan. We have reached far and wide in an effort to build alliances for GEO’s Benefits for All campaign. Beginning with labor unions, professors and progressive groups on campus we began to stir up support and visibility around GEO and SSDP. Since then we have reached out to LGBT labor organization, Pride at Work, graduate student locals at Western Michigan University and Michigan State, and progressive LGBT organizations. In addition to our continued efforts around the SSDP ruling, members of S/PAC are regular attendees at various events related to social justice on campus and in the Ann Arbor community. I believe that the individuals and groups that we have reached out to in the past year will provide a strong base of support for our contract year. If elected S/PAC chair I hope to continue to cultivate our relationships with other labor and social justice organizations. I am thrilled to be a member of GEO and I look forward to another active and productive year.

Bargaining Chair

Julie Robert, Romance Languages and Literature

As your Grievance Chair this past year and an active member of the grievance committee in 05-06, I’ve developed a strong understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of our current contract and have gained experience in dealing with the administration. I’ve also been finding out from members what their priorities are for their next contract and have been doing some of the preliminary research about how we might reach these goals. During the recent Benefits For All campaign, I served as point-person for the project, coordinating the many groups who worked on organizing, solidarity, communications and research. I envision the role of bargaining chair to be similar in that I would act as the glue that connects the bargaining team to the rest of the union. I believe this position to be a crucial one because winning great contracts requires a combination of organizing, support from ally groups, good planning and strong language. Serving in these various leadership capacities with GEO has also allowed me to learn from our collective successes and missteps so that I might be better prepared to deal with the challenges of a bargaining year.

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