United Graduate Workers demonstrate at ice cream social

On Aug. 18, the University of New Mexico hosted Ice Cream Social and Departmental Informational Day with UNM President Garnett Stokes as part of the University’s “Welcome Back Days”. The United Graduate Workers of UNM, a union representing graduate workers, demonstrated at the event, hoping to raise awareness for their efforts and get face time with the University President. 

The demonstrators were hoping to secure higher wages, vision and dental insurance and contractual protections for international grad students against having their immigration status exposed or weaponized, UGW Stewards Noah Mertz and Lee Ferrin, said.

“The main plan is to really help President Stokes put faces to the people that are asking for what we're asking for in our bargaining. It's very different when it's just a nameless group of all the grad students who want this when you have people coming up one by one,” Ferrin said. “We're just trying to make it more human than it has been so far.”

In 2024, a UNM graduate student enrolled in a graduate or teaching assistantship at a minimum, made approximately, between $900 and $1,800 a month, according to UNM’s Office for Academic Personnel.

At UNM, being a graduate student is a full time position as students are expected to divide their time between their own studies and their assistantship in a 50/50 split. However, only the assistantship is paid, meaning a full-time graduate student is only paid for a 50% part-time job, Mertz wrote to the Daily Lobo.

There are ongoing negotiations and bargaining regarding the second full contract, Mertz said. 

“We got our first contract two years ago, and then every two years it comes up for full re-bargaining. So we're kind of in the middle of this process right now of trying to hammer out the details of what we will actually gain in this next contract,” Mertz said. “And the administration has, frankly, not been very generous, I guess is one thing you could say, in terms of meeting us even halfway.” 

According to Ferrin, 57% of graduate students are food insecure, and 70% are financially insecure. As UNM is a state-funded institution, some graduate worker salaries come from tax-dollars.

“And so when we don't get the funding that we need to live, then guess where we get those resources from? Tax dollars, by being on SNAP, by being on Medicaid, and so the taxpayers are supporting the grad students one way or another. It would do so much better if we could be independent, and we could get the support that we need from our university,” Ferrin said.

At least 100 students attended the demonstration.

President Stokes was not at the social gathering at the time of the commencement and height of the demonstration; she arrived later in the afternoon.

“Our annual ice cream social is a tradition designed to welcome new Lobos on their first day of classes. I was able to engage in many respectful conversations with graduate students who brought me their concerns, while celebrating the beginning of the semester," Stokes wrote in a statement to the Daily Lobo.

Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo

Elliott Wood is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo