During the University of New Mexico’s annual “Hanging of the Greens” on Friday Dec. 5, members of United Graduate Workers of UNM spoke with visitors and handed out petitions outside the UNM Bookstore, calling on the UNM School of Law to reverse a decision cutting graduate student working hours, which would make some law students ineligible for health Insurance.
The petition seeks to reinstate the working hours for UNM third-year law student Cam Rosenberg, who developed chronic illness while attending law school. Rosenberg is potentially facing their 10-hour work week being reduced to six hours, which would take away their health benefits, according to the petition.
In a statement to the Daily Lobo, UNM Executive Director of Strategic Communication Ben Cloutier wrote that graduate assistant hours can vary by semester based on program needs and available resources.
“UNM continues to provide benefits to eligible graduate students holding assistantship contracts in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement with the United Graduate Workers of UNM,” Cloutier wrote.
The law school rewrote their hiring guidelines after law student grad workers unionized earlier this year, Rosenberg said. The new hiring guidelines caps working hours at six or eight hours for most graduate student workers who did not hold a graduate or project assistantship in the spring 2025 semester.
“In order to be eligible for things like health insurance, you need 10 hours a week, so under these new hiring guidelines, we're all losing our benefit eligibility,” Rosenberg told the Daily Lobo. “I'm one of the students that is losing my benefit eligibility at the end of this semester.”
Rosenberg said that the law school cited budgetary constraints as to why working hours are being cut, and that their previous contract with UNM allowed them to afford treatment with specialty providers that otherwise would be very expensive.
“I think it's just concerning to me that the law school hasn't been willing to engage with the students in a discussion about what's going on and why they can't afford this,” Rosenberg said. “So what I'm hoping to understand is how we can figure out how to get the law school to cover (health insurance) and how we can get them the money necessary to do so.”
UNM graduate student in geography and UGW member Katie Slack said that without her current health insurance with UNM, they would not be able to attend graduate school.
“I'm someone with chronic illness myself. I also recently had an awful accident where I was hit by a car and am temporarily disabled from that,” Slack said. “For me, it feels very personal. I feel very sympathetic for Cam. It's really not fair.”
Slack said that the Hanging of the Greens visitors, including undergrads, staff, alumni and community members, were supportive of the union members who were handing out petitions.
“Almost everyone that's given us the time to talk to them has been really sympathetic to Cam, sympathetic to all workers and has been willing to sign our petition,” Slack said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
