GSWOC International Student Committee email back up
Jan 31, 2023
Note: The person asked to skip this email for privacy concern.
Feb 2, 2023
Hey all,
I think this email is great! And great idea to send emails like this to others in various communities.
I also think it would be smart to get an email, authored and signed by a diverse group of international students, out to all USC GSWs on Monday next week. Based on their latest email, I suspect that USC is going to try to discourage international students from voting “yes” and participating in the union. Other Universities have also used this tactic, and I think that we should get out in front of it.
What does everyone think about this idea? Could some of us maybe meet today or tomorrow to start putting something together? Here is a when2meet, I’ll also be at the coffee hour today at 1 pm if anyone wants to start talking about it there.
Best, Rob
Feb 2, 2023
Hello all,
I am in full agreement with both A’s original email and Rob’s response below.
In the weeks before the 15th it is imperative that we are heard by our domestic colleagues, and that the full diversity of our coalition is expressed. So many of the common hardships of GSW life are amplified by the precarity of our immigration, cultural and visa statuses, and we must hold this fact up high as we move past our collective YES vote and into negotiations.
I can put some time into this in the coming days, though can’t attend the coffee hour beginning in a few moments that Rob mentions below.
Best, S. J.
Feb 6, 2023
Hi all,
Since many people who were interested in the meeting failed to join it on Saturday. Here are some meeting summaries, in case I missed anything, feel free to add:
- representation and participation
We recognized the lack of participation of international students in our campaign. Some reasons we discussed are: language barriers, cultural differences and so on. We recognized it is difficult to increase international students’ participation. We all agree it isn’t a problem that can be solved via a single zoom meeting. We decided to continue our meetings in the future. We will also have more events, e.g. the town hall and the gathering at Rock&Relly we had last year. Since the election is just within two weeks, we don’t have enough time to prepare one before the election. We will certainly have more in the future. It will be a long way to go. We talked about that, at those events, we gonna mention the same things over and over again. But that is the way to build up support. Throughout this process, support can be built up, as Rob described it, rolling a snowball. We also mentioned, if people get bored of the repetition, we can also hold social events.
We also talked about little international student visibility in other committees. It was made very clear that international students are welcomed and encouraged to participate in all other committees as well.
Similarly, we talked about more international student visibility in other public-facing GSWOC events.
- contract negotiation
We talked about things in negotiation. From our side, we need to build up support. And for the other side, we need to wait to see how USC will react to our demands at the bargaining table. And then, we will be able to figure out, what demands could be archived. Rob mentioned a case where the UC admin believe there is a legal problem in a visa-related demand, and the demand eventually got rejected. (Choosing VISA type for post-doc) Rob also mentioned it is important to communicate during contract negotiation, which is what should have been done better at the UC campaign. And Rob mentioned we are planning to have more training for this.
- Support letter
K has been working on drafting an email. I think K will share it with everyone soon. And please take a look, feel free to propose edits, and add your signatory.
Best, R