The views expressed in this Astrobite solely reflect the experiences and opinions of the author and do not represent the views of Astrobites, the American Astronomical Society, or any other affiliations of the author.
Welcome to graduate school! As you settle into your research group, dive into your coursework, and get to know your peers, you may notice that the world around you doesn’t seem great. On top of that, you aren’t doing research in a vacuum, and that world outside your data, plots, and papers can have a massive impact on your research, health, and well-being. I have talked to many graduate students over the past few years who’ve shared their difficulties focusing on research and their academic careers when it feels like the rest of the world is falling apart, and this is especially true for folks who are unable to meet basic needs like rent, food, or transportation, or have an identity that is dismissed, disadvantaged, or openly under attack, or for any of the other myriad circumstances that can harm one’s ability to be a thriving graduate student. If you feel compelled to do something to help yourself and those around you have a better future, welcome to the world of graduate student activism!
First, two caveats: I use the word “activist” deliberately. Though it may have different connotations, I am referring to anyone who partakes in creating or carrying out a plan of action to change a social, cultural, or political belief or climate for the betterment of a group of people. To me, having a respectful discussion with my department chair about the department’s climate is a form of activism. So is writing or signing a petition for better healthcare benefits for graduate students. So is organizing, partaking in, or speaking at a peaceful protest. As I use it, the term can encompass many people and activities. I am not writing this article to assign a value judgment to any of them. When I use the term “graduate student activism,” I generally refer to graduate students acting within an academic setting to change an academic setting, which has its own history, culture, and set of norms. Since that is my area of experience, I am focusing on it here.
Second, who am I to offer insight on this topic? As I approach the end of my fourth year of graduate school, I am about to step down as the President of Vanderbilt University’s Graduate Student Council (sorry that site is a little dated, it’s been a busy year). Much of my experience has come from leading the Graduate Student Council and working with another organization, Vanderbilt Graduate Workers United. I picked an extraordinary year to take on this role. Last fall, graduate students at my institution filed to hold an election to vote on forming a union, which I supported, and with an outcome that I unfortunately can’t go into too much detail. In the spring, the new presidential administration began an unprecedented assault on U.S. higher education, freezing federal grant money and attacking international scholars, each disproportionately impacting graduate students. Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot beyond my area of research. So here are thirteen tips I have for if you’re interested in graduate student activism:
Stay focused on your local community. Unfortunately, you alone can’t stop the whole world from falling apart, but if you want to make a difference, you must start somewhere. Find the intersection of what you care about and what you can influence. As a graduate student, a common starting place is your department, and you can build from there. One additional corollary tip: if you like consuming political media, focus as much as you can on local good-faith outlets (those that aren’t amateur rage-baiters or conspiracy theorists). Read your school’s or town’s local newspaper or listen to residents’ podcasts about local politics. These sources can still give you a political fix while being less polarizing and focusing on issues closer to your everyday life and influence.
Find organizations that already exist. If you’re lucky, your department has some level of graduate student organization. At the university level, you probably have a graduate student council or union (or, if you’re lucky, both). Finding those organizations can help you hit the ground running and not start from scratch (and you can make new friends). If not, you may have to start from scratch, or worse, start reforming a dysfunctional organization, but that is another article.
Formulate a clear goal on a straightforward issue. “I want to make life better for me and my fellow graduate students” is a bit too vague. What is an actionable, achievable goal that has a reasonable timescale? At the department level, what are the main issues? Is the process for qualifying exams arcane and inequitable? Is a particular professor creating a problematic environment? What are graduate students paid, what is a reasonable wage, and what are some changes at the department level that could make up the gap?
Know what skills you have and what you enjoy doing. Some folks are more creative and excellent at making flyers (I am not one of them). Others enjoy the detail and monotony of data entry. Some folks love taking the spotlight and working a crowd. Others can drive a hard negotiation behind closed doors. We all have strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Learn what yours are, and contribute in ways you enjoy.
You may not like everyone you work with, and that is okay. People will disagree about the most effective strategies or how to run the group; some people just don’t click. But you must never forget that your goal is to win on an issue, even if it is with someone else’s plan, even if that person gets on your nerves. Get used to disagreeing with people while respecting them and understanding that you can learn and grow from them.
Come up with solutions, not just criticisms. It is easy to criticize, but criticism alone doesn’t improve the world. Especially when meeting with people who have authority, come prepared with suggestions to address problems, not just to air grievances. For example, in my first year, I met with my department chair to discuss how graduate students struggled financially due to exorbitant rent increases (which had gone up nearly 20% in one year). Though the department chair didn’t have the power to increase our stipends unilaterally, I suggested the department pay for some graduate student fees (amounting to about $600 per year) and that the department begin providing a once-per-week graduate student lunch so that students had one free guaranteed meal per week. He agreed, I think, in part because the graduate students in our department discussed the issues, and I could take to him both problems and solutions that I knew were within his power.
Understand the structure of your institution. It still amazes me how many of us work in academia and aren’t taught how academic institutions operate. As the Graduate Student Council President, much of my job is navigating a massive university bureaucracy. Each department has a director of graduate studies who decides with the faculty who to admit and what our curriculum is. They report to a department chair, who reports to an associate dean of graduate studies, who reports to the school dean. They decide things like what our stipends are and how many students our programs are allowed to admit. There is also a Dean of the Graduate School who is responsible for the academic administration of graduate programs. We also have a Dean of Students who is responsible for things like our health insurance and student organizations. All those Deans report to a Provost, who reports to the Chancellor, who reports to a Board of Trust. There is also a faculty senate, other student governments for undergraduates and professional schools, and much more. For any particular graduate student issue, understanding who at the university has decision-making power over an issue and what incentives they have to make a decision one way or another is a skill unto itself.
Be strategic. Obviously, some strategies will be more or less successful than others. What approach works best depends on many factors, such as what the issue is, who the decision-makers are, and what kind of organizational capacity you have. Sometimes, asking nicely really is the best strategy. Sometimes, asking nicely with a petition signed by the overwhelming majority of the graduate student body adds a depth of seriousness to that nice ask. Sometimes, a peaceful public rally with heavy media coverage is the best way to shame someone when asking nicely is no longer tenable. Whatever strategy you use, be intentional about why you choose it as the best tool for the job and follow through. Don’t fly by the seat of your pants. If you are going to be confrontational, plan to be confrontational. And know the rules of your institution. You can’t be a good graduate student activist if your institution revokes your student status due to your less-than-strategic actions.
Network. A lot of other graduate students are passionate about the same things you are, and a sizable number of undergrads, post-docs, faculty, and others are, too. They can teach you what has been done before, what worked, what didn’t, and provide mentorship and insight. Graduate students at other institutions also have valuable perspectives about what’s worked at their institutions. One of the most straightforward ways to develop a strategy for your department or institution is to find folks at another department or institution who did what you want to do and learn from them how they did it.
Know your limits, and be kind to yourself. Activism, in particular, has a way of causing burnout. I’ve seen many graduate students, myself included, flirt with or cross the line where extracurriculars are beginning to impede research progress. I try to limit my Graduate Student Council work to ten hours per week. Sometimes, it is half that, and sometimes, it is double. Graduate student activism is usually a volunteer activity, and setting boundaries is hard. I’ve said ‘no’ to very senior university officials when they made what I considered unreasonable requests for my time and energy. Still, it is harder for me to say ‘no’ to my graduate student peers because I feel like I am letting them down if I say ‘no’. Additionally, recognize that you will only be a graduate student activist for as long as you are a graduate student. People came before you, and people will come after you. Instead of trying to do it all, think about what you will pass down to the next generation of graduate students, and be excited for what they will build on top of your foundation. Furthermore, don’t impose your expectations onto them and what they do with what you pass down.
Give people opportunities to have fun. Admittedly, this one is harder for me. I have social anxiety, I’ve never felt comfortable making small talk, and I started grad school later in life, so my partying days are mostly behind me. Early in my tenure, I had an enlightening conversation with one of my social chairs, so all credit to him for this one. He helped me realized that even though I was passionate about making graduate life on my campus better and was happy to get into the weeds on issues and strategies, a large percentage of graduate students just wanted to do their research and have a little fun along the way. They may not care about the nuances of graduate student issues to the same depth as me, and that is okay. If your activism takes the form of constant business meetings and actions alone, you’ll be left with a smaller core group of really passionate people, but will likely start alienating the larger and less engaged graduate student body. But that larger body will start caring more if you show them you care in other ways. So whatever activism you do, you should also have socials, potlucks, happy hours, movie nights, picnics – whatever resonates with people to have a little fun and build connections.
Your power is in numbers and exposure. When talking to people with decision-making power, you should always speak with the support of anyone you represent. Not only is this a moral obligation, but it is also leverage and protection. Take, for example, a petition. While a petition may seem ineffective and easily ignorable, my experience has been otherwise. When I take a petition into a meeting with a powerful person, it implicitly tells them, “Hey, I’m just the messenger. If you disagree with what I say, you’re not just disagreeing with me but with all these people. You can’t just take your disagreement out on me.” With practice, you have a lot of leverage to push back in a way you otherwise couldn’t. There have been occasions where very senior university officials asked me to say and do things I strongly disagreed with and insinuated consequences for me if I didn’t. Instead of telling those officials that I couldn’t do what they wanted because I morally disagreed (though I certainly did), I told them I couldn’t take their position because the graduate student council would no longer respect me as their president if I did. And they backed down. Additionally, get to know your local campus paper reporters. Many leaders of academic institutions care very deeply about the brand image of their institutions, so much so that threats to the institution’s brand resonate more than any other form of leverage. Once you gain some experience, one of your best tools is making decision-makers aware that alums, donors, prospective students, their peer institutions, and others will know the consequences of their decisions.
Brush your teeth – both literally and metaphorically. First, the adage that you can’t care for others unless you care for yourself is true. Consistently get a good night’s sleep (seriously, good sleep as a graduate student is highly underrated), eat well, etc. That is all good, but I also mean this metaphorically – think about being an activist like you think about brushing your teeth. What I mean is this: brushing your teeth is something you do for a few minutes each day. It isn’t glamorous or particularly fun, but it isn’t a terrible slog. It is just something you do for a few minutes every single day to keep yourself healthy. Think of activism as a thing you do for a few minutes every day to keep your community healthy, just like you brush your teeth to keep yourself healthy. This shift does a few things. First, it helps prevent burnout, especially when facing high and low emotional investments. Sometimes, you may work on an issue for years, all to have a success or failure in a matter of hours. That emotional roller coaster can take a toll. If you think about your work like brushing your teeth, you’ll still wake up the next day, no matter what the ups and downs are, committed to spending just a few minutes making your community better. Second, it helps you understand that this type of work is a lifetime commitment. Just as we won’t wake up one day and say, “You know, I’m just done brushing my teeth forever,” we must also recognize there will never be a day when we wake up and say, “We’re done; we did it. Everything is perfect. Activism over.”
I hope this advice helps you as you grow as a graduate student. One thing I’ve learned about graduate school is that in addition to learning facts and skills, we are all also learning a set of values, whether we are aware of it or not. As you learn how to uncover the universe’s cutting-edge mysteries, I hope you can do so while striving for a set of values you and our astronomical community can be proud of.
Astrobite edited by William Lamb
Featured image credit: Vanderbilt Graduate Workers United
Author
Bill is a graduate student in the Astrophysics program at Vanderbilt University. He studies gravitational wave populations with a focus on how these populations can help inform cosmology as part of the Ligo Scientific Collaboration. Outside of astrophysics, he also enjoys swimming semi-competitively, music and dancing, cooking, and making the academy a better place for people to live and work.
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