MEMORANDUM

To: Graduate and Professional Students
From: Peter Conn, Deputy Provost
Date: January 24, 2003
Re: February 26-27 NLRB Election

Federal law requires the University to provide the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with a list of the names and home addresses of those students who are determined to be eligible to vote in the election scheduled for February 26-27 that was initiated by GET-UP's petition. That list --some 975 out of nearly 10,000 graduate students at Penn as of January 17 - was compiled using the best information available and submitted to the NLRB today.

Federal law also protects students' privacy and therefore prevents a general release of this list. But you should be aware that the NLRB will provide a copy of the voter list to GET-UP and that representatives of the union may attempt to contact you at home. Of course, you are free to speak - or not speak - to anyone you choose about this important issue. For anyone who is unsure whether or not you are eligible to vote, here is a direct quote from the NLRB's November 21 ruling on the matter:

Included: All graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. or Masters degree programs who are employed by the Employer as full-time or regular-part-time Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows, Instructors, Lecturers, and Graders, in the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Social Work, the Annenberg School for Communication, the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Nursing, the Biomedical Graduate Studies program, and doctoral students in the Wharton School; and Research Assistants and Research Fellows in the non-science graduate groups in the School of Arts and Science (Ancient History, Anthropology, Art and Archaeology in the Mediterranean World, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Classical Studies, Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, Criminology, Demography, Economics, English, Folklore and Folklife, Germanic Languages and Literature, History, History of Art, History and Sociology of Science, Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies, Romance Languages, Sociology, and South Asia Regional Studies), the School of Social Work, the Annenberg School for Communication, the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Graduate School of Education and School of Nursing.

Excluded: All other employees; graduate students in the School of Medicine (other than students in the Biomedical Graduate Studies program), School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, Wharton School (except for doctoral students serving as Teaching Assistants), and the School of Law; Research Assistants and Research Fellows in the Natural Science graduate groups in the School of Arts and Science (Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Science, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy), the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Biomedical Graduate Studies program; hourly-paid graders, Vice-Provost for University Life staff members; other hourly employees; adjunct, visiting and regular faculty members; undergraduate students; post-doctoral fellows; guards; and supervisors as defined in the Act.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible to vote on February 26-27, I urge you to do so. Any such ballots will be retained and counted if the vote in question is later found to be within the group "included" by the NLRB. If you think it is not important to vote because you will have completed your graduate studies and moved on from Penn before this decision takes effect, again I urge you to participate and vote. The February 26-27 election will affect the educational experience of all graduate students, in and outside of the bargaining unit at this time, and will govern the lives of many more in the future. The election will be decided by a simple majority of only those who actually do vote. So I hope you will not miss this important opportunity to make your voice heard and your vote count.