Undergraduates are the crucial unknown variable. If they refuse to cross picket lines in significant numbers, the Administration will have to start talking. Undergraduates for the most part observed two short work stoppages called by the Union last Spring, but the actions were preceded by more extensive barrages of leaflets than the organization has laid down this time around. Moreover, last year's actions were of short duration: Whether undergraduates will strike for a longer period of time is an open question.
If negotiations begin, they will proceed informally: The Administration will not commit itself in any way to recognizing the Union officially. John T. Dunlop, who master-minded the Administration's strategy last year, is gone, and it is unclear whether Franklin L. Ford, acting dean of the Faculty, will play a crucial role in the dispute. The Administration was bolstered last Fall when Edward T. Wilcox was appointed acting dean of the GSAS. Wilcox is a personable man who is also a skilled public performer. He is openly sympathetic to some of the Union's aims, if not its actual demands, and he is one of the people to watch in the coming days. It is likely that he will be out front for the Administration, backed behind the scenes to some extent by Ford. Because of Dunlop's departure and the interregnum in the dean's office, President Bok will probably monitor the progress of the dispute more closely than he did last year.
What happened in the past?
The Union was formed last Spring to protest a change in financial aid policy at the GSAS. It enrolled almost 1300 members, staged two successful work stoppages, and almost voted to strike to support its demands. The Union did bring a response from the other side: changes in aid policy, although not as far-reaching as the organization demanded, were implemented by the Administration. The moves helped to take the wind out of the Union's sails. The Faculty voted in addition to establish a student-Faculty Commission on Graduate Education to prepare legislation on financial aid in the GSAS for discussion by the Faculty.
As Union leaders surveyed the Spring's activities from a June vantage point, they could claim some success. They eagerly made plans for continuing the organization in the Fall.
The Union was disappointed when students came back to school in September. Its demands appeared to fall on deaf ears, and attendance at Union meetings dwindled to 20 to 30 from the 300 to 500 peaks of the preceding Spring. Although fearing the worst, the Union ran a slate of candidates for the student positions on the Commission and another body, the Committee on Graduate Education. But even though GSAS students would not come to Union meetings, a surprising amount of residual support for the organization remained. Its slate swept to victory, and Union members happily took seats on the two bodies prepared to advance their views within respectable organizations mandated by the Faculty.
An analysis of the events that followed is mired in controversy. The Kraus plan was presented to the Commission in January and the Union members objected to it, but the Administration nonetheless approved and directed that the plan be implemented.
The Union says the move was a clear violation of the spirit of the Faculty resolution that established the Commission. R. Freed Bales, professor of Social Relations and chairman of the Commission, says no such violation occurred. He says the Commission was never given final authority over aid in the GSAS. He adds that student members of the Commission were influential in drawing up the Kraus plan, and that they only decided to back out at the last minute.
At any rate, the Union decided it was getting shafted, called a general meeting for all GSAS students on February 28, and sat back to wait for a response. Two hundred students appeared at the meeting, approved the seven demands, and voted to strike if the Union's membership reached 500. That bridge was crossed last week, and strike plans pointing toward today proceed unabated.