While the Graduate and Fixed-Term Employee Organization (GFTEO) rallied for unionization yesterday, Penn State administrators say a graduate student union is unnecessary and unwanted.

Penn State President Graham Spanier said in an e-mail that the university does not support graduate student unionization.

GFTEO members have accused Penn State administrators of using university funds to fight unionization.

Eva Pell, vice president of research and dean of the Graduate School, said university funds have not been used to fight unionization "in any direct way."

But Pell said the university has the right to do what is in their power to provide facts for graduate students.

"They [The GFTEO] is very free with misinformation including accusations ... without really being specific," she said.

Pell said one reason unionization is negative is because graduate students are "first and foremost students," and then teachers, but not employees.

"The union organizers would like to refer to themselves as employees, but they are not," Pell said.

Spanier also said that graduate students have enrolled primarily to obtain a post-graduate education.

"Many of our graduate students obtain ... assistantships that pay for their tuition, provide a stipend, pay for health insurance benefits and support other benefits collectively approaching $30,000 a year or more," Spanier said.

Pell said Penn State compares favorably to what graduate students in unions earn at other schools. Graduate assistants have had an average 3.2 percent salary increase each year for the past 10 years, she said.

Also, health insurance and benefits are already equivalent to what faculty and staff members earn, she said.

"That's absolutely not true," GFTEO representative Jeff Morgan said.

Morgan said graduate assistants do not receive vision and dental care or benefits in the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund, while faculty does. Also, graduate students must go to University Health Services instead of being able to a see a doctor of their choice like faculty can, he said.

But Pell said benefits have been increasing for graduate students. This year an additional $7 million was allotted to add spouses and children of graduate assistants to their benefit plans, she said.

Meanwhile, Pell said dues also should be a concern for students considering forming a union.

"There's a price to pay for being in a union," she said.

Morgan disagreed, saying the money required to run the union will be factored into the university's contract.

"This graduate union will not cost anyone a penny out of their pockets," he said.

Pell and Spanier also said the relationship between graduate students and the Graduate School would not be as good with a binding contract between them.

"We believe that collegiality and traditional faculty-student relationships will be altered if faculty are seen as employers and students are seen as employees," Spanier said.

GFTEO members at yesterday's rally denied that collegiality would be lost, saying relations have remained the same at schools with unionized graduate students.

While GFTEO representatives have said that as much as 40 percent of teaching is done by graduate students, 14.7 percent is the correct number for University Park, according to a statement released by Pell after the rally. The university's number is based on the number of credit hours of teaching.

Morgan defended the organization's 40 percent figure.

"There are all sorts of ways ... to cut the numbers," he said.

Pell said students should not sign GFTEO authorization cards unless they definitely want a union.

At Oregon State University, Pell said, about 3,000 students signed the petition for an election, but only 500 cared enough to vote and a union was formed.

Pell wasn't sure that a rally, which she noted was sparsely attended, below the administration's offices was the best way to push forward with a union.

"You don't get what you want at a rally," Pell said. "You get press coverage."