Although an election request has not come as expected this semester, Graduate and Fixed-Term Employee Organization (GFTEO) members said there is no rush to form a graduate student union. Organizers previously said they expected to file for an election this semester, which ends today.

"I think there was an underestimate of the number of conversations we were going to have to have to be comfortable ... with everyone having [had] a voice," said Jeff Morgan, GFTEO co-chair.

Thirty percent of eligible graduate assistants must sign authorization cards before GFTEO can file for an election on unionizing. GFTEO's authorization card kickoff drive began at a rally on Sept. 30, and the signatures expire after one year. Morgan said he is not concerned about the expiration date.

GFTEO will not release the number of signed authorization cards the group currently has gathered.

While GFTEO held public rallies several times last academic year, the organization's only large-scale event this year was its kickoff drive Sept. 30.

Morgan said the organization is now beyond trying to gain publicity through events such as rallies.

"People are very aware of our existence," Morgan said. "One of our major, major duties is to try to talk to everyone. And trying to talk to everybody is kind of a daunting task."

GFTEO members have spent most of this year addressing graduate assistants' concerns in small groups or one-on-one. Morgan said he would not want to start a union if not all graduate students were aware of everything.

"That's not the way to start a union," Morgan said. "There's no template for how or when you have to do things."

Patrick Kocovsky, a co-founder of At What Cost? (AWC), said unionization would result in increased costs for undergraduate students and the possible loss of class time if graduate assistants would decide to strike.

AWC provides information on both sides of the unionization issue for students to decide on their own, Kocovsky said.

Kocovsky said he could not determine how well the unionization movement has gone this year.

"It's very difficult to say how well it's moving because the GFTEO will not [release] any information," he said.

Penn State President Graham Spanier and other administrators have made it clear that they strongly oppose a graduate student union. They said graduate assistants are first students and then employees. Also, they said relationships between graduate assistants and administrators would deteriorate with a binding contract between them.

Still, campaigners maintain that undergraduate education would improve and graduate assistants would have better benefits and workplace conditions.

"They don't want to give up power," Morgan said of the administration. "There's no chance they will change their mind. They'll fight it to the bitter end."

Dave Kamper, GFTEO director of organizing, said the Penn State administration has a lot of money they can "throw" to fight the union; the money can be used for things such as lawyers.

"They can use money to buy time in the hopes that we'll go away. But we're not, we're staying," Kamper added.

Kamper cited graduate union victories at the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania in the last six months as positives for GFTEO and their solidarity.

"That's good news for us because the more unions there are ... the better position we'll be in to bargain," Kamper said.