We respectfully disagree with the opinion of The Daily Collegian that the Graduate and Fixed Term Employee Organization (GFTEO) and the Penn State administration are "yelling" at one another rather than working to create dialogue ("GFTEO, Penn State must talk, not yell, to create progress," April 7).

The very point of our recent rally was to create a dialogue. As your staff reported, we have been collecting signatures for a petition for better health care. These signatures will ultimately be sent to the administration as a means of facilitating dialogue. Unfortunately, the Collegian's editorial board has also ignored our less recent attempts to negotiate. It is curious that while our recent use of the chant "One, two, three, four, Spanier open up your door" is recalled, you neglect your own coverage of the first time we used that slogan, when we requested negotiations on a neutrality agreement in September 2002. It is simply untrue that GFTEO has not attempted to negotiate with the administration.

We would also like to note one other inaccuracy: the assertion that because our unionization cards were not filed, one may infer that the majority of graduates "do not support a union." During our card drive, we found overwhelming support in the thousands of conversations we had; we unfortunately were not able to have enough conversations at that time. It takes an immense amount of time and effort to speak with the 4,000-some graduates we seek to organize. We hope that in the future, the editorial board will do the necessary background work before jumping to such dramatic conclusions.