Resident assistants and students at Columbia University rallied in front of the residence of the university’s president, Lee Bollinger, on Monday, Feb. 20 to demand that the school recognize their union. The Columbia University Resident Adviser Collective, a group of 147 Columbia RAs, wrote a letter to Bollinger and the school’s board of trustees asking for union recognition on Feb. 13, but the university refused to recognize the group as of Monday morning.

In the letter, the RAs called on the university to formally recognize their union and negotiate a contract that included terms for increased compensation, equitable working conditions and improved workplace democracy.

Although the university chose not to recognize the union, administrators did respond on Feb. 20. They explained that they would allow the group to vote on whether to unionize through the National Labor Relations Board — an independent federal organization dedicated to enforcing labor laws across the country.

Leena Yumeen, a senior at Columbia and one of the rally’s organizers, said she thinks the administration waited to send the email until the day of the protest to demobilize the group of RAs. She added that more than 75% of Columbia RAs are in favor of unionizing and that she was grateful for the support of RAs from other universities. 

“That solidarity is a really beautiful thing,” Yumeen said. “The fact that people can relate to us, connect their struggle with ours and support us — and then we will, in turn, support them — is critical to the undergraduate student labor movement, not just in New York City, but across the country.”

At NYU, RAs recently created a petition demanding that the university provide them with additional security training, improve communication during security incidents and end a “gag rule” policy prohibiting them from speaking to the media.

An NYU RA at the protest — who requested to be anonymous due to the gag rule — said they thought it was important to show solidarity and support for student workers across the city. They added that their views do not necessarily reflect those of all NYU RAs. 

“It’s really important to be in solidarity with somebody who does, functionally, the same job as you to show that we’ve got their backs,” the NYU RA said. “I know from my experience watching NYU shut down and try to stop their organizing efforts that they’re going to be up for quite a fight.”

The student, who has been an RA for two years, noted that there are many other undergraduate labor movements happening across the city, including at Barnard College and Fordham University. 

In October, Barnard RAs officially formed a union under OPEIU Local 153, a branch of a larger union which represents over 100,000 workers across the country, as well as in Canada. The union was not voluntarily recognized by Barnard.

Scott Williams, an organizer with Local 153, said the union worked with Columbia’s RAs for a few months before becoming independent. 

“We’ve actually been working with the Columbia RAs very early on in their campaign to unionize and support their effort, alongside what Barnard was able to do when they won their union election last semester with 96% of the vote,” Williams said. 

Fordham RAs, who are also unionized with Local 153, asked university administration to voluntarily recognize their union on Feb. 1, but were also met with rejection.

Kristen Gonzalez, a New York state senator who is a Columbia alum, said that she was not surprised by the university’s decision, and expressed solidarity with Columbia RAs in a speech at the rally.

“This campus is made up of students, teachers and everyone who’s been doing the work to make this place great — not the trustees or the people who are benefiting from the bottom line,” Gonzalez said at the rally.

Columbia sophomore and RA Mark Kirichev said he participated in the rally to support his co-workers. He said they are all hopeful that the university will act on their requests. 

“Given the energy here and how everybody reacted, and how hyped everybody was, people see that there is interest, that we are supported and that we will stand up for our rights,” Kirichev said. “Columbia has to react at some point, and we will be there when that happens.”

Contact Yezen Saadah at [email protected].