The Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition voted unanimously to endorse John McGlothlin III for the open IU Board of Trustees alumni-elected position, according to a press release on June 3.
McGlothlin III is one of the 12 candidates running for the position. He graduated from IU with a Master of Arts degree in English in 2011 and a doctoral degree in English in 2016. He is a financial planner at Southwest Retirement Advisers and a board member for Open Door Preschools, a non-profit school in Austin, Texas.
“We have numerous reasons to support John,” IGWC Communication Chair David Garner wrote in a statement to the IDS. “He was the only candidate to reach out to us not just as individuals, but as an organization, which means he fundamentally understands that our union is the institution representing graduate workers at IU.”
Garner also wrote McGlothlin III recognizes the importance of graduate workers at IU and wants to improve their working conditions.
“He knows that if you want to improve the lives of graduate workers, it’s not through us as individuals but as the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition who represents over 1,300 graduates on campus,” he wrote. “As a former IU graduate worker himself, he understands the conditions under which we work and live, and he recognizes the massive gains we’ve made for graduate workers since he was a graduate.”
The coalition was formed in 2019 as a voice for graduate workers and their demands, which include bargaining rights, cost of living increases, fair work and degree expectations, fairness for international students, expanded medical and parental benefits and the protection of higher education.
McGlothlin III’s campaign has four priorities: staff and faculty focus, fearless problem-solving, direct engagement and quality public education.
As a graduate student, he served as the assistant director of composition within IU’s Department of English and assistant coordinator for a course for first-generation college students.
“These professional experiences shaped my belief that faculty, staff, and graduate students form the foundation upon which Indiana University operates when fulfilling its academic mission,” he wrote in his candidate statement. “Sustaining that mission therefore requires ensuring that IU’s workforce has ready access to the resources it needs to flourish. If elected, I would ensure that graduate student and faculty needs constitute a central concern for the Board of Trustees.”
A graphic on his campaign website states, “Grad workers should have the right to organize, vote, & collectively bargain,” and to “Vote for a union supporter.”
The IGWC held a “Three Days for a Raise” strike April 17-19. They picketed outside different academic buildings, and some ceased paid instructional work like teaching, grading, holding office hours and proctoring exams. The strike came after the IU administration did not respond to the coalition’s desire for union recognition.
The coalition also went on a month-long strike in Spring 2022, held a “More Say, More Pay” rally in September 2023 and delivered 1,300 signed union cards to President Whitten in January. The coalition demanded a union election, negotiation and a living minimum wage.
McGlothlin III published an open letter May 9, in which he condemned IU Board of Trustees chair Quinn Buckner’s support for IU President Pamela Whitten after IU faculty issued a vote of no confidence in her, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty April 16.
“Buckner’s declaration indicates a yawning disconnect between current trustees and broad swathes of IU’s stakeholders,” he wrote in the letter. “As fiduciaries, trustees must take repeated serious grievances regarding the administration and university policies to heart and must consider appropriate responses. Failing to do so is failing in one’s fiduciary duty, as is hastily deferring to authorities at the university or statehouse.”
The IU Board of Trustees released a statement May 15 in support of Whitten.
