Graduate students joined for a casual happy hour at Woody’s Place Thursday to learn more about the benefits of instituting a union of graduate students.

The Graduate Employees and Students Organization sponsored the event in hopes of acknowledging and addressing issues of particular significance to most graduate students – specifically, health care benefits.

Natalie Kistner, a political science graduate student, said she and other graduate students think the current health care stipends and other benefits from the university fail to meet the needs of graduate students.

Kistner, who teaches 50 undergraduate students each quarter, said it is difficult to support herself having such an overwhelming work load.

“Some graduate students have to take out loans and find jobs in other departments just to make ends meet,” she said. “The benefits are not impressive, and the amount we have to pay for those benefits is high.”

Johnny Peel, a political science graduate student, pays $200 each month for health insurance. He said paying such a high amount stretches the definition of health insurance.

Peel said a union of graduate students would not only make Ohio State’s graduate programs more competitive in comparison to other universities, but it would also allow the graduate students to have a greater bargaining power with OSU.

Kistner said while CGS has no legal ability to negotiate with the university’s administration, a union could do just that.

The Council of Graduate Students seems to be apprehensive about unionization, she said; both Kistner and Peel said CGS believes a graduate student union is unnecessary.

“They’re thinking, ‘Why do we need a union?'” Kistner said.

The topic of unionization has been discussed recently after a report was presented to CGS about the possible benefits of a union. The report, based on health care benefits and stipend levels of other universities, concluded the benefits of unionization were not clear.

Alistair Fraser, a geography graduate student, said he feels CGS has failed to represent the graduate student body effectively.

“They’re afraid to take on real issues,” he said. “They don’t seek to represent.”

Fraser, who teaches 60 to 90 students each quarter, said the inconclusive outcome of the report is proof of CGS’s compliance with the administration.

“I love being here. This is a fantastic university,” Fraser said. “But it can be better.”

Kistner said she views the union as a way to attract future graduate students from other universities with comparable programs.

“Other universities, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, offer better stipends with comparable programs,” she said. “A graduate student will choose those schools over OSU because of the better benefits.”

Kistner said a union would improve the overall quality of education at OSU.

“If you get better graduate students, you get better undergraduate students and then better faculty,” Kistner said. “It’s a cycle.”