On May 15, research assistants at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign made history by submitting a unionization interest petition. 3,700 research assistants keep the university runningResearch assistants, also known as RAs, make up the workforce for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s research machine. Last year, pre-professional graduate assistants took the first step in fighting back against the historical exclusion of graduate assistants. The majority of research assistants are international students, typically with F-1 and J-1 visas. As the Trump administration faces challenges abroad and domestically, many graduate workers expressed concern about an escalating political situation.