working on an LTE re grad student contract

[Bill McBlueState]

I'm working on an LTE to a local paper. I'm a grad student at UMass, where we've been battling the administration for almost a year now to get a new contract. I'm looking for feedback before I send this. Does it convince you to support the grad students? Since I've been in this battle for so long, I'm probably lacking the perspective of an outsider who's just being introduced to the situation. Do I get my point across effectively?

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To the editor:

For almost a full year, graduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have been bargaining with the administration for a new contract. Graduate students do a significant portion of the teaching and research at UMass, so it is essential that we be paid fairly for our efforts. However, the current effort to win a new contract has been met with resistance from the administration at every turn.

The university's bargaining committee has argued that graduate employees should not expect to support themselves on their stipends. This is completely unrealistic. Students in graduate school generally have no other means of support: Academic demands make it almost impossible to hold a job outside the university, and the typical graduate student is no longer in a position to borrow from Mom and Dad when finances get tight. Further, many graduate students have their own families to support.

As the flagship campus of the state's public higher education system, UMass Amherst has a responsibility to make graduate education accessible and affordable. When the campus relies on graduate students to teach its classes and staff its research labs, the administration must compensate us fairly. A recent study showed that, when compared to six similar universities, UMass ranked above only the University of Maryland in terms of pay and benefits for graduate employees. Surely Massachusetts, a state known for centuries as a powerhouse of higher education, can treat its graduate student employees better.

[izzybeans]

1. We went through the same thing.

I like the letter. I would emphasize the work load aspect of your letter. Its exploitation through and through. (But of course, professors don't exploit their assistants <wink, wink, nudge, nudge>. We were able to join in with the AAUP representatives working on the professors' contracts to bargain for an increase in stipend on our behalf. We didn't get what was necessary but we got an increase to be staggered in over the course of a few years and a waiver on student fees.

Public revelations about working conditions put pressure on the admin. to come back to the table and negotiate in good faith. Perhaps a good anecdote to emphasize the importance of a livable wage would do the trick. Our grad students occupied the president's office for a day for a "grade in". During that time there were people with their children attempting to work because they couldn't afford day care on their salary and the Uni doesn't offer any to students or faculty.

I have a son and living on such minuscule wages, even with loans has become nearly impossible. I'm sure there are many similar stories at your university. Tell those to the public and the admin. will have to listen. There's nothing like a little public humiliation to bring the "ivory elite" back down to earth-just ask the president at Harvard.

[mike_c]

2. I concur with izzy-- emphasize the committment and workload....

I suspect many folks outside of academia view the portion of grad students' committment to the institution-- teaching and research, for instance-- as sort of part-time. You should also emphasize the disparity between faculty contracts and grad student contracts, and point out that faculty are utterly dependent upon grad students to do most of the labor that allows them to get tenure, keep their grants, and accomplish the institution's mission.

Good luck with your negotiations!

[Bill McBlueState]

4. thanks!

About the workload, I can say something like, "Graduate assistants are almost always paid for 20 hours per week, while they are typically expected to work two to three times that. Some teaching assistants are expected to singlehandedly teach a large lecture course on a 10-hour-per-week contract. Parents of UMass undergrads certainly want their children's instructors to devote more time than that to teaching."

[ultraist]

6. Consider adding: "while maintaining their strenous courseload"

You may also want to consider reworking the statement about ranking "only above Maryland" in pay. Frame it more negatively to say, it's nearly the lowest ranking within comparable universities. In other words, saying it ranks above makes it sound better than saying, it's nearly the lowest ranking. Framing!

I'd also omit the mom and dad comment. This implies grad students are young kids when in fact most are independent adults.

All in all, it's a great letter! Good luck

[Bill McBlueState]

3. thanks for the comments

A fee waiver would be nice. We have tuition and most fees waived, but they never mention the unwaived fees when you're in the process of deciding whether to come here. The fact that we pay about $1000 a year in unwaived fees takes us from 4th down to 6th in that list of comparable universities I mentioned.

We are planning a grade-in as well, and also emphasizing the point about trying to support a family on a stipend. It's especially hard for international students, whose spouses can't work and who can't work off-campus, period.

[izzybeans]

5. Oh cost of living too.

I also am in the Northeast. I would still be getting paid the same if I went to Ohio St. or Indiana. I only wish I was paying those rents and child care tuitions.


Another comparison to make are to places with similar stipends and lower costs of living. The fact that at my university those who choose to live in graduate student campus apartments have $35 left on their paychecks after housing deductions is pretty telling.

That $1000 dollar fee was what was waived.