NEWS & LETTERS, February - March 2009
Student jobs at stake at University of Illinois
Champaign, Ill.--As graduate student employees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plan for bargaining this spring, the university administration is clearly taking advantage of the recession and its own "fiscal crisis" in order to create a climate of fear and uncertainty on campus. A hiring freeze has already been instituted, and several mass emails have been sent out to students and faculty warning of hard times to come.
The latest attempt to scaremonger while feigning transparency came last week when Chancellor Richard Hermann held a town hall meeting to discuss the potentially drastic measures the university may have to take. He started his presentation by showing a map of the U.S. with 44 states in red to represent the state universities that are currently making cuts.
He and his hand-picked panelists spent the next 45 minutes discussing the situation in vague terms: "Core programs must be protected." "Layoffs and furloughs may be necessary." "At this stage we don't know what will happen." This was followed by questions from those in attendance, many of them union members and leaders from AFSCME representing the campus clerical workers, the Association of Academic Professionals and the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO).
The administration was forced to answer hard questions: "Are you considering pay freezes for those in the administration making the most?" "Would you be willing to commit to protecting the jobs of those lowest-paid workers on campus?" The answers to these questions involved a lot of sidestepping and avoidance of specifics.
As part of its plan for generating income, the university presented a proposal in January for reducing appointments that generate tuition waivers for some graduate students. This means that those students who are only able to attend the university because their teaching appointment waives their tuition will now be forced out.
The plan would eliminate positions in departments that only offer terminal masters degrees, not doctorates, as well as positions in any department for teaching assistants assigned 10 hours or less of work. At present that will affect roughly a quarter of GEO members, but all members are concerned.
If the administration is allowed to do this, then it could certainly spread to those with larger appointments as well as encourage departments to change the way they offer assistantships. All positions could be reduced to ten hours if it proves to be income-generating for departments.
In light of upcoming bargaining, the GEO is in a tough spot. Many ask what good will it do to ask for a measly $2,000 raise if the university can yank our tuition waivers--that would force us to pay $15,000 in tuition when we only make $13,000 through our stipend. But is it possible to protect tuition waivers through the bargaining table? The university has always preserved its power to dictate the terms of defining appointments. Incorporating language into the contract that protects the definition of tuition waiver generating appointments will be unprecedented.
But GEO members are in it for the long haul. In its first general membership meeting of the semester, GEO members reviewed a draft of our proposed bargaining platform. It includes asking for a living wage, improving healthcare, and insuring equality for all graduate student employees. Given the current climate and the stance the university has taken, it is clear that we are in for a tough fight.
--Grad Student Union member
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