It's really simple...As it becomes a choice between feeding my baby and staying in Chicago...well there isn't really a choice is there? Smart people in their late twenties who work hard shouldn't have to worry about feeding their children.
- Jason B.
I've been following the discussions regarding funding and would like to congratulate those individuals that have kept up the good fight. Since all of this began the year I was set to leave for the job market, I was no longer being funded or located in Chicago proper. But I continue to pay registration fees while I submit my dissertation and complete my degree. Such is the gist of this email.
I think the students should ask the president, and the bursar's office, for leniency and payment plans that will NOT penalize students with late fees and other extra charges intended to get more money. Late fees here are to the tune of $50 to $100 dollars. And often times, these fees are expected to be paid in full, which is to say the whole $784 in one lump sum. My rent isn't that high, so I think the students should argue for this particular leniency.
best of luck....Si se puede!
- Jose Angel
I am an advanced Ph.D. candidate in the Divinity School. I don’t even know anymore how I fit on the SR-AR scale and think I am unlikely to see much benefit from these discussions. But there is absolutely no question that I have been delayed in my program by my need to support myself by alternative means. . .
Because I had previously been enrolled in the school, regardless of the fact that I received minimal financial support during that time, I learned in my first quarter that my package would last only two years and then would disappear. Living my first year in a 1-bedroom apartment, I spent all of my stipend on rent and had to dip into my savings for other living expenses, including health insurance. Things became difficult when my computer crashed in Spring 2003, and I had to purchase a new laptop. That summer I worked full-time as a bartender (4pm to 2am, 4 or 5 days/week). Though I intended to spend the summer studying for my qualifying exams, I was able to do very little due to my demanding work schedule and difficult hours. The following year I moved into a townhouse with 4 other students so that I could reduce my rent to about $500/month. I continued to bartend 2 nights/week through the academic year.
I have not received a stipend for the last four years. In 2004 I began working as a Resident Head for the Office of Undergraduate Student Housing. The job provides an apartment, a meal plan in the dining hall (where I argue it is very difficult to maintain a healthy diet), health care, and a small annual salary. In addition, for three years I worked every quarter as a Writing Intern in the Humanities Core (earning in 2005 the Karen Dinal Award for excellence in the teaching of writing to first-year students). I have now lectured in the Humanities Core for each of the last three quarters (though it is quite rare that someone would be hired to teach for more than one quarter in a year), and I was a lecturer in Fall 2007 in the Big Problems program. Between the Housing job and my TA and lectureships I have been able to eek out a very modest but comfortable sort of existence. I have been incredibly fortunate to get the jobs that I have.
It is difficult to count the hours that I work in the dorm and even for teaching. Between them, however, I think that I work at least full-time for the University doing jobs not associated with my degree program. I love the work, but the jobs do distract from my own research. The dorm job can be psychologically very taxing. In order to make the progress now necessary on my dissertation I feel strongly that I need to move out of my dorm living situation, but I simply don’t have the resources to pay for rent and utilities, food, health insurance – a value of probably close to $20,000. So I feel stuck by my financial situation. Moving out would require finding other work which will likely also require a great deal of time.
Only just recently have I completed my dissertation proposal. I now may be eligible for writing grants. It’s unfortunate that they are apparently available only for a single year, but I’m hopeful I might be able to get one.
- B. K.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
President Zimmer quotes from Maroon article
Zimmer pressed with students’ concerns
By Dasha Vinogradsky
Relevant Quotes:
"Zimmer also said that graduate-student funding was a top priority for the administration and that the administration is waiting for the provost’s report on graduate funding before it decides what actions to take. He added that the changes to graduate funding might not reach their final form for several years."
"In his opening remarks, Zimmer said that the University is poised to become one of the few remaining intellectually serious schools with a rigorous research environment."
"President Robert Zimmer broke bread with a group of 25 undergraduate and graduate students last Friday night at a lively dinner hosted by Student Government (S.G.). The event was a part of ongoing attempts to foster open dialogue between the U of C student body and administration that some critics believe has been conspicuously absent since Zimmer assumed office in 2006..." [Read full article at http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/article/9927]
By Dasha Vinogradsky
Relevant Quotes:
"Zimmer also said that graduate-student funding was a top priority for the administration and that the administration is waiting for the provost’s report on graduate funding before it decides what actions to take. He added that the changes to graduate funding might not reach their final form for several years."
"In his opening remarks, Zimmer said that the University is poised to become one of the few remaining intellectually serious schools with a rigorous research environment."
"President Robert Zimmer broke bread with a group of 25 undergraduate and graduate students last Friday night at a lively dinner hosted by Student Government (S.G.). The event was a part of ongoing attempts to foster open dialogue between the U of C student body and administration that some critics believe has been conspicuously absent since Zimmer assumed office in 2006..." [Read full article at http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/article/9927]
It's Time to Take Action on Graduate Funding
It's Time to Take Action on Graduate Funding
Noon
Tuesday, February 19th
Front Foyer of the Regenstein Library
Join the Graduate Council's Committee on Graduate Funding and
Graduate Students United in calling on the U of C
administration to take meaningful action on Graduate Funding.
After gathering at the Regenstein Library at noon, we will be
walking over to the Administration Building to show that more
work needs to be done on these issues. Using an apple, a
symbol of education, each of us will be able to leave a
message about how important it us for us as students and
teachers, workers and neighbors, to see change on these issues.
---
For over a year, we have been patiently waiting for the U of C
to take meaningful action on graduate funding, yet current
graduate students remain grossly underfunded. While
Northwestern University extended the benefits of a new aid
package to its current doctoral students, last year's Graduate
Aid Initiative left roughly half of us with less than $12,000
a year in stipend support and a quarter of us with less than
$5,000.
As Teaching Assistants, we have been waiting for more than
eight years for a raise. Yet TA pay remains the lowest among
peer institutions at $1,500 and teaching positions lack
healthcare and other basic benefits. While wages have remained
the same, the out-of-pocket tuition for advanced students has
consistently increased to where it is now more than half of TA
pay.
On Wednesday, February 13th, the Working Group on Graduate
Student Life in the Humanities, Social Sciences and the
Divinity School publicly released their long awaited report.
With one voice, graduate students will be calling on Provost
Thomas F. Rosenbaum to go beyond the Working Group's
recommendations to address key issues like stipend equity,
teaching pay, health insurance, summer funding, advanced
residency tuition, and support for international students.
We are also calling on Provost Rosenbaum to release his action
steps at a public forum open to all graduate students and to
continue to attend such forums to ensure that progress is made
on these issues. As graduate funding directly affects our
lives, we need to have a direct and ongoing dialogue with
those who are ultimately making decisions on these issues.
Please meet us at noon in the front foyer of the Regenstein
Library, 1100 E 57t street on February 19th.
Media contacts:
Duff Morton duffmorton@yahoo.com 773-562-3364
Toussaint Losier tlosier@uchicago.edu 215-837-4071
Noon
Tuesday, February 19th
Front Foyer of the Regenstein Library
Join the Graduate Council's Committee on Graduate Funding and
Graduate Students United in calling on the U of C
administration to take meaningful action on Graduate Funding.
After gathering at the Regenstein Library at noon, we will be
walking over to the Administration Building to show that more
work needs to be done on these issues. Using an apple, a
symbol of education, each of us will be able to leave a
message about how important it us for us as students and
teachers, workers and neighbors, to see change on these issues.
---
For over a year, we have been patiently waiting for the U of C
to take meaningful action on graduate funding, yet current
graduate students remain grossly underfunded. While
Northwestern University extended the benefits of a new aid
package to its current doctoral students, last year's Graduate
Aid Initiative left roughly half of us with less than $12,000
a year in stipend support and a quarter of us with less than
$5,000.
As Teaching Assistants, we have been waiting for more than
eight years for a raise. Yet TA pay remains the lowest among
peer institutions at $1,500 and teaching positions lack
healthcare and other basic benefits. While wages have remained
the same, the out-of-pocket tuition for advanced students has
consistently increased to where it is now more than half of TA
pay.
On Wednesday, February 13th, the Working Group on Graduate
Student Life in the Humanities, Social Sciences and the
Divinity School publicly released their long awaited report.
With one voice, graduate students will be calling on Provost
Thomas F. Rosenbaum to go beyond the Working Group's
recommendations to address key issues like stipend equity,
teaching pay, health insurance, summer funding, advanced
residency tuition, and support for international students.
We are also calling on Provost Rosenbaum to release his action
steps at a public forum open to all graduate students and to
continue to attend such forums to ensure that progress is made
on these issues. As graduate funding directly affects our
lives, we need to have a direct and ongoing dialogue with
those who are ultimately making decisions on these issues.
Please meet us at noon in the front foyer of the Regenstein
Library, 1100 E 57t street on February 19th.
Media contacts:
Duff Morton duffmorton@yahoo.com 773-562-3364
Toussaint Losier tlosier@uchicago.edu 215-837-4071
Grad Funding: The Story Thus Far
Graduate Funding: The Story Thus Far . . .
Current as of February 14, 2008
This text is intended to make more accessible the diverse activity surrounding the effort to increase funding for current graduate students at the University of Chicago, activity that is a direct response to the new funding package aimed only at new graduate students. For any students who want to get involved or want more information, this document is meant to make that effort significantly easier. I apologize in advance for omissions, errors, and bias. Please forward this document to all interested parties.
- Brian Cody, Sociology - briancody@uchicago.edu - 386.965.1974 cell
I. Upcoming Events
II. Ways to Get Involved
III. Facts and Arguments
IV. The Story Thus Far (from my perspective)
V. Links.
I. Upcoming Events (events in bold are large public events)
• February 14: Read the Provost’s Working Group Report, leave feedback for administration on the Graduate Council Blog (http://sg.uchicago.edu/blog/category/assembly/gc/)
• February 18: Meeting with Provost about increased University commitments for current graduate students that go beyond the Provost’s Working Group Recommendations (closed meeting)
• February 19: Taking Action for Graduate Funding (large public event, noon at Regenstein)
• February: Documentary being made - contact Neal Patel (nhpatel@uchicago.edu)
• February: Press releases, push for articles, other promotional activities – contact Jenn Gregory (jaegregory@uchicago.edu)
• March 5: Rally for Graduate Funding (large public event, main quad 11:30am-1:30pm)
II. Ways to Get Involved
• Show up at upcoming events (above)
• Graduate Council’s Graduate Funding Committee (GCGFC) - focused on large-scale initiative to include current graduate students in the fellowship initiative, expand health insurance, improve teaching compensation/opportunities, international student funding, summer funding opportunities, advanced student tuition/fees remission, and dissertation writing support - email Averill Leslie (averill.leslie@gmail.com)
• Graduate Student Union (GSU) – focused on increasing teaching pay and teaching opportunities, expanded health insurance, and advanced student tuition/fees remission - email Duff Morton (duffmorton@yahoo.com) or Megan Wade (meganw@uchicago.edu)
• Graduate Council – formal student government, all issues of student, academic, and institutional life - email Anthony Green, President (ahgreen@uchicago.edu) or Erica Simmons, Graduate Liason to the Board of Trustees (ericas@uchicago.edu)
• Promotions and Design Work - support all efforts of communicating the graduate funding issue with the wider public - email Jenn Gregory (jaegregory@uchicago.edu) or Neal Patel (nhpatel@uchicago.edu)
III. Facts and Arguments
• Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
The logic behind the University’s new funding package applies to current students as well as new students: better scholarship, faster time to degree, more systematic teaching opportunities. President Zimmer was clear on the intent behind this initiative, and the university needs to become an advocate for students so it can achieve the goal the initiative set for ALL students across Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Divinity School. This means:
1. Inclusion into the new funding initiative for all graduate students years 1-5
2. Higher teaching pay, more opportunities, and health insurance for TAs
3. Increased dissertation support
4. Help international students’ situation
Whether this means finding funding, changing priorities, or raising new money, the administration needs to make a serious effort to make this happen if the University of Chicago is to improve and achieve the vision President Zimmer set out for the Graduate Aid Initiative.
• Funding Sources
The NACUBO endowment report for 2007 ranks the University of Chicago as the 13th largest endowment in the nation with $6,204,189,000 and 27.5% growth from 2006. Only 3 universities on the list reported a bigger growth last year than us. This huge increase could be put to improve scholarship among current graduate students rather than just new students and new buildings. Current graduate students need to be made a priority rather than being told “we can’t seem to find the money.”
• Cost of Living
Current students may feel lucky to be receiving a stipend of $3,000, $5,000, or even $10,000, but all of these packages fall dramatically short of the estimated cost of living for the nine-month academic year at the University of Chicago, currently estimated at $19,560. New students receive $19,000 a year which puts them much closer to the cost of living, through still well below the estimated cost of living for the twelve-month calendar year, estimated at $26,080.
• Precedents for including current students
Northwestern University implemented a very similar graduate aid initiative in January 2008 and included current students of their own choice without the need for student protests. The funding for all students in the Northwestern Graduate School is uniform across divisions, with the exception of the sciences. The new changes include increases to stipends, summer funding, health insurance, and TA availability for current students, as well as improved ways to monitor students' progression towards degree. The philosophy behind many of these improvements seems consistent with those articulated in the recent report from the Provost’s Working Group.
• Teaching Pay
• The University of Chicago pays $1500 for 10 weeks as a Teaching Assistant. This has not increased in 7 years while tuition and cost of living has increased.
• Harvard pays almost $7,000.00 (4.5 times) more than the U of C (20 hour/11 Week).
• Northwestern pays almost $4,000 more than the Univ. of Chicago (20 hour/11 Week).
• Columbia College pays almost $1,500 more than the U of C (20 hour/11 Week).
• Teaching Opportunities
Due to the Graduate Aid Initiative, Teaching Assistantships will be mandatory for all incoming graduate students. In a matter of one year, it will be impossible to fill TA-ships with an even marginal percentage of current students. Raising teaching salaries will, unfortunately, have a minimal effect on the approximately 1,000 current graduate students who are currently under-funded. There simply aren’t enough undergraduates to go around, so additional teaching opportunities are needed to properly train our future educators at the University of Chicago.
• Artificially Limiting the Discussion
The scope of the Provost’s recommendations are expected to be small ($500k-$2 million) and not include a serious initiative to raise the money needed to fully cover all Social Science, Humanities, and Divinity School students, even though President Zimmer initially told graduate students that no options were off the table. In Spring 2007, the Provost convened the Working Group on Graduate Student Life in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Divinity. Students in this group did meet with Provost Rosenbaum to discuss the possibility of new forms of aid, and the Provost suggested that new financial resources might be found. This approach has been abandoned without explanation or rationale.
• Dissertation Support
Neither new incoming students nor current students have sufficient resources for dissertation-writing support. Millions need to be raised for more endowed dissertation writing grants to support graduate students during this critical time of researching and producing new knowledge.
IV. The Story Thus Far
• February 7, 2007: An email goes out from President Zimmer announcing a new Graduate Aid Initiative that gives all future incoming graduate students in the Humanities and the Social Sciences five years of funding ($19k/year) plus two summer stipends ($3k/summer); total cost is $50 million. Current students get health insurance through their fifth year; total cost is $2 million. Divinity School students are not included in the main fellowship portion of the initiative. (see original Zimmer email under “Links”)
• The stated goals of the initiative were to respond to “our obligation to support these programs at the highest level, allowing us to continue to attract emerging scholars who will shape academic fields and set the intellectual agenda in the decades to come” as well as “to allow students to engage their work at a more intensive level, with one result being a shortening of the time to complete degree requirements.” The program also “systematizes opportunities for students to develop a range of teaching experiences” and responds to calls “from faculty that a significant increase in graduate student support should be the highest priority for the Humanities and Social Sciences” (quotes from Zimmer email). Even though the same logic applies to them, current graduate students are not included in the initiative.
• February 28, 2007: At an open meeting with Deputy Provost Martha Roth, current graduate students express confusion and anger over not being given additional resources so they too could improve scholarship quality, shorten time to degree, have more meaningful teaching opportunities, and have funding that matches the cost of living in Hyde Park.
• March 2007: Ad-hoc group of students get together to advocate for graduate funding after meetings with Martha Roth (later becomes GCGFC)
• March 6, 2007: Provost Rosenbaum announces 30 new summer fellowships (increased to 40 later); 270 people apply by deadline, demonstrating the need for more financial support for current students.
• April 23, 2007: Open forum with Provost’s administrative staff. Students launch survey to see where graduate students perceive need for aid. 600 responses total.
• April 24, 2007: Erica Simmons, an early member of the ad-hoc student group and strong advocate of increased graduate aid, wins election as the Graduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees
• April-May, 2007: Graduate students meet with division Deans and central administration to better understand the logic of not including current students, and what could be done.
• May 2, 2007: Three students from the ad-hoc group present a proposal to President Zimmerman, Provost Rosenbaum, VP David Green, Deputy Provost Martha Roth and Deputy Dean for Student Affairs Martina Munsters. The proposal calls for full inclusion of current graduate students in the new initiative based on cost of living and the stated goals of the program (stipends, summer support, health insurance, advanced residency tuition waivers, increased teaching pay, and increased funding for international students). The only thing explicitly rejected is guaranteed support for students through their twelfth year.
• May 2, 2007: In response to student proposal, the Provost’s Ad-Hoc Committee is formed with graduate students and administrators to study the issue of increased funding for current students. Committee members: Alison Winter, Chair (Associate Professor of History), Brian Clites (third-year graduate student in History of Religions), David Martinez (Associate Professor of Classics), Martina Munsters (Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs), Rachel Ponce (fifth-year graduate student in History and CHSS), Thomas Thuerer (Dean of Students, Division of Humanities), Greg Weinstein (fifth-year graduate student in Music).
• May 2007: The ad-hoc student group gains official recognition as the Graduate Council’s Graduate Funding Committee (GCGFC). [Note: this is the ‘official’ acronym according to the Graduate Council records, though GCCGF and GCCGA have also been used].
• May 2007: The Graduate Student Union (GSU) begins organizing events focused on unionizing, improving teaching salaries, and improved access to affordable health care.
• June-September 2007: Provost committee works on the issue of graduate funding throughout the summer. Erica Simmons presents information to the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees on the funding situation for current students, informed them of the charge of the provost committee, and discussed the challenges graduate students face as a result of limited financial support from the University.
• September-December 2007: GCGFC pushes for more funding, Maroon article comes out about continuing student frustration, students are told to wait for the Provost committee report to be released.
• December 8, 2007: Erica Simmons presents information to the Trustees on teaching compensation for graduate students including statistics that compared the U of C to peer and local institutions. Trustees were particularly concerned to hear that our graduate students were taking teaching positions at other local universities because of the difference in compensation rates. They were equally alarmed to hear that the U of C had fallen so far behind its peers.
• December 2007: Members of the provost committee share their initial findings with a limited number of graduate students. Final report, including a separate graduate student addendum expressing concern, is submitted.
• January 14, 2008: Provost committee report (draft form) comes to light. Students decry the narrowness of the Provost’s recommendations over email and at GCGFC/GSU meetings.
• January 28, 2008: GC forum with Deputy Provost Cohen. Presents draft recommendations of the Provost committee. Students ask how much money the Provost is looking at, no clear answer though told anywhere from $500,000 upwards (though not too much upwards). Report clearly does not consider full 5-year fellowships for all current students to be an option, and the scope of proposed recommendations is very narrow.
• February 6, 2008: Open forum w/ Cathy Cohen (Deputy Provost), Martina Munsters (Deputy Dean of Students in the University for Student Affairs), and Kimberly Goff-Crews (Vice President and Dean of Students in the University). Over 100 graduate students attend, many angry speeches concerning the lack of funding across the life of graduate work, as well as the lack of prioritization on the part of the University to find or raise money for current students. The sizeable increase in the University of Chicago endowment was noted as one possible source for funding current students, which was reported to be an average of around $13 million a year over the next 4 years (total: $54.2 million).
• February 8, 2008: GCGFC group has meeting with Provost’s staff. Focused on full coverage instead of the report recommendations because the report is too narrow. Agreed to smaller meeting (4-6 students) to discus larger funding issue rather than a large-group forum to discuss the Provost recommendation report only.
• February 13, 2008: Provost committee report “officially” comes out, all the options are limited and do not address large-scale inclusion of current graduate students in the initiative (see Links, “Provost’s Working Group Report”). Students meet to plan ways of gaining administrative support to advocate on their behalf for additional support.
V. Links
Original Email from President Zimmer Announcing Graduate Aid Initiative
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070207.graduate.shtml
Provost’s Working Group Report
http://sg.uchicago.edu/gradcouncil/docs/GSLWorkingGroupReport.pdf
Northwestern University - New Graduate Funding Package (January 2008)
http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/docs/N.W.G.S_strplan08Finalnew.pdf
NACUBO University Endowment Report
http://www.nacubo.org/Images/All%20Institutions%20Listed%20by%20FY%202007%20Market%20Value%20of%20Endowment%20Assets_2007%20NES.pdf
Maroon Article - 11/13/2007
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2007/11/13/grad-students-keep-up-calls-for-funding/
Maroon Article - 02/01/2008
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2008/02/01/graduate-aid-study-group-preps-report/
Funding Initiative Blog – “U of C Blogspot”
http://uofcgradfunding.blogspot.com/
Graduate Council Blog
http://sg.uchicago.edu/blog/category/assembly/gc/
Current as of February 14, 2008
This text is intended to make more accessible the diverse activity surrounding the effort to increase funding for current graduate students at the University of Chicago, activity that is a direct response to the new funding package aimed only at new graduate students. For any students who want to get involved or want more information, this document is meant to make that effort significantly easier. I apologize in advance for omissions, errors, and bias. Please forward this document to all interested parties.
- Brian Cody, Sociology - briancody@uchicago.edu - 386.965.1974 cell
I. Upcoming Events
II. Ways to Get Involved
III. Facts and Arguments
IV. The Story Thus Far (from my perspective)
V. Links.
I. Upcoming Events (events in bold are large public events)
• February 14: Read the Provost’s Working Group Report, leave feedback for administration on the Graduate Council Blog (http://sg.uchicago.edu/blog/category/assembly/gc/)
• February 18: Meeting with Provost about increased University commitments for current graduate students that go beyond the Provost’s Working Group Recommendations (closed meeting)
• February 19: Taking Action for Graduate Funding (large public event, noon at Regenstein)
• February: Documentary being made - contact Neal Patel (nhpatel@uchicago.edu)
• February: Press releases, push for articles, other promotional activities – contact Jenn Gregory (jaegregory@uchicago.edu)
• March 5: Rally for Graduate Funding (large public event, main quad 11:30am-1:30pm)
II. Ways to Get Involved
• Show up at upcoming events (above)
• Graduate Council’s Graduate Funding Committee (GCGFC) - focused on large-scale initiative to include current graduate students in the fellowship initiative, expand health insurance, improve teaching compensation/opportunities, international student funding, summer funding opportunities, advanced student tuition/fees remission, and dissertation writing support - email Averill Leslie (averill.leslie@gmail.com)
• Graduate Student Union (GSU) – focused on increasing teaching pay and teaching opportunities, expanded health insurance, and advanced student tuition/fees remission - email Duff Morton (duffmorton@yahoo.com) or Megan Wade (meganw@uchicago.edu)
• Graduate Council – formal student government, all issues of student, academic, and institutional life - email Anthony Green, President (ahgreen@uchicago.edu) or Erica Simmons, Graduate Liason to the Board of Trustees (ericas@uchicago.edu)
• Promotions and Design Work - support all efforts of communicating the graduate funding issue with the wider public - email Jenn Gregory (jaegregory@uchicago.edu) or Neal Patel (nhpatel@uchicago.edu)
III. Facts and Arguments
• Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
The logic behind the University’s new funding package applies to current students as well as new students: better scholarship, faster time to degree, more systematic teaching opportunities. President Zimmer was clear on the intent behind this initiative, and the university needs to become an advocate for students so it can achieve the goal the initiative set for ALL students across Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Divinity School. This means:
1. Inclusion into the new funding initiative for all graduate students years 1-5
2. Higher teaching pay, more opportunities, and health insurance for TAs
3. Increased dissertation support
4. Help international students’ situation
Whether this means finding funding, changing priorities, or raising new money, the administration needs to make a serious effort to make this happen if the University of Chicago is to improve and achieve the vision President Zimmer set out for the Graduate Aid Initiative.
• Funding Sources
The NACUBO endowment report for 2007 ranks the University of Chicago as the 13th largest endowment in the nation with $6,204,189,000 and 27.5% growth from 2006. Only 3 universities on the list reported a bigger growth last year than us. This huge increase could be put to improve scholarship among current graduate students rather than just new students and new buildings. Current graduate students need to be made a priority rather than being told “we can’t seem to find the money.”
• Cost of Living
Current students may feel lucky to be receiving a stipend of $3,000, $5,000, or even $10,000, but all of these packages fall dramatically short of the estimated cost of living for the nine-month academic year at the University of Chicago, currently estimated at $19,560. New students receive $19,000 a year which puts them much closer to the cost of living, through still well below the estimated cost of living for the twelve-month calendar year, estimated at $26,080.
• Precedents for including current students
Northwestern University implemented a very similar graduate aid initiative in January 2008 and included current students of their own choice without the need for student protests. The funding for all students in the Northwestern Graduate School is uniform across divisions, with the exception of the sciences. The new changes include increases to stipends, summer funding, health insurance, and TA availability for current students, as well as improved ways to monitor students' progression towards degree. The philosophy behind many of these improvements seems consistent with those articulated in the recent report from the Provost’s Working Group.
• Teaching Pay
• The University of Chicago pays $1500 for 10 weeks as a Teaching Assistant. This has not increased in 7 years while tuition and cost of living has increased.
• Harvard pays almost $7,000.00 (4.5 times) more than the U of C (20 hour/11 Week).
• Northwestern pays almost $4,000 more than the Univ. of Chicago (20 hour/11 Week).
• Columbia College pays almost $1,500 more than the U of C (20 hour/11 Week).
• Teaching Opportunities
Due to the Graduate Aid Initiative, Teaching Assistantships will be mandatory for all incoming graduate students. In a matter of one year, it will be impossible to fill TA-ships with an even marginal percentage of current students. Raising teaching salaries will, unfortunately, have a minimal effect on the approximately 1,000 current graduate students who are currently under-funded. There simply aren’t enough undergraduates to go around, so additional teaching opportunities are needed to properly train our future educators at the University of Chicago.
• Artificially Limiting the Discussion
The scope of the Provost’s recommendations are expected to be small ($500k-$2 million) and not include a serious initiative to raise the money needed to fully cover all Social Science, Humanities, and Divinity School students, even though President Zimmer initially told graduate students that no options were off the table. In Spring 2007, the Provost convened the Working Group on Graduate Student Life in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Divinity. Students in this group did meet with Provost Rosenbaum to discuss the possibility of new forms of aid, and the Provost suggested that new financial resources might be found. This approach has been abandoned without explanation or rationale.
• Dissertation Support
Neither new incoming students nor current students have sufficient resources for dissertation-writing support. Millions need to be raised for more endowed dissertation writing grants to support graduate students during this critical time of researching and producing new knowledge.
IV. The Story Thus Far
• February 7, 2007: An email goes out from President Zimmer announcing a new Graduate Aid Initiative that gives all future incoming graduate students in the Humanities and the Social Sciences five years of funding ($19k/year) plus two summer stipends ($3k/summer); total cost is $50 million. Current students get health insurance through their fifth year; total cost is $2 million. Divinity School students are not included in the main fellowship portion of the initiative. (see original Zimmer email under “Links”)
• The stated goals of the initiative were to respond to “our obligation to support these programs at the highest level, allowing us to continue to attract emerging scholars who will shape academic fields and set the intellectual agenda in the decades to come” as well as “to allow students to engage their work at a more intensive level, with one result being a shortening of the time to complete degree requirements.” The program also “systematizes opportunities for students to develop a range of teaching experiences” and responds to calls “from faculty that a significant increase in graduate student support should be the highest priority for the Humanities and Social Sciences” (quotes from Zimmer email). Even though the same logic applies to them, current graduate students are not included in the initiative.
• February 28, 2007: At an open meeting with Deputy Provost Martha Roth, current graduate students express confusion and anger over not being given additional resources so they too could improve scholarship quality, shorten time to degree, have more meaningful teaching opportunities, and have funding that matches the cost of living in Hyde Park.
• March 2007: Ad-hoc group of students get together to advocate for graduate funding after meetings with Martha Roth (later becomes GCGFC)
• March 6, 2007: Provost Rosenbaum announces 30 new summer fellowships (increased to 40 later); 270 people apply by deadline, demonstrating the need for more financial support for current students.
• April 23, 2007: Open forum with Provost’s administrative staff. Students launch survey to see where graduate students perceive need for aid. 600 responses total.
• April 24, 2007: Erica Simmons, an early member of the ad-hoc student group and strong advocate of increased graduate aid, wins election as the Graduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees
• April-May, 2007: Graduate students meet with division Deans and central administration to better understand the logic of not including current students, and what could be done.
• May 2, 2007: Three students from the ad-hoc group present a proposal to President Zimmerman, Provost Rosenbaum, VP David Green, Deputy Provost Martha Roth and Deputy Dean for Student Affairs Martina Munsters. The proposal calls for full inclusion of current graduate students in the new initiative based on cost of living and the stated goals of the program (stipends, summer support, health insurance, advanced residency tuition waivers, increased teaching pay, and increased funding for international students). The only thing explicitly rejected is guaranteed support for students through their twelfth year.
• May 2, 2007: In response to student proposal, the Provost’s Ad-Hoc Committee is formed with graduate students and administrators to study the issue of increased funding for current students. Committee members: Alison Winter, Chair (Associate Professor of History), Brian Clites (third-year graduate student in History of Religions), David Martinez (Associate Professor of Classics), Martina Munsters (Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs), Rachel Ponce (fifth-year graduate student in History and CHSS), Thomas Thuerer (Dean of Students, Division of Humanities), Greg Weinstein (fifth-year graduate student in Music).
• May 2007: The ad-hoc student group gains official recognition as the Graduate Council’s Graduate Funding Committee (GCGFC). [Note: this is the ‘official’ acronym according to the Graduate Council records, though GCCGF and GCCGA have also been used].
• May 2007: The Graduate Student Union (GSU) begins organizing events focused on unionizing, improving teaching salaries, and improved access to affordable health care.
• June-September 2007: Provost committee works on the issue of graduate funding throughout the summer. Erica Simmons presents information to the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees on the funding situation for current students, informed them of the charge of the provost committee, and discussed the challenges graduate students face as a result of limited financial support from the University.
• September-December 2007: GCGFC pushes for more funding, Maroon article comes out about continuing student frustration, students are told to wait for the Provost committee report to be released.
• December 8, 2007: Erica Simmons presents information to the Trustees on teaching compensation for graduate students including statistics that compared the U of C to peer and local institutions. Trustees were particularly concerned to hear that our graduate students were taking teaching positions at other local universities because of the difference in compensation rates. They were equally alarmed to hear that the U of C had fallen so far behind its peers.
• December 2007: Members of the provost committee share their initial findings with a limited number of graduate students. Final report, including a separate graduate student addendum expressing concern, is submitted.
• January 14, 2008: Provost committee report (draft form) comes to light. Students decry the narrowness of the Provost’s recommendations over email and at GCGFC/GSU meetings.
• January 28, 2008: GC forum with Deputy Provost Cohen. Presents draft recommendations of the Provost committee. Students ask how much money the Provost is looking at, no clear answer though told anywhere from $500,000 upwards (though not too much upwards). Report clearly does not consider full 5-year fellowships for all current students to be an option, and the scope of proposed recommendations is very narrow.
• February 6, 2008: Open forum w/ Cathy Cohen (Deputy Provost), Martina Munsters (Deputy Dean of Students in the University for Student Affairs), and Kimberly Goff-Crews (Vice President and Dean of Students in the University). Over 100 graduate students attend, many angry speeches concerning the lack of funding across the life of graduate work, as well as the lack of prioritization on the part of the University to find or raise money for current students. The sizeable increase in the University of Chicago endowment was noted as one possible source for funding current students, which was reported to be an average of around $13 million a year over the next 4 years (total: $54.2 million).
• February 8, 2008: GCGFC group has meeting with Provost’s staff. Focused on full coverage instead of the report recommendations because the report is too narrow. Agreed to smaller meeting (4-6 students) to discus larger funding issue rather than a large-group forum to discuss the Provost recommendation report only.
• February 13, 2008: Provost committee report “officially” comes out, all the options are limited and do not address large-scale inclusion of current graduate students in the initiative (see Links, “Provost’s Working Group Report”). Students meet to plan ways of gaining administrative support to advocate on their behalf for additional support.
V. Links
Original Email from President Zimmer Announcing Graduate Aid Initiative
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070207.graduate.shtml
Provost’s Working Group Report
http://sg.uchicago.edu/gradcouncil/docs/GSLWorkingGroupReport.pdf
Northwestern University - New Graduate Funding Package (January 2008)
http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/docs/N.W.G.S_strplan08Finalnew.pdf
NACUBO University Endowment Report
http://www.nacubo.org/Images/All%20Institutions%20Listed%20by%20FY%202007%20Market%20Value%20of%20Endowment%20Assets_2007%20NES.pdf
Maroon Article - 11/13/2007
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2007/11/13/grad-students-keep-up-calls-for-funding/
Maroon Article - 02/01/2008
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2008/02/01/graduate-aid-study-group-preps-report/
Funding Initiative Blog – “U of C Blogspot”
http://uofcgradfunding.blogspot.com/
Graduate Council Blog
http://sg.uchicago.edu/blog/category/assembly/gc/
Monday, October 8, 2007
How the Proposal Will Work
I wanted to share with you all a point of clarification that came up during our last meeting when I expressed some concern that we were limiting ourselves in terms of trying to stick within the provost's offered 'budget.' It seems that what is commonly done when committees write recommendations to the university is not that they offer just one short list of unanimously agreed upon recommendations, but rather the proposal includes a variety of the ideas discussed by the committee, including those that the committee may ultimately decided not to recommend. This means that in our proposal we should able to make mention of even the prohibitively expensive ideas, even if the committee decides to ultimately 'recommend' a more moderate version. I know that might not sound like much of an improvement, I do think it will give Greg, Brian, and I a little wiggle room to strongly encourage the Provost to consider some things that would exceed his ideal budget for us.
I think we'll have a better sense of how much/little we will be able to pack into this report after our next meeting on the 22nd when we start to actually draft some sections of our report.
I think we'll have a better sense of how much/little we will be able to pack into this report after our next meeting on the 22nd when we start to actually draft some sections of our report.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Add Our Calendar
Hi Everyone,
As things get rolling for the fall, you can keep track of meetings and events by downloading our Google Calendar.
Just click the button in the upper right hand corner and you should get linked right to it.
Stay tuned for further updates...
As things get rolling for the fall, you can keep track of meetings and events by downloading our Google Calendar.
Just click the button in the upper right hand corner and you should get linked right to it.
Stay tuned for further updates...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
A Quick Response to Some Concerns
1. Fundraising
Contrary to what's been going around on the list, the problem is not that the university isn't concerned with fundraising! What we have been told repeatedly by several different administrators is that it is always extremely difficult to raise money for graduate student aid. This is not a problem just confined to this university (although this university does have specific fundraising difficulties because of the relatively small undergraduate population it has now, as well as historically). Moreover, fundraising drives take years, so even if the university decided right now to undertake a massive fundraising campaign for graduate students, it wouldn't really help with our immediate situation. So as far as fundraising it concerned, its kind of a moot point unless anyone has some very specific ideas about where large sums of money could be raised quickly. This is not to say that more general fundraising suggestions won't be helpdul for the long term--I just want folks to keep it in perspective that a fundraising campaign will not solve our current woes.
2. Faculty
Faculty support for our cause would, I think, be helpful, but perhaps only in a limited sense. That is, the letters of general support that we got form some departments is certainly helpful, but unless faculty are actually willing to really pressure the admin on our behalf, I don't know how far that will get us. But by all means if you know faculty who might actually 'campaign' for improved gard funding, by all means pass us their names. Even better, if you know any faculty who would be willing to sign on to a voluntary 1-2% pay cut to put in a graduate aid fund, get them to speak out. I suspect it would completely embarass the admin if faculty were willing to pay out of their own pockets to help our efforts.
3. Unions and applying pressure to the admin
Greg, Brian, Averill, Erica and I chatted recently about the situation of things so far, and I can assure you that we're all trying to develop strategies to make our point about the necessity of improving graduate student aid from a lot of different angles. Erica is committed to working with us in putting this matter before the Trustees, and Averill is serving as something of the summer stand-in for Dave on GC/union matters. Frankly, I don't think we need to be worried about these things not being in an especially good state of organization over the summer. Right now, our work with the Committee is still going ahead, even if it doesn't always look all that promising, but we are not anywhere near having our backs against the wall at this point. I think that if we need to apply a little external pressure, we'll have plenty of time to do that come fall. And even if the whole unionization movement won't be in a position to extert any pressure until much later, even with minimal organization I believe we will be able to use the threat of unionization to our advantage if need be.
4. Overall attitude
I just want to say that while I have been, and still am to some extent, a bit pessimistic about this process, I don't want that to be confused with the university taking an "obsructionist" attitude. A lot of the people we've spoken too, including Provost Rosenbaum and most of the regular members of our committee, really do want to do something to improve the current situation. The challenge I think is really about thinking outside of the box and coming up with ways to stretch and finesse the little money we have, and ways to make persuasively appeal to the university's academic ideology. This will be a difficult task, but I don't think we need to get the Molotov cocktails ready just yet.
We've got our last meeting for several weeks tomorrow. Updates to come!
Contrary to what's been going around on the list, the problem is not that the university isn't concerned with fundraising! What we have been told repeatedly by several different administrators is that it is always extremely difficult to raise money for graduate student aid. This is not a problem just confined to this university (although this university does have specific fundraising difficulties because of the relatively small undergraduate population it has now, as well as historically). Moreover, fundraising drives take years, so even if the university decided right now to undertake a massive fundraising campaign for graduate students, it wouldn't really help with our immediate situation. So as far as fundraising it concerned, its kind of a moot point unless anyone has some very specific ideas about where large sums of money could be raised quickly. This is not to say that more general fundraising suggestions won't be helpdul for the long term--I just want folks to keep it in perspective that a fundraising campaign will not solve our current woes.
2. Faculty
Faculty support for our cause would, I think, be helpful, but perhaps only in a limited sense. That is, the letters of general support that we got form some departments is certainly helpful, but unless faculty are actually willing to really pressure the admin on our behalf, I don't know how far that will get us. But by all means if you know faculty who might actually 'campaign' for improved gard funding, by all means pass us their names. Even better, if you know any faculty who would be willing to sign on to a voluntary 1-2% pay cut to put in a graduate aid fund, get them to speak out. I suspect it would completely embarass the admin if faculty were willing to pay out of their own pockets to help our efforts.
3. Unions and applying pressure to the admin
Greg, Brian, Averill, Erica and I chatted recently about the situation of things so far, and I can assure you that we're all trying to develop strategies to make our point about the necessity of improving graduate student aid from a lot of different angles. Erica is committed to working with us in putting this matter before the Trustees, and Averill is serving as something of the summer stand-in for Dave on GC/union matters. Frankly, I don't think we need to be worried about these things not being in an especially good state of organization over the summer. Right now, our work with the Committee is still going ahead, even if it doesn't always look all that promising, but we are not anywhere near having our backs against the wall at this point. I think that if we need to apply a little external pressure, we'll have plenty of time to do that come fall. And even if the whole unionization movement won't be in a position to extert any pressure until much later, even with minimal organization I believe we will be able to use the threat of unionization to our advantage if need be.
4. Overall attitude
I just want to say that while I have been, and still am to some extent, a bit pessimistic about this process, I don't want that to be confused with the university taking an "obsructionist" attitude. A lot of the people we've spoken too, including Provost Rosenbaum and most of the regular members of our committee, really do want to do something to improve the current situation. The challenge I think is really about thinking outside of the box and coming up with ways to stretch and finesse the little money we have, and ways to make persuasively appeal to the university's academic ideology. This will be a difficult task, but I don't think we need to get the Molotov cocktails ready just yet.
We've got our last meeting for several weeks tomorrow. Updates to come!
Comments by Jenn
I met with the people setting up the grad union initiative. The first concern it has been decided is to try and generate enough representation from the various departments. This means that it is pretty much back to square one and not in any position to be able to start leaning on the admin any time soon.
It seems to me the problem is that the admin continues to ignore our importance in the framework of this university. Given what the values of the admin are this means they don't see us as
a) going to give them money in future years
b) going to either hurt or help their reputation
I think in order to get them to move on these issues we need to prove them wrong. I would suggest the following.
a) we need to make it clear that the reason past alums don't give is that they are too poor and too pissed off to be interested in this and the university could benefit by ending this line of thought
b) bring a motion to the faculty senate (or whatever similar body we have) to support the funding of current students
c) talk to current donners who do contribute and try to get them to not donate unless the university agrees to really address the inequality amoung its current students.
Lastly on the 'there isn't currently enough money issue'. Someone suggested to me that we could ask the university to promise raise funds for loan forgiveness in the future. This iniative would both give the university time to raise money and target those who suffered most under the current funding plan.
It seems to me the problem is that the admin continues to ignore our importance in the framework of this university. Given what the values of the admin are this means they don't see us as
a) going to give them money in future years
b) going to either hurt or help their reputation
I think in order to get them to move on these issues we need to prove them wrong. I would suggest the following.
a) we need to make it clear that the reason past alums don't give is that they are too poor and too pissed off to be interested in this and the university could benefit by ending this line of thought
b) bring a motion to the faculty senate (or whatever similar body we have) to support the funding of current students
c) talk to current donners who do contribute and try to get them to not donate unless the university agrees to really address the inequality amoung its current students.
Lastly on the 'there isn't currently enough money issue'. Someone suggested to me that we could ask the university to promise raise funds for loan forgiveness in the future. This iniative would both give the university time to raise money and target those who suffered most under the current funding plan.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
First Grad Life Committee Meeting
Greetings gang!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
Greg, Brian, and I just wanted to give you some brief updates about The Committee on Grad Life (I think that’s what their calling us) since we had our first meeting on Tuesday.
First the committee members:
(chair) Alison Winter: History/ CHSS
David Martinez: Classics/Divinity School
Thomas Thuerer: Dean of Students, Humanities
Martina Munsters: Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs
The first meeting was really about introducing the issues. Alison began by saying that most of our activity over the last quarter was news to the faculty, so she wanted to hear from us what our concerns were. We proceeded to go over our proposal, which Martina had already provided for everyone present.
By far the most discussion was generated about teaching, I think because everyone present was shocked to learn that teaching salaries had not changed over the last nine years. There also seems to be some support for increased grants and competitive funding, and Martina and Tom have promised to bring figures for our next meeting on how many people have been applying for things like the Provost Summer Stipend and The Doolittle-Harrison Travel Grant, versus how many people actually get these things. But both already seemed aware that the number of students applying for these things and the amount of funds available were hugely out of proportion, which only helps our case.
These are just the things that seemed to draw the most positive reactions and I do want to point out that nothing we brought up was rejected outright. That having been said, it still looks like we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us. But our next meeting with Simrit Dhesi from the budget office, Patrick Hall, the dean of students in the Social Sciences, and Terri Owen, the dean of students in the Divinity School, will give us (students and faculty) a sense of where money for these initiatives might come from, as well as give us a genuine sense of the feasibility of some of our proposed changes.
In short, things look promising right now, even if there isn’t much new to report. I do believe there is a genuine spirit of cooperation in the room, even if we’re all coming at these issues from very different perspectives.
As I mentioned before, in the next few meetings Martina is going to do some data gathering for us, which I think will show that student need has increased while funding opportunities from the University have been unable to meet the higher demands. It would be really great if we could present some of our own data from the student survey in return. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone from the Grad Life/Survey Data Committee done more analysis on our data since our presentations in May?
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
Greg, Brian, and I just wanted to give you some brief updates about The Committee on Grad Life (I think that’s what their calling us) since we had our first meeting on Tuesday.
First the committee members:
(chair) Alison Winter: History/ CHSS
David Martinez: Classics/Divinity School
Thomas Thuerer: Dean of Students, Humanities
Martina Munsters: Deputy Dean of Students for Student Affairs
The first meeting was really about introducing the issues. Alison began by saying that most of our activity over the last quarter was news to the faculty, so she wanted to hear from us what our concerns were. We proceeded to go over our proposal, which Martina had already provided for everyone present.
By far the most discussion was generated about teaching, I think because everyone present was shocked to learn that teaching salaries had not changed over the last nine years. There also seems to be some support for increased grants and competitive funding, and Martina and Tom have promised to bring figures for our next meeting on how many people have been applying for things like the Provost Summer Stipend and The Doolittle-Harrison Travel Grant, versus how many people actually get these things. But both already seemed aware that the number of students applying for these things and the amount of funds available were hugely out of proportion, which only helps our case.
These are just the things that seemed to draw the most positive reactions and I do want to point out that nothing we brought up was rejected outright. That having been said, it still looks like we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us. But our next meeting with Simrit Dhesi from the budget office, Patrick Hall, the dean of students in the Social Sciences, and Terri Owen, the dean of students in the Divinity School, will give us (students and faculty) a sense of where money for these initiatives might come from, as well as give us a genuine sense of the feasibility of some of our proposed changes.
In short, things look promising right now, even if there isn’t much new to report. I do believe there is a genuine spirit of cooperation in the room, even if we’re all coming at these issues from very different perspectives.
As I mentioned before, in the next few meetings Martina is going to do some data gathering for us, which I think will show that student need has increased while funding opportunities from the University have been unable to meet the higher demands. It would be really great if we could present some of our own data from the student survey in return. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone from the Grad Life/Survey Data Committee done more analysis on our data since our presentations in May?
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