UT graduate student workers hold 'grade-in,' rally for higher wages

Graduate student workers at the University of Texas held a daylong “grade-in” Tuesday to raise awareness about their claims of low wages amid the rising cost of living in Austin.

Students and other supporters chanted and rallied outside the UT Tower, calling for higher pay while holding signs that read “Pay grad workers a living wage” and “Academia isn’t a calling. It’s a job,” among others. After the brief rally Tuesday morning they sat in the lobby of UT’s Life Science Library and worked and graded papers until 5 p.m.

Underpaid@UT, a student-led coalition that advocates for better working conditions for graduate student workers, organized the rally and grade-in. UT administrators prohibited all media, including the American-Statesman, from entering the Tower to observe and report on the grade-in, since it was within a campus building.

Before the grade-in, the coalition published a letter to Sharon Wood, UT’s executive vice president and provost, calling for graduate student worker stipends to be increased to $36,317 per year, annual cost of living adjustments, an audit of UT health care coverage and pausing cost increases to rent at UT-owned graduate student housing. The coalition delivered it to the provost’s chief of staff Tuesday.

The letter cited a student-led report on a series of surveys of at least 634 graduate students at UT, which found that several students reported high costs for expenses such as child care, food and utilities; considerable stress about their finances; and reduced academic performance due to having to seek other jobs outside the university.

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The financial stress and lack of affordability have led “a significant percentage” of graduate students to consider leaving their programs to seek better wages, the report said. The graduate students who authored the report ask UT administrators to make the "necessary budgetary changes" to pay graduate students a living wage, adjusted annually, and provide satisfactory health care coverage.

“Losing graduate student workers’ contributions to the university, whether in the form of research or teaching, is a tremendous blow to the University of Texas at Austin’s prestige and reputation, as well as its capacity to provide undergraduate and graduate students with the premier education it promises,” the report said.

Demands for 'a living wage'

The grade-in at UT on Tuesday comes amid the nation’s largest strike in higher education at the University of California system, which has been underway for about a month. Approximately 36,000 graduate student workers are on strike, asking for better pay and benefits, although postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers have recently ended the walkout after ratifying an agreement.

“With everything happening in the (University of California) system, we thought now would be as good a time as any to make the request for ‘Hey, can we have a living wage,’ since we have this information and data about how graduates are suffering,” said Brad Limov, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the School of Journalism and Media, member of Underpaid@UT and co-organizer of the grade-in.

Under Texas law, state employees, including UT employees, are prohibited from collective bargaining, striking or engaging in an organized work stoppage. Deepesh Verma, member of Underpaid@UT and co-organizer of the grade-in, said while graduate students can’t strike, a grade-in allows them to show the UT administration their labor and how they deserve a living wage.

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“A sit-in (without grading) would look like a strike, since we would not be doing our labor, and so we wanted to do something that involves our work, and that can still make the university look at all this work that grad students do on campus and how essential it is to the mission of the university,” said Verma, a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the physics department.

UT spokesperson Brian Davis said the school last year invested $10.9 million in annually recurring funds — the university’s largest investment in graduate students — that went partially toward raising graduate student salaries for half-time, nine-month positions.

The university also made the positions eligible for merit increases, covered the cost of tuition for graduate students in academic positions, and provided health insurance plans that mirror coverage for full-time employees, Davis said.

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“The university continues to explore ways to enhance support, affordability, and the campus experience for all members of the UT community,” Davis said.

Underpaid@UT members said the university’s raises of minimum stipends don’t go far enough to support the financial needs of graduate student workers, especially with increasing housing prices in Austin. They also said the health insurance switch from UT Select to Academic Blue has led to students being “severely burdened by medical expenses.”

“We believe that all grad students on campus deserve to get paid a living wage, no matter what department they're in,” Verma said. “It makes it harder for us to organize when there are students that are paid so low, and some that are barely paid a living wage. I don't think what we're asking for is a lot of money. It's the bare minimum that people deserve and people need to live.”

UT Tower access

Underpaid@UT originally planned to hold the grade-in in the hallway outside the provost’s office but had to change plans after UT said those plans would violate university regulations and would be considered criminal trespassing by the UT Police Department, said Lauren Nelson, a Ph.D. candidate in the English department, member of Underpaid@UT and co-organizer of the grade-in.

Davis said that UT met with students to better understand their concerns and to tell them that they could not hold the grade-in in “administrative and educational buildings” because of the "potential disruption to their intended functions.”

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“The University fully supports the First Amendment rights of our community members and the public, including the right to demonstrate in any common outdoor area of campus,” Davis said.

UT prohibited all media who were present at the grade-in, including KUT and Statesman reporters, from entering the UT Tower to report on the grade-in. Davis said UT buildings are limited public spaces that are open to UT students, faculty and staff for their intended educational and administrative purposes, and media must be invited or escorted inside buildings.

According to UT’s policy on speech, expression and assembly, UT buildings are open exclusively to “the expressive activities” of students, staff and faculty. Student, faculty and staff organizations can not invite the public to events in UT buildings that are not a “common outdoor area," the policy states.

“Members of the public who are not members of the university community may enter university buildings for business reasons related to the university’s administrative and educational purposes, by invitation of a university group or official with approval to use the space related to the invitation, or by invitation of those who manage a university building or a particular space within a building,” Davis said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UT graduate student workers hold grade-in, advocate for higher wages