More than 50 graduate students marched across campus last Monday in protest of increases to future graduate student stipends by the University.
The march was organized by the Graduate Students Employee’s Union (GSEU) and Graduate Student Organization (GSO). The protest addressed the fact that incoming graduate students who become teaching assistants (TA’s) and graduate assistants (GA’s) will receive a larger amount of funding than those currently holding these positions. According to those protesting, the current amount TA’s and GA’s are paid is $14,500, and the increase will be anywhere from $2,000-$7,000 for new students, depending on the department.
The march started at the Pegasus statue at 1 p.m. and went through the Lecture Hall, Bartle Library, the Marketplace and the Peace Quad before ending in the first floor of the Cooper Administration building. As the protesters marched through the Peace Quad they chanted, “Harvey, Harvey, come on out. Meet the students you sold out,” and carried signs saying “equal pay for equal work” and “unequal pay makes for a sad Baxter.”
Laura Johnson, a fourth year PhD candidate studying anthropology, said the new policy by the University administration is meant to put BU on par with other universities, but she said it is wrong to not put money towards those who are currently serving these positions.
“They want us to be nationally ranked in the 75th percentile in terms of stipends, to make us competitive with other universities,” said Johnson, an organizer of the event as well as the Graduate Student Employee Union interim business agent. “However we have the best and the brightest here, we work hard, we make sure this University runs and we are in charge of undergraduate learning.”
As the protesters walked through the library, Matt Hollis, a third-year graduate student studying American history, said that the inequality of pay for long-standing workers is a detriment to more experienced TA’s.
“I have a lot of respect for the faculty and a lot of respect for everyone that works here,” he said. “This is primarily an administrative problem and they need to address this and encourage equality rather than inequality.”
According to Susan Strehle, the Graduate School dean, BU only has $600,000 with which to pay both current graduate TA’s and incoming graduate TA’s. Strehle also said that mandatory fees, which add up to around $1,800, are deducted from the students’ stipend because New York State does not cover services such as Decker Health Services and the BU bus service.
Strehle said the difference in pay varies from field to field, and that within four years both new and current graduate students will be making the same amount of money in stipends.
“We have made a commitment to add the same amount of money, $600,000, to the new doctoral stipends each year for the next four years,” Stehle wrote in an email. “At the end all students will receive the new higher amounts for their discipline.”
John Wolters, a fourth year graduate student studying biology, said the program will create hostility between the graduate students at BU — dividing them into the haves and have-nots.
“We feel very strongly about this. Not only is it immoral, it is irrational, because it does not achieve the University’s goals,” Wolters said. “Moreover the University is telling us they do not value us and that we do not deserve a pay increase; despite the fact that we are paid far lower than our peers at other universities.”
The graduate students sent three proposals to three administrative offices as to how to better distribute the stipends, and have an upcoming meeting with administrators pending.
Correction: A previous version of this article listed Toivo Asheeke as the march organizer. The march was organized by the Graduate Students Employee’s Union (GSEU) and Graduate Student Organization (GSO). Pipe Dream regrets the error.