Many classrooms at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sat empty on Monday as a result of a strike by graduate students who teach or do research.
About 1,000 graduate students employed by the university signed up to picket academic buildings in shifts during the day, with about 500 on the lines at any one time, said Peter O. Campbell, a spokesman for the Graduate Employees Organization, which has about 2,600 members. Graduate students generally teach about 23 percent of all undergraduate course hours on the campus.
Negotiations between the graduate students' union and university officials reached an impasse over the administration's refusal to guarantee the continuation of tuition waivers for all teaching and graduate assistants. The administration has argued that such waivers are protected under a policy adopted by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois system. But union representatives say the board policy is insufficient because it covers only graduate employees who are Illinois residents, not the majority of teaching and graduate assistants, who are from other states.
Robin Kaler, a spokeswoman for the Urbana-Champaign campus, said most classes continued uninterrupted on Monday. The administration temporarily moved some teaching assistants' classes to buildings that are not being picketed, she said, so the assistants did not have to cross picket lines. In other cases, she said, teaching assistants and faculty members were giving students alternative assignments so the students did not have to come to class.
Representatives of the Graduate Employees Organization and the administration are scheduled to resume talks Tuesday morning. Mr. Campbell, the union spokesman, said the union planned to continue the strike until it received what it regards as a satisfactory tuition-waiver guarantee. "We feel it is very important," he said, "to put pressure on the university administration and demonstrate that we are willing to withhold our labor for a fair contract."
Comments
1. marchman - November 17, 2009 at 09:26 am
As a U of I alum, it gets very frustrating that every time the university makes news, it harms the proud reputation of what was a great university. First, its an admissions scandal involving administrators and a corrupt Chicago political machine that has now moved into the White House. Now its graduate students who think they have the right to run an institution.
The sixties continue to exist in American higher education. There has never been a reason to let students run the institution. Students striking because they are not getting the financial benefits they want to go to school is the height of selfish, arrogance--a characteristic that permeates far too many college campuses. Students are not obligated to attend Illinois; it is their choice, and they can choose any number of other institutions. This reflects the stupidity that began in the 60s with student evaluations of faculty and demand for "relevant" courses. By definition, If "students" know so much about what makes a course valuable and relevant why are they in school in the first place--another case where "liberal" logic, a contradiction in terms if there ever was one, has been shown inadequate. There is another approach to being able to afford education besides having the finances dumped in your lap--its called work, even off-campus work. On top of which many graduate assistants do not teach classes because they want to, but because they are obligated to for their assistantship.
This is a circumstance caused by the tight economic times, and higher education never wants to face up to the abuses perpetrated on taxpayers during prosperous times. Now the tough times are forcing corrections. If out-of-state students feel it is unfair that Illinois taxpayers won't give them the same benefits that Illinoisans receive, there are 49 other states and host of private schools they could choose.
2. attis - November 17, 2009 at 10:27 am
For far too long, graduate student employees throughout the country have been shamelessly exploited as cheap labor in an institutionalized hierarchy of academic workers in which those who work the hardest (graduate student employees) are rewarded the least and those who teach the least (tenured full professors) are rewarded the most. This anachronistic system of elitism and indentured servitude needs to end, and the modest demands of these courageous striking young professionals are a good start in finally ending it. The problem they seek to partially solve is a great and growing one, not only at the University of Illinois but throughout the country. Why should students, whether employed or not, have to pay an increasing amount of the steadily increasing tuition payments by themselves at a public institution? In an ethical universe, public education at all levels would be fully paid by public funds. That way we open the future to all, not just the richly endowed financially. Until we get there, then it is absolutely mandatory that at least student employees have a tuition waiver as a benefit for their hard labor. Also, in an ethical universe, those who do 23% of teaching have 23% of the budget devoted to teaching directed at them. If the vastly overpaid administrators at the University of Illinois finally wish to extinguish the stench of corruption emanating from the admissions scandal, they will fully meet the fully justified demands of the Graduate Student Organization. Today would be a good day for that commitment to workplace justice.
3. crunchycon - November 17, 2009 at 11:16 am
Since when should inexperienced students who lack the knowledge of full professors be paid the same for their teaching hours? I agree with marchman. And I, too, am a UIUC grad and am dismayed by the bad press the campus is continually getting.
As for attis' assertion that they are indentured servants, you misuderstand the term. They are NOT held captive -- they can go to another institution. They are NOT working off a debt owed. This generation does not want to put in its "dues" -- to start at the "bottom" and work the way up as all generations past have.
As I noted on the other story in this vein, the provost sent the following email:
In the last 24 hours there have been many questions about the University's intention regarding tuition waivers.
Let me be as clear as possible in response to this issue. The excellence of our graduate programs depends on our capacity to provide fair and reasonable expectations for graduate assistants regarding their tuition waivers.
Graduate students with assistantships will not have their tuition waivers reduced while they hold qualifying assistantships, are in good academic standing, and are making proper progress toward graduation in the program in which they began.
This commitment is consistent with our long-standing and ongoing University practice.
The GEO wants the waivers guaranteed, period, not dependent on their "[hold] qualifying assistantships, [are] in good academic standing, and [are] making proper progress toward graduation in the program in which they began".
4. crunchycon - November 17, 2009 at 11:21 am
And, attis, the State of Illnois reduces its amount of support year after year, and now pays, if I am correct, approximately 17% of the operating budget (it could actually be less) at UIUC, and EVERY year for the past 6 years at least, has demanded back a percentage of that money about mid-year. The State of Illinois is, for all intents and purposes, bankrupt. It is at least six months behind of paying its bills, and many social service offices in the state have had to lay off or fire staff and reduce services, sometimes drastically, because the State is not paying what is obligated to pay. Most dentists and private doctors in the state require State employees (including university employees) to pre-pay for sevices and be reimbursed by the state -- which takes more than five months currently to reimburse.
5. superdude - November 18, 2009 at 10:53 am
Huh. I would have simply dismissed all the striking TAs and turned their stipends over to students who weren't already funded. Plenty of grad students who are paying their own way are always looking for support.
6. flatlander2 - November 20, 2009 at 01:11 pm
superdude,
I hope you would have consulted legal counsel before following that course.