(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Graduate workers protest state Board of Regents meeting over wages [1]
['Brooklyn Draisey', 'More From Author', '- September']
Date: 2023-09-27
University of Iowa graduate workers flooded into state Board of Regents meeting Wednesday demanding living wages, causing the meeting to adjourn early and with no public comment period.
Members of the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) gathered at the regents meeting in Levitt Center on the UI campus. They sought to urge the regents to issue a 25% wage increase to combat rising inflation and to lower mandatory fees for graduate students. The protest comes as tuition and fees were increased for students attending Iowa’s three universities earlier this year.
“They know we’re right, that’s why they don’t want to face us,” COGS president Hannah Zadeh said.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Committee was meeting when students came in, chanting and waving signs, but quickly adjourned for the day. Regents spokesperson Josh Lehman said in an email that the public comment, which was scheduled for just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, will not be rescheduled to Thursday.
“Graduate assistant positions are a distinct category of part-time employees who, in addition to receiving compensation, benefit from substantial contributions toward tuition, fees, and health and dental insurance,” Lehman said in an emailed statement. “Moreover, they are frequently eligible for other forms of financial aid. Both the UI and Iowa Board of Regents continuously evaluate multiple factors when considering graduate assistant compensation, including comparisons with Big Ten peer institutions, other UI employee groups, and the local cost of living.”
COGS and the regents signed a 2023-2025 contract in April solidifying a 3% base wage increase for 2023 and 2024. The union initially proposed a 10% wage increase, while regents’ representatives countered with a 3% increase.
COGS Political Action Chair Nicole Yeager said 3% isn’t a big enough increase to make a dent in students’ financial troubles. As a graduate student, Yeager teaches undergraduate psychopathology and works in engagement with a local middle school. Factoring in increased health insurance costs as a parent, they said they make around $16,000 a year and cannot take another job due to the clinical work in the graduate program.
“While we did get the largest raise we’ve gotten since they passed that law in 2017, it doesn’t come close to cutting it considering inflation,” Yeager said, referring to a law that limits what can be bargained between public unions and the state.
Yeager pointed out that the state is also considering paying regents members a $10,000 annual salary for their volunteerism, but cannot pay the students who provide millions of dollars worth of work with little pay.
UI spokesperson Jeneane Beck said in an email that minimum salary for a graduate assistant is $21,329 for a nine-month, half-time appointment, which converts to an hourly rate of $31.74 an hour. The university also pays all or most of the tuition and health benefits for graduate assistant employees who work at least 10 hours a week.
“Data collected by the Big Ten Academic Alliance and other sources consistently indicate our graduate assistant stipends are close to the middle of the pack,” Beck said in the email. “When cost of living measures are factored in, we are highly competitive with other Big Ten institutions in the Midwest.”
Resident graduate students at the UI saw a 3.5% increase in tuition and fees this year, and nonresident graduate and professional students saw a 1.28% increase. Students who spoke during the protest said these increases are making it even harder for students who want to further their education at the UI and also afford to live.
Yeager wasn’t surprised to see the regents walk out of the meeting, but she was disappointed. Moving ahead, they said the union is going to continue working to engage the community more, with the goal of making the university a more accessible option for those seeking higher education.
“We’re thinking about those that can’t make it to the meeting, we’re thinking of those that want to be in graduate school and can’t be in graduate school,” Yeager said. “We’re trying to make it so that people can actually come here.”
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