Campaign issues
- Our teaching is grossly underpaid, particularly in humanities and social sciences.
Cornell University: 10,000 / semester
University of Illinois-Chicago: 5,000 / semester
University of Chicago: 1,500 / quarterWe are an essential part of the university's workforce. In spite of misleading administration claims that "professors teach 90% of undergraduate classes" and that "Chicago's award-winning faculty is both available and accessible to students in the College," according to our own survey of teaching in the College, graduate students teach around a third of all undergraduate classes in humanities and social sciences.
Health care for all graduate student employees. 77% of universities pay for grad student employees' health insurance; ours does not.
End to Advanced Residency tuition charges, which do nothing but slow the progress of advanced graduate students towards their degrees through needless charges.
Democratic decision-making on campus. Most of the time, graduate students are powerless when administrative decisions are made. At best they are occasionally invited to sit on committees, whose recommendations may or may not be accepted. The university's budget is not even public, so it is impossible for grad students to have an informed opinion on potential budget changes. It seems that grad students need a collective, autonomous organization to represent their interests.