Ph.D. Students Air Concerns to GSAS Administrators

About 20 Ph.D. students in the Graduate School of Design and the History of Art and Architecture Department met with administrators on Wednesday to review student benefits and relay frustrations to the graduate school leadership.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences dean for administration and finance Allen Aloise initiated the series of meetings, called “graduate student outreach meetings,” in the fall. To date, GSAS administrators have met with students in 28 departments, and intend to reach out to every department, with separate meetings for students seeking master’s degrees.

By Jessica M. Wang

“I wanted to hear directly from graduate students about what is working and what could be improved in the graduate student experience,” Aloise wrote in an email.

According to a document from GSAS spokesperson Ann Hall , administrators have discussed transportation, stipend support, housing, teaching assignments, childcare, and dental insurance at the meetings.

Brett Culbert, a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Design, said Wednesday’s meeting was an effective way to communicate his concerns as a graduate student.

“In general, I got the feeling that they want to help us,” Culbert said. “It’s nice when you can be with your peers and air out these complaints or grievances as a group.”

According to Culbert, administrators said at the meeting they hope to devise a central posting board for teaching positions, which could be useful to students in departments without pipelines of master’s students or undergraduates. According to the document from Hall, GSAS administrators are currently reviewing the teaching appointment process and issues with late pay, and are also assessing dental benefits.

The meeting comes at a time when GSAS administrators have expanded some graduate student benefits, and a majority of graduate students have called for the formation of a union and collective bargaining rights. GSAS administrators, meanwhile, have strongly opposed the unionization effort.

Although Ph.D. stipends increase regularly each year, GSAS increased their MBTA discount to 50 percent in January and doubled the stipend and leave time for expectant or adoptive parents in February.

Dean for Student Affairs Garth O. McCavana said the MBTA discount change came from discussions at an outreach meeting, where students raised concerns about the cost of transportation.

Some graduate students said they have noticed a correlation between union organizing and administrative changes to benefit packages.

Union supporter Matthew L. Santana, a Ph.D. candidate in the Music Department who attended an outreach meeting last semester, said he thinks it is “fairly clear” that the meetings are a direct result of the unionization effort.

Culbert, who is not a member of the unionization effort, said the meetings and additional benefits appear to be tied to union organizing. But he expressed doubt over whether a union could solve student concerns.

“There’s less motivation here to unionize in our department, and I know many students who are opposed to it,” Culbert said. “I would definitely support probably many of the points that people who want to unionize are going after. [But] my knee jerk reaction, my gut reaction isn’t to immediately be like ‘oh let’s unionize.’”

Santana acknowledged that there is no way to predict the success of a potential graduate student union, but said that is not a reason to stop the effort. He added he thinks a union is necessary to ensuring changes get made.

“As long as there’s not a union, they’re not protected by a contract,” Santana said, referring to new benefits for graduate students.

Going forward, Culbert said GSAS administrators should be held accountable for the work they are doing to augment benefit packages and the graduate student experience.

“The best thing to do probably is to come back here in four months so we can return to these points and see what kind of progress is being made,” Culbert said.