Budget cuts a threat to “Every dimension of our workplace,” say graduate students 

A proposal from University of Connecticut administration to slash their operating support budgets for all academic units following a sizable decrease in funding from the Connecticut state government continues to spark outrage and protest from a united front of students and faculty.  

Much attention in particular has been paid to the role of the UConn branch of the American Association of University Professors within this coalition, who have organized numerous protests on campus to stop the cuts, including one during a University Senate meeting held on Monday, Feb. 5.  

Another important segment of the coalition, one whose role is often downplayed in coverage of the cuts, is the UConn Graduate Employee & Postdoc Union, or GEU. A week before the University Senate meeting on Feb. 5, the GEU delivered an open letter to the president’s office signed by nearly 430 graduate students and postdocs at the university. 

“As the academic workforce that will feel the brunt of this university policy on the day-to-day level, we are deeply concerned about the impacts this will have on our ability to teach and work at UConn,” the letter begins. 

The letter lists five primary concerns regarding the budget cuts and their aftermath; an increase in class sizes and therefore workload, the loss of UConn’s status as an R1 institution, a decrease in graduate student ability to conduct research, a reduction in opportunities for international students to study and research at UConn, and a harmful effect on the academic atmosphere. 

The cuts would produce “larger class sizes, fewer class offerings, and less instructor attention,” GEU President Grace Easterly said in an interview with the Daily Campus, “The quality of education and research at UConn could dramatically decline.” 

The joint letter notes that an increase in graduate student workload, including the numbers of students in this class and therefore, the number of hours required to grade assignments, would pose a high risk of openly violating their contracted hour amounts. 

Professors will face a similar increase in hours, jeopardizing their ability to advise graduate students and be effective mentors in the course of their academic journeys within UConn’s Graduate School. 

The potential effect on international graduate students and postdocs, the fourth concern in the open letter, is similarly grave. A decline in international student support could weaken the university’s ability to attract highly skilled students from abroad and threaten the status of existing students. 

International graduate students rely on their assistantships to retain their visas and remain in the United States, and were they to lose their positions, lack alternate employment opportunities in the country, especially during the summer. 

In a university Town Hall held on Jan. 24, President Radenka Maric reiterated that layoffs were not in the interest of the university and were not part of the budget cut plans, but, Easterly notes, concerns over the administration’s intent remains. 

“What we’re hearing is that this could lead to the end of some graduate programs,” Easterly said, “Our concern is that graduate employees are seen as the easiest to cut because we’re considered temporary employees.” 

The lack of transparency has also been a common complaint directed at the university from both professors and graduate students.  

“We first heard about these budget cuts from the faculty union, who had heard about it from the provost,” Easterly admitted, “Many graduate students hadn’t heard about it until the Union sent an email about it in January.” 

A faculty letter published in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of the budget cuts similarly demands accountability, requesting a “clear account of the budgetary decisions from the last several years” and a “detailed explanation of the university’s prioritization of expenses moving forward, and an itemized list on university units other than academic departments.” 

For Easterly, the fight is not just about professors, postdocs, and graduate students; it’s about uniting for a better UConn for undergraduates as well. Less TAs with larger workloads, increased class sizes, a push for more virtual classes, and a downsizing of academic programs are issues that affect both undergraduate and graduate students on campus. 

“It’s a really important opportunity for workers all across the university to come together to advocate together,” Easterly noted, detailing that the loss of undergraduate student services would make UConn “dramatically less equitable” and greatly harm incoming students. 

“We encourage everyone: postdocs, graduates, undergraduates to reach out to your legislator” Easterly said, “Graduate employees and postdocs are going to fight for the resources we deserve, and these budget cuts are threat to our workplace, to every single dimension of the work we do at UConn.” 

The first Connecticut legislative session of the year opened on Feb. 7, and Maric and other administrators are expected to bring forth the case for an increase in funding for UConn that would alleviate the worst of the cuts. Labor activists from across the UConn community are ready to join them.