With chants and signs aimed at administrators in Jessup Hall, UI graduate students huddled on the Pentacrest Monday, decrying any plans to slash TA positions or hike tuition.
Their solution: Cut top UI administrators’ six-figure salaries, find ways to save money by conserving energy, get better contracts with outside companies, and use the roughly $13 million available in stimulus money.
The hour-long rally, which had approximately 50 sign-carrying and frustrated students, occurred just days before the state Board of Regents meeting in which regents will vote on a possible $100 mid-year tuition surcharge and discuss how to make up a $24.7 million budget shortfall.
“There are any number of ways that we can cut the budget without sacrificing jobs,” said Bill Peterson, the president of the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students. The UI shouldn’t take the “simple way,” he contended.
The university has cut 150 TA positions so far, and graduate students expect at least that many more could be cut in the near future.
But that decision would severely damage education quality and force many graduate students who are dependent on UI salaries to leave, students at the rally said.
“We believe this university is trying to bury undergraduate and graduate education,” said Sarah Eikleberry, a doctoral candidate in health and sports studies. “I think it’s pretty crappy.”
Another graduate student, Kari Thompson, spoke mournfully about what she labeled the dying emphasis on education at the UI.
“We’re here to learn, and they are trying to take that opportunity away from us by burying it under other priorities,” she said. “The students did not cause this budget crisis, and yet we are the ones who are going to make up the difference.”
Repeatedly throughout the rally, protesters returned to what they said were outrageous administrator paychecks. The top 68 administrators make more than $14.5 million, according to COGS.
Students shouted “chop from the top” along with administrators’ names and salaries in the chilly October air. They questioned how UI President Sally Mason could make $450,000 and be considering a bonus while TAs making around $20,000 or less could be getting axed.
A man dressed as a grim reaper symbolically slashed his scythe at boxes with administrators’ pay scribed on the side.
Peterson said other Big Ten universities, such as the University of Michigan, have not had to make budget cuts this year because of previous money-saving efforts. Michigan eliminated $135 million in recurring general funds because a combination of changes, such as energy conservation.
He wanted graduate students’ position to be well-known before the regents’ meeting in Cedar Falls on Thursday.
“We do the work,” he said. “We’re what makes this happen.”
