Dear President Capilouto,
As the University of Kentucky joins over 230 other universities across the nation in considering a one-year extension to the tenure clock for tenure-earning faculty, we, the undersigned, believe a similar policy offering one year of extended funding and support should be created for all current graduate students.
In the past few months, UK’s funded graduate students have been facing many of the same challenges as tenure-earning faculty members - including the inability to conduct research in and out of labs, complete fieldwork, access archives, access secure data on university systems, and present research in conferences and colloquia. Many of us also have new or amplified responsibilities as a result of this crisis: we find ourselves homeschooling children, caring for vulnerable family members, and living away from Lexington, some of us across time zones and in other countries. What’s more, many of us face these challenges while continuing to teach classes that have migrated online. Like our faculty, we are dedicated to the welfare of our students, which means more time planning lessons and communicating with students via email.
Therefore, we are writing to you today to ask for your help in addressing the needs of a large and important group of Wildcat family members.
With the approval and support from the Graduate School, the Graduate Student Congress (GSC) recently conducted a short survey to better understand the needs and concerns of all graduate students amid the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the responses we received to this survey, we found the following to be the most pressing concerns. We ask your support of the following requests:
- A one-year funding and healthcare extension for currently funded graduate students. Considering the inabilities to conduct research activities and the increased demands on time, another year of secure funding will give a third of UK’s student population the time and the resources they need to complete the research they came to do at the University of Kentucky. For finishing students, in particular, an extension will also help bridge the gap until hiring resumes.
- A one-year extension of non-resident supplemental tuition funding or other policies for international students. Many international students have encountered challenges in renewing or extending visas, residency permits, and finding legal support for immigration services and work access issues as their right to stay in the U.S has been put in jeopardy.
- Guaranteed summer funding. Many graduate students rely on on-campus fellowships, teaching, and research positions during the summer. The suspension or reduction of campus activities leaves these students without summer income. Moreover, funded international graduate students are legally prohibited from off-campus work or work outside of their field of study, meaning they have very few other options.
- Modification of milestone deadlines for all graduate students. Given the disruption to university activities, many graduate students cannot meet current degree milestones, such as qualifying or preliminary exams, chapter defenses, etc.. In addition to offering remote alternatives, UK should modify official milestone deadlines so that those of us who cannot make our initial deadlines remain in good academic standing.
- A clear, standardized work policy for all graduate student workers. No UK worker should be required to work on campus, except in rare cases, as it puts co-workers and the entire UK community in danger. Individual advisors, PIs, and other supervisors should not have the discretion to compel in-person work.
We are proud to be part of the Wildcat family and we are asking for your help to ensure that UK’s coronavirus response efforts take seriously the needs and concerns of graduate students.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to meeting with you to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
May 15, 2020
May 13, 2020
The administration keeps ignoring us but we are gaining ground as we head toward 250 signatures. Please send this link to your colleagues now so we have the leverage we need to force a serious conversation.
May 10, 2020
Keeping this momentum going is exhausting while balancing the research demands we are all facing. I am spending my evenings chasing down administration for a firm answer on funding extensions. This fight is long and the silence from the upper offices is heavy but we are not finished.
Reached 100 supporters
May 9, 2020
May 7, 2020
The work is exhausting and the response has been slow but we are nearing one hundred signatures. Please send this to a colleague so we can show the administration that our survival is not negotiable.
74 Comments
3rd year PhD student looking to take his Qualifying Exam in August. I need funding to be able to make it through the Summer, especially if the University's other income opportunities (the Library or Special Collections) remain closed for the foreseeable future.
After reading the university's statement of pride in not having laid off graduate students, we'd like to clarify that we are asking for extensions of funding. Responses along the lines of "we are so glad we haven't had to fire you all" read more like threats, and show that you are not hearing our demands.
Please also add an extension for grads that just finished their programs but have a lapse in healthcare coverage before their next position (that might have been postponed).
As a graduate student near the end of her program, I would greatly benefit from a funding extension, and I know many others would similarly benefit. The job market in the coming year will be extremely difficult to enter for everyone. Universities should sustain the investments they’ve made in their graduate students by extending funding by at least one semester, if not a year, to ensure their investments do not go to waste.
This global pandemic has created ripples in the disciplines which have a substantial international component. Research, field work, lab work, and other activities have been put on hold, while at the same time funding from school is running out. Students need, and are dependent upon scholarly support. UKY should be the foremost support for all graduate students.
According to the New York Post’s story, Hunter Biden in 2015 introduced his Father, then VP in the Obama Administration, to a Top Exec Vadym Pozharskyi at Ukrainian Burisma Holdings Ltd after Hunter joined the company’s board which was Paying him up to $83,000 a Month. The insinuation is that Hunter Successfully Influenced his Father to Pressure Ukraine Government officials “into Firing the Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was Investigating Corruption against Burisma. Facebook and Twitter took action to limit distribution (censored) the New York Post story citing Emails purportedly Revealing Evidence of Influence-Peddling by Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The Emails were obtained from a Laptop which had a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation, and had been Abandoned at Computer-Repair Shop, named “The Mac Shop” in Wilmington, Delaware and owned by John Paul Mac Isaac, who then reported the laptop’s contents to authorities which determined that the laptop and hard drive contain fruits of criminal activity. Joe Biden and his family engaged in "Legal Corruption" despite claims of no wrongdoing and the Liberal Main Stream Media Refuses to Talk and will never Report about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails, fearing Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden will Lose the 2020 Election if this information is exposed to the American People. This is evidence that Joe Biden participated in his Family’s CASH-for-Influence Scheme with Shady Foreign Companies. The American People should be demanding that the Media investigate this scandal before they VOTE, but we know, the Media will never report on Hunter Biden’s emails because it would be harmful to Joe Biden.
recent PhD graduate
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Dear President Capilouto,
As the University of Kentucky joins over 230 other universities across the nation in considering a one-year extension to the tenure clock for tenure-earning faculty, we, the undersigned, believe a similar policy offering one year of extended funding and support should be created for all current graduate students.
In the past few months, UK’s funded graduate students have been facing many of the same challenges as tenure-earning faculty members - including the inability to conduct research in and out of labs, complete fieldwork, access archives, access secure data on university systems, and present research in conferences and colloquia. Many of us also have new or amplified responsibilities as a result of this crisis: we find ourselves homeschooling children, caring for vulnerable family members, and living away from Lexington, some of us across time zones and in other countries. What’s more, many of us face these challenges while continuing to teach classes that have migrated online. Like our faculty, we are dedicated to the welfare of our students, which means more time planning lessons and communicating with students via email.
Therefore, we are writing to you today to ask for your help in addressing the needs of a large and important group of Wildcat family members.
With the approval and support from the Graduate School, the Graduate Student Congress (GSC) recently conducted a short survey to better understand the needs and concerns of all graduate students amid the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the responses we received to this survey, we found the following to be the most pressing concerns. We ask your support of the following requests:
- A one-year funding and healthcare extension for currently funded graduate students. Considering the inabilities to conduct research activities and the increased demands on time, another year of secure funding will give a third of UK’s student population the time and the resources they need to complete the research they came to do at the University of Kentucky. For finishing students, in particular, an extension will also help bridge the gap until hiring resumes.
- A one-year extension of non-resident supplemental tuition funding or other policies for international students. Many international students have encountered challenges in renewing or extending visas, residency permits, and finding legal support for immigration services and work access issues as their right to stay in the U.S has been put in jeopardy.
- Guaranteed summer funding. Many graduate students rely on on-campus fellowships, teaching, and research positions during the summer. The suspension or reduction of campus activities leaves these students without summer income. Moreover, funded international graduate students are legally prohibited from off-campus work or work outside of their field of study, meaning they have very few other options.
- Modification of milestone deadlines for all graduate students. Given the disruption to university activities, many graduate students cannot meet current degree milestones, such as qualifying or preliminary exams, chapter defenses, etc.. In addition to offering remote alternatives, UK should modify official milestone deadlines so that those of us who cannot make our initial deadlines remain in good academic standing.
- A clear, standardized work policy for all graduate student workers. No UK worker should be required to work on campus, except in rare cases, as it puts co-workers and the entire UK community in danger. Individual advisors, PIs, and other supervisors should not have the discretion to compel in-person work.
We are proud to be part of the Wildcat family and we are asking for your help to ensure that UK’s coronavirus response efforts take seriously the needs and concerns of graduate students.
Thank you for your time and we look forward to meeting with you to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
May 15, 2020
May 13, 2020
The administration keeps ignoring us but we are gaining ground as we head toward 250 signatures. Please send this link to your colleagues now so we have the leverage we need to force a serious conversation.
May 10, 2020
Keeping this momentum going is exhausting while balancing the research demands we are all facing. I am spending my evenings chasing down administration for a firm answer on funding extensions. This fight is long and the silence from the upper offices is heavy but we are not finished.
Reached 100 supporters
May 9, 2020
May 7, 2020
The work is exhausting and the response has been slow but we are nearing one hundred signatures. Please send this to a colleague so we can show the administration that our survival is not negotiable.
74 Comments
These concerns are incredibly pressing and are a source of distress for many graduate students across Departments. Given the absolutely crucial role that graduate students play in serving as TAs for thousands of undergraduate students, conducting the research that allows the University to continue bringing in funding and publishing, and bringing a diverse range of experiences and perspectives to the UK community, it is paramount that graduate students are guaranteed support and assistance during such an unprecedented time.
3rd year PhD student looking to take his Qualifying Exam in August. I need funding to be able to make it through the Summer, especially if the University's other income opportunities (the Library or Special Collections) remain closed for the foreseeable future.
After reading the university's statement of pride in not having laid off graduate students, we'd like to clarify that we are asking for extensions of funding. Responses along the lines of "we are so glad we haven't had to fire you all" read more like threats, and show that you are not hearing our demands.
Please also add an extension for grads that just finished their programs but have a lapse in healthcare coverage before their next position (that might have been postponed).
As a graduate student near the end of her program, I would greatly benefit from a funding extension, and I know many others would similarly benefit. The job market in the coming year will be extremely difficult to enter for everyone. Universities should sustain the investments they’ve made in their graduate students by extending funding by at least one semester, if not a year, to ensure their investments do not go to waste.
This global pandemic has created ripples in the disciplines which have a substantial international component. Research, field work, lab work, and other activities have been put on hold, while at the same time funding from school is running out. Students need, and are dependent upon scholarly support. UKY should be the foremost support for all graduate students.
According to the New York Post’s story, Hunter Biden in 2015 introduced his Father, then VP in the Obama Administration, to a Top Exec Vadym Pozharskyi at Ukrainian Burisma Holdings Ltd after Hunter joined the company’s board which was Paying him up to $83,000 a Month. The insinuation is that Hunter Successfully Influenced his Father to Pressure Ukraine Government officials “into Firing the Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was Investigating Corruption against Burisma. Facebook and Twitter took action to limit distribution (censored) the New York Post story citing Emails purportedly Revealing Evidence of Influence-Peddling by Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The Emails were obtained from a Laptop which had a sticker from the Beau Biden Foundation, and had been Abandoned at Computer-Repair Shop, named “The Mac Shop” in Wilmington, Delaware and owned by John Paul Mac Isaac, who then reported the laptop’s contents to authorities which determined that the laptop and hard drive contain fruits of criminal activity. Joe Biden and his family engaged in "Legal Corruption" despite claims of no wrongdoing and the Liberal Main Stream Media Refuses to Talk and will never Report about Hunter Biden’s laptop and emails, fearing Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden will Lose the 2020 Election if this information is exposed to the American People. This is evidence that Joe Biden participated in his Family’s CASH-for-Influence Scheme with Shady Foreign Companies. The American People should be demanding that the Media investigate this scandal before they VOTE, but we know, the Media will never report on Hunter Biden’s emails because it would be harmful to Joe Biden.
recent PhD graduate
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These concerns are incredibly pressing and are a source of distress for many graduate students across Departments. Given the absolutely crucial role that graduate students play in serving as TAs for thousands of undergraduate students, conducting the research that allows the University to continue bringing in funding and publishing, and bringing a diverse range of experiences and perspectives to the UK community, it is paramount that graduate students are guaranteed support and assistance during such an unprecedented time.