The administration officially committed to our demands for grad worker support because of the pressure you built. This win belongs to every staff and faculty member who stepped up to sign this petition. Keep watching the upcoming implementation plans to ensure the university follows through on every promise.
May 18, 2023
Final supporters
*NOTE: Only Faculty/Staff, not graduate student workers, should sign
*[Name - Position/Affiliation]
Dear Provost Wood,
In December, Underpaid@UT sent you a letter regarding the financial difficulties that graduate students are currently facing, echoed in this Open Letter containing the alarming results of an ongoing cost-of-living survey effort. In solidarity with our graduate student colleagues, we, the undersigned faculty and staff, lend our support to their demands for:
- An across-the-board stipend increase for all University graduate students ($38,171/year, per the MIT Living Wage Calculator for Travis County, Texas, in 2023);
- Annual cost-of-living adjustments;
- An audit of UT healthcare coverage and the impacts of the recent change in default insurance plans with the goal of closing all current coverage gaps; and
- Freezing the cost of current University-owned graduate student housing.
If the University of Texas at Austin is to live up to its motto that "Change Starts Here," we must ensure that it is a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just institution of higher education for all, including its graduate students.
Sincerely,
Updates
April 10, 2023
We hit 250 signatures from faculty and staff who refuse to let our graduate colleagues struggle in silence. Post this link on your departmental Facebook page today. Email your department chair and ask them to sign if they have not yet done so.
Reached 250 supporters
April 7, 2023
April 6, 2023
We are approaching 250 signatures and need to maintain this momentum to catch the attention of the Provost. Email this petition link to three of your faculty colleagues right now and ask them to add their names to the letter.
March 3, 2023
We just hit 100 signatures from faculty and staff across campus. Post the link to your department listservs today and text three colleagues to ask them to sign before the end of the week.
Reached 100 supporters
March 2, 2023
93 Comments
UT is becoming something of a laughingstock among R1 universities for this very reason. Many of my department's most promising graduate applicants have regretfully declined our offers because (and *only* because) we pay poverty wages. How is it that UT didn't tackle this problem long ago? It's an own goal.
I support a living wage for our graduate student workers. This city's COL has risen, and we have to be realistic about the inequity that results from limiting important employment opportunities to those students with enough personal wealth to accept low wages.
The fact that our university has never closed the affordability gap, despite multiple pushes over the years only proves the necessity of this project. Our grad students deserve the same dignity that faculty and staff are afforded; annual increases to their salary.
I've seen how graduate students are getting displaced in this fast-changing city. As an advisor, I need them to have enough stipend so they can stop having to move from apartment to apartment and instead focus on their research.
As the head of a graduate program at UT, we often lose recruits to other R-1 Universities because our funding is still not competitive with peer programs at peer institutions. Prospective students always ask about cost-of-living concerns in interviews.
This is critically important to UT.
This is so important. Thank you for your action to support faculty and staff at UT Austin.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
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The administration officially committed to our demands for grad worker support because of the pressure you built. This win belongs to every staff and faculty member who stepped up to sign this petition. Keep watching the upcoming implementation plans to ensure the university follows through on every promise.
May 18, 2023
Final supporters
*NOTE: Only Faculty/Staff, not graduate student workers, should sign
*[Name - Position/Affiliation]
Dear Provost Wood,
In December, Underpaid@UT sent you a letter regarding the financial difficulties that graduate students are currently facing, echoed in this Open Letter containing the alarming results of an ongoing cost-of-living survey effort. In solidarity with our graduate student colleagues, we, the undersigned faculty and staff, lend our support to their demands for:
- An across-the-board stipend increase for all University graduate students ($38,171/year, per the MIT Living Wage Calculator for Travis County, Texas, in 2023);
- Annual cost-of-living adjustments;
- An audit of UT healthcare coverage and the impacts of the recent change in default insurance plans with the goal of closing all current coverage gaps; and
- Freezing the cost of current University-owned graduate student housing.
If the University of Texas at Austin is to live up to its motto that "Change Starts Here," we must ensure that it is a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just institution of higher education for all, including its graduate students.
Sincerely,
Updates
April 10, 2023
We hit 250 signatures from faculty and staff who refuse to let our graduate colleagues struggle in silence. Post this link on your departmental Facebook page today. Email your department chair and ask them to sign if they have not yet done so.
Reached 250 supporters
April 7, 2023
April 6, 2023
We are approaching 250 signatures and need to maintain this momentum to catch the attention of the Provost. Email this petition link to three of your faculty colleagues right now and ask them to add their names to the letter.
March 3, 2023
We just hit 100 signatures from faculty and staff across campus. Post the link to your department listservs today and text three colleagues to ask them to sign before the end of the week.
Reached 100 supporters
March 2, 2023
93 Comments
When our prospective graduates came this year, all of us struggled to really encourage them to choose UT. Our program is excellent, the people are excellent. But they're committing to years of making far below poverty levels and taking extra jobs just to get decent healthcare or enough money for rent.
UT is becoming something of a laughingstock among R1 universities for this very reason. Many of my department's most promising graduate applicants have regretfully declined our offers because (and *only* because) we pay poverty wages. How is it that UT didn't tackle this problem long ago? It's an own goal.
I support a living wage for our graduate student workers. This city's COL has risen, and we have to be realistic about the inequity that results from limiting important employment opportunities to those students with enough personal wealth to accept low wages.
The fact that our university has never closed the affordability gap, despite multiple pushes over the years only proves the necessity of this project. Our grad students deserve the same dignity that faculty and staff are afforded; annual increases to their salary.
I've seen how graduate students are getting displaced in this fast-changing city. As an advisor, I need them to have enough stipend so they can stop having to move from apartment to apartment and instead focus on their research.
As the head of a graduate program at UT, we often lose recruits to other R-1 Universities because our funding is still not competitive with peer programs at peer institutions. Prospective students always ask about cost-of-living concerns in interviews.
This is critically important to UT.
This is so important. Thank you for your action to support faculty and staff at UT Austin.
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When our prospective graduates came this year, all of us struggled to really encourage them to choose UT. Our program is excellent, the people are excellent. But they're committing to years of making far below poverty levels and taking extra jobs just to get decent healthcare or enough money for rent.