At the Nov. 9 Board of Trustees meeting, the University’s top administrators laid out their goal to make the University of Illinois the best public university in the country. On Nov. 14, the University’s bargaining team offered graduate students a regressive contract in which graduate students’ salaries would not keep up with inflation. The University’s goal and its actions in negotiations are fundamentally incompatible.

As President White announced at the Board of Trustees meeting, in order for the University to become the top public university in the country, it must prioritize retaining and hiring the best possible faculty. No such plans exist for attracting and retaining top quality graduate students.

The proposal that the University’s negotiators offered to the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO) on Tuesday calls for a wage “increase” that, again, will not even keep up with inflation. If the GEO were to accept this contract, TAs and GAs would make less money every year of their contract when cost of living increases are factored in.

If the University is serious about its desire to be the best public university, it must offer competitive wages to graduate employees, as well as faculty. The quality of education that the University of Illinois provides undergraduate students is closely linked to the caliber of its graduate students. It is in the best interest of all of us – graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty and everyone affiliated with the University – for the University to negotiate a fair contract for its valuable graduate employees.

Now is the time for all of us to show our support for the GEO in their efforts to establish a fair contract, a contract that will work toward the University’s goal to be the best public university in the nation, not against it.

History Graduate Students’ Association (HGSA)