Policy must include more support for grad students

TO THE EDITOR:

Since last summer I have served as a Graduate and Professional Student Federation representative to the Continuous Enrollment Policy Task Force. Graduate students are right that there has not been transparency in the process — we were asked not to share drafts or deliberations and students were not brought on board until a decision had already been made that a continuous enrollment policy was needed.

My fundamental concern is the motivation for the policy and whether building knowledge and retaining the best faculty and graduate students are as high on the administration's list of priorities as they should be.

Why do graduate students take a long time to finish dissertations? Usually the reason is financial — we are adults with families and households to support and if we are lucky we get four or five years of departmental support. Few students at UNC or elsewhere who have to conduct field research finish in that time.

After that we have to find ways to support ourselves which often means not being able to dedicate ourselves full-time to finishing a dissertation.

UNC has some of the lowest levels of pay for graduate teaching assistants and resident advisors in the country and departments already struggle to attract the best students when we are offered more livable stipends elsewhere.

A continuous enrollment policy that helps graduate students dedicate themselves to their research would require better financial support more grants and a lower teaching burden. Such a policy would be welcome but the current proposal is not such a policy. At a time of financial crisis when departments are being asked to slash spending making top graduate students more expensive is bad planning.


Sandra Chapman
Graduate student
Political science