Summer stipend cuts caused graduate biology students to address their concerns with the department Friday.
The Biology Graduate Student Association hosted a meeting in the Life Sciences building 112, with Jeff Miner, chair of biological science, leading the discussion.
The department had about $180,000 to pay graduate students, but had to cut $30,000, Miner said.
Miner said money for the department was reallocated by the University to support other areas.
“The University is pinched, so they have to come to us and look at our pocket book,” Miner said.
Graduate students working on their PhD who do research during the summer are given a stipend by the University, which has been cut 33 percent by the department.
Lack of communication by the department had graduate students upset.
“We were not informed until this Tuesday, which gives us four weeks to prepare for the cuts,” said graduate student Sarah Wofford, president of BGSA. “We can accommodate these cuts, but we need more time.”
Telling students of the cuts on such short notice puts graduate students in financial trouble, Wofford said.
Graduate student Sara Lahman has a child, and without the financial support of the stipend, she will be forced to take them out of daycare, which will affect her research time.
Such lack of communication can affect international students harshly, said graduate student Maryam Kamran.
International students are not able to get jobs outside the University and can’t take out loans, which causes them to rely on the stipends for financial support.
“If other international students [knew earlier], they could have planned for the cuts,” Kamran said. “It leaves me no options.”
Wofford asked Miner why the graduate students weren’t told of the cuts earlier, and Miner said the idea of the cuts was on the table five to six weeks ago, but a decision hadn’t been made yet.
Miner acknowledged the communication problems in the department, saying faculty have not been meeting enough with graduate students.
“We do need to make a better effort with the graduate students,” he said. “I wish we would have told you about the uncertainty earlier. I admit that.”
Lahman said she didn’t feel valued within the department because of the lack of communication.
To Wofford, the lack of communication marked a lack of respect for the graduate students and didn’t think it was right for them to be “blindsided.”
Miner also made the point that stipend money isn’t guaranteed to graduate students, and that it can change from year to year.
Another factor of the cuts was the increasing number of graduate students, said Karen Root, associate professor of biological sciences.
Although she may not be happy with the cuts, Lahman is glad the department had the meeting because issues were cleared up and can now be approached in a better way.
Miner knows there have been problems within the department, he wants to fix them. He thought the meeting was a good way of creating communication and hopes to have at least one to two a semester.
“Let’s learn from it, and let’s try to move forward,” he said.
Provost Rodney Rogers could not be reached for comment on the cuts. Look for updates on bgnews.com next week.
