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Graduate students tell trustees cuts to TAships, federal research pauses threaten UMaine's R1 status
Summary
Several graduate student workers urged the University of Maine System Board of Trustees to secure funding for graduate assistantships and research support after campus teaching assistantship cuts and uncertain federal research funding were raised as threats to student livelihoods and the system's R1 research standing.
Graduate student workers told the University of Maine System Board of Trustees that recent cuts to teaching assistantships and uncertainty around federal research funding threaten student livelihoods and the university's R1 research status.
Eric Brown, who identified himself as a fourth-year Ph.D. worker in ecology and environmental sciences, described financial strain among graduate workers and said the minimum stipend at UMaine left students about $7,000 to $8,000 short compared with peer public institutions. "The living wage for the Bangor area for a single person with no children is $46,000," Brown said. "It can't be expected that UMaine will continue to attract graduate student workers if the disparity between its minimum yearly compensation and the necessary living wage is at least 20 some thousand dollars."
Several other graduate students echoed those concerns. Sophie Craig, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in biomedical sciences, said recent cuts to teaching assistantships will reduce the number of graduate students departments can accept and that the university's R1 status depends on graduating Ph.D. students. "If graduate students are not recruited and retained, the university will lose R1 status and research will not get done," she said.
Miranda Satius, a first-year master's student and member of the Graduate Workers Union, said she would not pursue a Ph.D. at UMaine because the institution does not adequately support graduate students; she said a TAship provided $17,000 a year in funding. Elijah Bradshaw, a first-year master's student in biology, described teaching assignments without departmental training and said stipends frequently fail to cover living costs.
Students asked trustees and the system to dedicate funding to graduate workers, to seek designated state support, and to consider direct university funding of research so departments could rely less on uncertain federal grants. Several speakers urged the board to present a plan that would prevent further erosion of assistantships and to prioritize graduate-worker retention in budgeting and strategic planning.
Ending: Trustees did not announce specific funding commitments during the meeting. Presidents and provosts present provided updates elsewhere on the agenda about efforts to bolster enrollment and research productivity; graduate students said they plan to continue advocacy for designated support.
