University of Minnesota Grad Students Protest Student Fees

Grad students at the University of Minnesota marched last week to protest exorbitant, and ever increasing student fees. The fight is perhaps most clearly illustrated by a brief review of the numbers: most TAs and RAs at the U earn less than the living wage for Minneapolis, which stands around $18,553. When fees are subtracted (which this year was about $1100) most grad students in the College of Liberal Arts make less than the income needed to qualify for food stamps ($13,500).

The University administration continues to engage in a PR campaign around their so-called commitment to competitive wages. It’s a familiar rhetoric to those familiar with this administration’s classist and anti-worker contracts and policy. A bit of historical context underscores the administration’s priorities and interests as it determines wages across campus.

Back in 2007, University clerical, technical, and healthcare workers were forced out on strike, to protest the University’s proposed salary contract. In that year, Governor Pawlenty offered state employees a 3.25% wage increase plus steps, while President Bruininks offered a 2.25% increase for the same jobs on campus. A 1% increase to AFSCME would have cost the University 1.1 million in a budget over 1.5 billion. The 1% in that contract negotiation forced a strategic break between state and public section workers and the University of Minnesota. And still the University maintained its PR work around a commitment to fair and competitive pay.

Nothing is more indicative of the inequality and disparate wages that the grad students are fighting against than a simple overview of the top salaries in the university when considered in comparison to the paltry wages of the average gad student worker. University of Minnesota President Bob Bruininks is paid over $700,000 a year, and there are around 1586 positions at the U, which bring in an average salary of $100,000 each year. In lieu of this disparity, grad students made a forceful call for questioning the significant gap between the highest paid and some of the lowest paid members of this university community.