If you are concerned about the well-being of graduate workers at Boston University who will be required to be on campus this fall or be forced to take a leave of absence, please consider signing this letter. Then share it with fellow BU alumni and affiliates.
At the top of this site, navigate to read the proposed policies as well as a fundraising letter sent to alumni in late June 2020.
Letter that will be sent President Brown, Provost Morrison, Dean Kleinman, and the BU Alumni Office
Dear BU Administration,
We are Boston University community members writing to condemn BU’s decision to require graduate workers’ physical presence on campus for the fall semester during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. We are dismayed that BU is brazenly disregarding the egalitarian principles of its own mission statement, forcing us to reconsider our relationships with the university. BU relies upon its community, especially alumni, to encourage students to attend the institution and donate to various funds and departments. Given the university’s regressive decision, we cannot continue these actions and we will withhold support in all forms - and encourage our fellow alumni to do so as well - until the policy is withdrawn.
Requiring graduate workers to either physically appear on campus for Fall 2020 or take an unpaid leave of absence and forego health insurance coverage dismantles the essential accessibility to education and research. It is despicable that BU would threaten to retract graduate workers’ access to healthcare, a fundamental human right, during a global health crisis. We cannot overlook draconian policies that treat graduate workers as sacrificial. The hypocrisy is obvious: graduate workers are considered essential when required to carry out teaching obligations, but are conveniently recognized as students regarding salary and workers’ rights, in order to maintain the university’s finances.
Furthermore, we are exceedingly alarmed at reports of the sudden, chaotic, and departmentally-variable enactment of the policy, including the unrealistic timeline within which graduate workers and faculty are expected to file “workplace adjustment forms”. The expedient implementation of these rules does not give graduate workers or faculty the time necessary to consider personal circumstances and gather the required medical documentation. It is confusing that some exemptions for graduate workers can be requested by PIs, which could present a troubling dynamic where an individual's safety may depend on the effective advocacy of their advisor on short notice.
Rather than exploiting graduate workers to allow academic marketing of “in-person instruction” during the pandemic, they should be given the autonomy of personal decision regarding remote instruction. We understand that some graduate worker responsibilities, such as lab or fieldwork, simply cannot be completed remotely. However, it is clear from the past spring semester that university classes can be conducted using teleconference software in order to minimize the risk of infection to instructors, teaching fellows, staff, and students alike. It is our understanding that if a TF becomes sick or quarantined due to exposure, another graduate student will be burdened with teaching that class - further exploiting graduate workers.
It is unbelievable that BU, despite this callous treatment of a critical academic labor force, has sent letters to GRS alumni requesting donations to support students to “Learn From Anywhere” and “cover unexpected financial and medical expenses”. These letters are deceptive, given that graduate workers must teach from the classroom or face “unexpected financial and medical expenses”.
We implore the University to reconsider these unjust and unsafe policies, and to instead work with current graduate workers to develop a more equitable approach for the Fall 2020 semester. As BU community members, we will remember the embarrassing and shameful conduct by the university during a global crisis. BU can and must ensure that graduate worker stipends and health plans continue irrespective of any graduate workers ability to physically appear on campus by September 1st.
We know better than most that BU - a premier global research university - simply cannot operate without its graduate students. Boston University must treat its graduate students as if it took that understanding to heart.
Respectfully,
Concerned BU Community Members