PGSG Town Hall Notes – Spring 2022

People present: 16

Attendance: Ailin Fei, Michelle I., Madelina Nunez, Dr. James Mohler, Gianna Nossa, Apekysha Chhetri, Antonia Susnjar, Olivia Gearner, Hailey

Date: 4/4/2022

Location: PGSG Center

Meeting started at 5:00pm (meeting is not being recorded)

Notes:

We will distribute notes somehow. Dr. James Mohler is in attendance, rep from grad school

Outline of the timeline:

· PGSG president will present, then Q&A

· Olivia from living wage campaign will speak for 10 mins, Q&A

· Open floor for everyone

GSAW was established in 1993 and it recognizes and amplifies the work that grad students do.

Started with an intro video

· this year’s PR team created the video

· refocused branding

· worked with student to create and produce the video

Little bit of history:

PGSG was established in 1985. Grad center was established 2014

· We needed a space for grad students, which is why the center is continuously expanded (renovated basement, etc)

PGSG structure: Executive board (body of leaders), senate (departmental leaders-senators), teams (Life, community, career, etc.)

PGSG purpose: Advocate and meet needs of grad students

PGSG priorities for 2021-2022: housing and compensation, mental health, campus climate

Highlights:

· 100 events organized

· $100,000 in grants

· PGSG Emergency Needs Grant

· Ace Food pantry pop up at the PGSG Center

· PGSG Website re-branding

Legislations and bills:

· Gender-affirming healthcare

· English dept graduate student funding

· Graduate Staff leave of absence

· Grief Absence Policy

o PGSG CARE Liaison

o CARE- Student Advocacy

· Increase Graduate Representation in University Senate

· Establishment of Support Space for Racial, Ethnic, & Xenophobic Discrimination

· PGSG Emergency Needs Grant

· Infant at Work Program

· Support for the Framework for Accountability in Academic Research and Mentoring Project

· Declaration of Commitment to Shared Governance

Future Events

· Graduate Student Appreciation Week

· April PGSG Senate

o In person and virtual

o Link to newsletter on Monday prior to meeting

· Spring Picnic

QnA

Campaign Living Wage at Purdue

Demands:

· Increase wage to $15/hour as this is considered living wage

· Future increase to $20/hour in the next 5 years

· $32,500/year is minimum wage

· $42,500 by 2026

Reasoning behind demands:

Graduate students cannot afford medical bills, glasses, dental work, emergency funds, retirement fund, and are living from paycheck to paycheck.

Petition slide: Purdue Wage Petition

Open forum:

There is a change in salaries coming and it will be more than couple of thousands of dollars (but not $32.5k). However, all graduate school can do is nudge. It is very important how graduate students react to this change.

Additional comments: big problem is that RA and research credits mix together and there needs to be better explanation from the Human Resources department. These credits are grey area and dean’s office can only provide individual advocacy.

Every advisor and department should do deliverables/goals for each graduate student every semester.

Any graduate mentor (professor) can be reviewed and revoked but this rarely happen.

Mentoring malpractice: It seems normal to graduate students, but it is not. You should report any abuse!

GROW President offers creating a Union to make Dr. Mohler’s job easier.

Dr. Mohler’s response: Union can be damaging since Indiana is right wing state which can take some of the union’s power away. Moreover, some institutions have top down to bottom-up politics.

Closing notes

Housing is the most difficult issue and it is not going to get better. Parking is going to stay as is since a lot of people work remote. Salary- announcement is coming. Increase will be more than few thousand dollars. Students should be pushing back to poor mentoring and working 85 hours a week.

Dr. Mohler

Write legislations to PGSG! It is powerful. Shared governance is important. We have to keep our seats at the table otherwise we won’t see the change. Response to news: ONE STEP OF MANY. Utilize PGSG resources. Anonymous contact form can be filled for any issues or questions.

Madelina

Since the beginning of capitalism, the best avenue for workers’ rights is through union. This is the best way for workers to make the change. There is an open house for living wage campaign (date: TBD)

Olivia

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