Fee offset not caused by Cal grad strike
By Kathleen Komar
I would like to respond to the April 28 news article "SAGE
strike ends, no word from university," by Laryssa Kreiselmeyer. The
story says the Association of Graduate Student Employees at
Berkeley conducted a walkout in 1989, "gaining health insurance and
fee waivers for all members."
SAGE/UAW has made these claims repeatedly and they are
incorrect. The Partial Fee Offset program was established in
1991-92 to mitigate the effect of the university’s 20 percent fee
increase for teaching and research assistants. It provided partial
fee remissions equal to the fee increase for all teaching and
research assistants who held appointments of 25 percent or more
time.
Funding for the fee remission has been shared by the campuses
and the University of California’s Office of the President. The
partial fee remission and medical insurance payment programs were
developed by the Council of Graduate Deans, and then proposed to
the UC systemwide by the Council of Graduate Deans, who supported
them unanimously.
The Graduate Student Employees’ Association at Berkeley was
informed of the new proposals, and their comments routinely
solicited. They were not, however, responsible for developing the
partial fee remissions and medical insurance payments or getting
them accepted.
The fee remission and medical insurance waiver programs were
approved by the Office of the President at the urging of the
graduate deans. The programs were never negotiated with any group;
they were in response to the rising fees and not in response to
Graduate Student Employees’ Association activity. These programs
affect the entire UC system, and were not the result of any
activity at any single campus.
The UC system is constantly working to remain competitive in
recruiting the very best graduate students in the country. The
university works hard to make graduate student support as
attractive as possible.
The fee remissions, medical insurance waiver and the fact that
academic apprentice personnel were protected from the 5 percent
salary reduction that faculty and staff experienced were all
measures taken by the university to make sure our graduate student
support was not eroded during a time of particular budgetary
crisis.
Komar is the associate dean of the graduate division.