Cornell graduate students protested outside the College of Veterinary Medicine building on Friday to demand higher wages and other work benefits, following an announcement that the University would increase stipends for its doctoral students by eight percent.
Although this is the largest stipend increase since 2006, it falls short of the cumulative inflation of 45 percent over the same time period. The protest was timed to coincide with a University Board of Trustees event that was occurring inside the building.
Jessica Ness grad, a third-year Ph.D. student, voiced that graduate students are advocating for a raise that matches inflation.
“In Tompkins County, rents have gone up 12.4 percent in the last three years, and the 8 percent raise is the first significant raise in 17 years. So first and foremost, we want fair pay,” Ness said. “Also, things that aren’t included in this raise are better access to transportation for graduate students, like bus passes covered by the University — subsidized parking passes would be great. And better access to health insurance like vision and dental included in our packages.”
Cornell Graduate Students United coordinated the demonstration that started as multiple marches from various points on campus such as the Arts Quad, Gates Hall and Kennedy Hall.
These marches congregated outside of the Veterinary School, chanting slogans such as “Eight percent is not the way, grad workers deserve their pay” and “What do we want? Fair wages! When do we want them? Now!” Protesters carried signs with other slogans, including “12 Months Work = 12 Months Pay,” “More Money, Fewer Problems” and “I’d Rather Bargain Than Beg.”
The demonstration comes in the wake of increased unionization and labor movements among graduate students around the nation, historic strikes and increases on graduate student stipends at other universities like Princeton, which increased stipends for its graduate students by 25 percent last year.
Following the marches, graduate students delivered speeches in front of the Veterinary School, sharing anecdotes about their financial troubles and calling for action.
“In my second year, I was able to get the National Science Foundation Fellowship,” said Bea Rodrigues grad, a Ph.D student in communications, in her speech. “I said, ‘That’s cool, I can focus on my research and have guaranteed funding for three years — right?’”
Rodrigues said she was surprised to learn that summer funding for graduate students is less than the minimum amount her program offers undergraduates during the summer.
“In order to top off my summer salary, I will be working an hourly shift that my advisor kindly helped me [find] in order to guarantee that I received the minimum,” Rodrigues said. “Having to do extra work because I received one of the most competitive fellowships in the country doesn’t seem fair.”
Other speakers reflected on how the increasing rent prices in Ithaca affects their daily lives. Elias Beltran grad explained how he cannot afford to rent a home in Ithaca for him and his family and has to look at other surrounding areas for affordable housing.
“We finally found a clean, affordable place in Newfields,” Beltran said. “Between my wife and I, [we] have an almost two-hour commute daily.”
Attendees shared their motivations to partake in the demonstration and stressed the importance of a higher increase on their stipend.
“It does not keep up with the rent increases or the inflation [of] groceries, any other extraneous cost that grad students have to bear,” said Adithya Rangamani grad. “The one thing we want to get across is just that the eight percent [raise] is not enough.”
Some representatives from CGSU, like Ness, also expressed that higher wages were not the only grievances they had regarding compensation and support from the University.
“One thing that we have been talking about with graduate workers is that this 8 percent raise does not encompass a lot of things that are really important to help grads have better working conditions [and] be able to do the research they came here to do,” Ness said.
In an email to The Sun, Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina stated that the University supported students exercising their right to protest, but did not comment on any of the issues raised by CGSU.
“Cornell graduate students exercised their freedom of expression today in peacefully demonstrating outside a meeting of the University’s Board of Trustees,” Malina said. “Now, and always, we affirm students’ right to protest and speak out on matters important to them.”
Demonstrators remained hopeful that the University would address their demands following the protest.
“I hope Cornell does the right thing and the Board of Trustees do the right thing to pay us a fair and living wage,” Ness said.
Correction, March 25, 1:15 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that CGSU intended to organize a union in the future. The Sun regrets this error, and the article has been corrected.