Write to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Andy Hrymak and ask for a suspension of summer tuition for all graduate students at Western University! Fill out your details on this page, click on ‘start writing’ to reach our draft letter, and remember to click ‘send letter’.

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Dear Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Andy Hrymak,

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created an unparalleled and rapidly evolving public health crisis that has significant social and economic consequences for graduate students in Canada.

At Western University, graduate students are no longer able to access most university services, including office spaces, facilities, classrooms, libraries, and most laboratories. We have also had our access to supervisors and committees, both of which are essential for the completion of our studies, greatly restricted due to the measures put in place by the university to keep our campus community safe.

In addition to this, many of us are facing additional economic hardship due to summer job loss, fieldwork disruption that threatens timely program completion, and considerable future employment uncertainty. Coupled with the latent stress and mental health problems that arise from social isolation and having to continue our teaching and research duties from home, it is clear that we require additional support from the university.  

In light of this, we ask for the suspension of summer tuition for graduate students normally due in May.

Graduate students should remain registered in their programs with unfettered access to external and internal funding awards in order to financially support our living expenses of housing, food, childcare and basic care.

In this period of precarity and distress, a suspension of summer tuition is critical for the well-being of graduate students at Western. We realize that Western University has an obligation to make important decisions about our future in the face of a crisis of this magnitude. We ask that such decisions be made with the necessary consideration for graduate students at this institution who today face more precarity and vulnerability than ever before.

Sincerely,