Open Letter in Support of University of Mississippi Graduate Students

Chancellor Boyce, Provost Wilkin, and Graduate School Dean Kluck

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented upheaval for everyone here at the University of Mississippi, including undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty, and administrators. Graduate students at the University of Mississippi are confronting many problems, including:
  • Reduced or no access to resources they need to complete their research, including archives, libraries, and labs
  • Reduced or no access to external employment to supplement stipends
  • Reduced or no academic job offerings as institutions of higher learning across the country announce hiring freezes for both the upcoming academic year (2020-2021) and the next (2021-2022)
  • Increased teaching demands as graduate student instructors, like adjunct and faculty instructors, scramble to transition to online teaching.
In light of these tremendous pressures, we ask that the University of Mississippi:
  • Ensure that the extension of time-to-degree clocks for all graduate students by one year is carried out by all departments
  • Extend funding for all graduate students for an additional year
  • Provide official assurance, in writing, that teaching assignments, administrative and research appointments, stipends, and health insurance will continue to remain in place for the Summer of 2020 as well as for the 2020-2021 academic year and beyond
  • Expand support for international graduate students that includes full summer funding, assistance in the process of renewing or extending visas, and free legal support on issues related to immigration, work access, etc.

To: Chancellor Boyce, Provost Wilkin, and Graduate School Dean Kluck
From: [Your Name]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented upheaval for everyone here at the University of Mississippi, including undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

As we all work to develop new plans necessitated by this crisis, we write to share our concerns about graduate students at the University of Mississippi, and the problems they are confronting:
1. Reduced or no access to resources they need to complete their research, including archives, libraries, and labs
2. Reduced or no access to external employment to supplement stipends
3. Reduced or no academic job offerings as institutions of higher learning across the country announce hiring freezes for both the upcoming academic year (2020-2021) and the next (2021-2022)
4. Increased teaching demands as graduate student instructors, like adjunct and faculty instructors, scramble to transition to online teaching.

In light of these tremendous pressures, we ask that the University of Mississippi:
1. Ensure that the extension of time-to-degree clocks for all graduate students by one year is carried out by all departments
2. Extend funding for all graduate students for an additional year
3. Provide official assurance, in writing, that teaching assignments, administrative and research appointments, stipends, and health insurance will continue to remain in place for the Summer of 2020 as well as for the 2020-2021 academic year and beyond
4. Expand support for international graduate students that includes full summer funding, assistance in the process of renewing or extending visas, and free legal support on issues related to immigration, work access, etc.

In these uncertain times, it is crucial that the University of Mississippi extend these lifelines to graduate students -- a financially precarious population that performs much of the academic labor vital to the functioning of the university. Doing so will not only help mitigate the impact of this crisis on graduate students’ wellness and progress-to-degree, but also ensure that the university works to fulfill a core tenet of its institutional philosophy: To nurture excellence in teaching, learning, creativity, and research.