A group of University graduate students led by the Graduate Labor Union marched from the street side of the Rotunda to the office of President John T. Casteen, III in Madison Hall yesterday to deliver a petition protesting the recent increase in health insurance costs approved by the University.
The petition contained over 800 signatures -- 400 from the Internet and 400 traditional signatures.
The petition asks the University to reimburse qualified graduate students for health plan deductibles, eliminate the student health summer fee for graduate student employees and lessen the qualifications required for graduate students to receive a health insurance subsidy.
"What we want is for the petition to cause U.Va. to think seriously about the impact these changes are having on graduate students and try to address some of the graduate students' lack of support, especially in terms of health care," GLU Treasurer Bill Craighead said. "I doubt that Casteen will come out and say, 'We are going to make these changes right now,' but hopefully this will cause him to think about taking action and to do something."
Craighead, like many other University graduate students, is affected by University policies regarding health care because he is classified as adjunct faculty by his department.
The classification means that although he teaches intermediate microeconomics at the University as a doctoral student, he does not receive benefits that other graduate students not classified as adjunct faculty receive.
University spokesperson Carol Wood said graduate students who earn at least $5,000 over the course of a year and who are employed as either a graduate teaching assistant or a graduate research assistant are subsidized by the University, as well as fellowship recipients awarded at least $5,000 in fellowship funds over the course of the academic year.
She added the summer session fee for graduate students not enrolled in summer session who want continuous care is $33 each month and is collected only if a student actually receives care at Student Health during a given month.
Before the graduate students marched to Casteen's office, GLU President Craig Danielson gave a short speech thanking everyone for their support and expressing his desire that the University pay more attention to the needs of its graduate faculty in the future.
"This is all part of a grievance that grad students have," Danielson said. "On one hand, we are considered state employees, but we are treated like students with regard to everything else. The more broke grad students are, the more the quality of the education of undergrads will decrease as grad students are forced to take on part-time jobs to compensate for the loss of income."
Wood said graduate students were instrumental in reworking the health care package.
"Those negotiating the benefits worked hard to get the best benefits package for the best price," Wood said. "But ours is a high-use program, and in the past year, the program paid out more in claims that it took in in premiums. Such high usage naturally contributes to an increase in premium costs."
Read More
Two measles cases confirmed in Charlottesville this spring
By Nicolas Biernacki | 11 hours agoVirginia’s first case was confirmed in April, with the patient being a child under the age of 5 and from the Northern part of the state.
Summer construction on Grounds disrupts traffic, foot pathways
By Ford McCracken | 18 hours agoOne of the two largest disruptions to traffic is at the three-way intersection of McCormick Road, Rugby Road and University Avenue.
What is U.Va.’s Faculty Senate?
By Adeline Miller | 5 days agoThe Senate is able to represent the faculty perspective to legislative bodies through positions such as the faculty representative to the Board of Visitors.
