The meeting opened with the GSA president (Marijo) reporting the results of a graduate student satisfaction survey that was sent to all graduate students in May of 2006.

1. Out of 186 students 49 people filled out and returned the survey. There was a 50/50 representation of male and female respondents, 50% of respondents were international students and 50% were American.
2. The survey showed that that the responding students (62%) were most concerned with their 12 month stipend and felt that it was too low.
3. Health insurance was the 2nd greatest concern. Most graduate students purchase Wesleyan health insurance and 57% feel that it is inadequate. Students also expressed concern over the lack dental insurance coverage.
4. Graduate housing was the second main concern. 32% of responding students were not satisfied with graduate housing but most respondents were happy with the housing and felt that Wesleyan was subsidizing house costs for them.

Overall the priorities ranked as follows:

1. Increase stipend to be comparable with nearby institutions.
2. Adding dental coverage to health insurance options.
3. Affordable graduate housing
4. Making Cigna health insurance more affordable

Copies of the proposal based on the survey that is to be sent to Joe Bruno written by Marijo (Thank you! It entailed a lot of work on her part) were passed out to everyone present. After a pause to allow everyone to read the proposal, she asked for comments and suggestions.

The first discussion centered on the description of student stipends in the proposal. Several students from the music department commented that the proposal did not make clear the range of stipends among different departments. Some research had been done to find out what graduate students in the molecular biology departments of nearby universities were paid and this was reported in the proposal but no comparisons with other departments were made. Marijo answered that she had been unable to find that information and suggested that further research (telephone calls) be done to find this information. She encouraged GSA members to get back to her with the necessary information.

The discussion then moved to dental coverage. Several students asked about what types of dental coverage were offered to faculty and staff at Wesleyan. A member of the benefits committee described the three tiers offered to Wesleyan staff at different costs.

He explained that the cost was too high to offer to graduate student, there was no additional money available. If dental insurance was offered, then it would cut into the graduate student budget somewhere else.

Several students made reference to the Community Health Center that offered dental care on a sliding fee scale. One student reported that he was having work done there and that it was working out well.

The discussion then moved on to rental costs and if raising the student stipend would result in higher rent since rental costs are subsidized by the college. Marijo responded that due to inflation, rent are increased every year but the university has been so far committed to increase stipend in a way that the amount of money a student is left after rent deductiion is over all increased. She also add that increase in stipend would require a substential amount of money from the university. Despite it beeing the number one priority for graduate students, the gap between Wesleyan stipend and nearby institution is so important that adjustement of stipend may take time and should be considered as a long term plan for improving graduate student life at Wesleyan.

There was a suggestion from a student about walking out or going on strike to increase the pressure for immediate improvements. Several people answered that that may entail joining a union. This question had been raised before and wasn’t considered desirable. The drawbacks outweighed the benefits. One student suggested that threatening to go on strike without actually intending to might be productive. Several people disagreed, commenting that making a threat without the intention to carry it out was a bad idea.

The discussion returned to dental insurance with a question about dental coverage at other institutions. Marijo answered that Yale offered a discounted dental plan and that could be a good start in term of what Wesleyan can do for the grads. Ed and marijo then explain how graduate students from the Benefits Committee had already met 2 times with Wesleyan administration staff last year to try to address this issue. The bottom line was that the university was reluctant to subszidize a dental plan in the CIGNA health plan after they found out how much it would cost the University. A final comment was made that unexpected large expenses such as medical and dental were the most difficult to deal with on a graduate stipend and that this was why the benefits committee had spent time investigating improvements in insurance coverage and cost rather than simply raising the stipend.

Marijo then asked for written comments on the proposal to be sent to her.

Several people asked when they needed to get back to her. She replied that she needed them by Friday in order to get the proposal rewritten and submitted.

Marijo, once again encouraged comments and additional information about the coverage and stipends at nearby schools, by the end of the week.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Submitted by
Wendy Barber-Armstrong
Vice president