Mellon will run out of money for fellowships

A grant provided by the Mellon Foundation for School of Arts and Sciences dissertation fellowships will run out of funds next year, SAS Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Donald Fitts said earlier this week. The fellowships were part of a large grant called the Mellon Program for the Eighties. The grant had two purposes -- encouraging faculty members to retire early by giving them a retirement bonus thereby opening more positions for younger faculty, and providing dissertation fellowships to University doctoral students. But Fitts said at a forum Wednesday that the Mellon funds are running out and University administrators have been slowly lowering the amount of yearly fellowships available from the grant. Doctoral students said yesterday they are worried that there may not be any alternative funding available at the University. Fitts said University funding has been replacing the decreasing Mellon grant funds, and added that when the Mellon grant runs out next year, the University will continue to provide 40 dissertation fellowships per year in place of the Mellon funds. The Graduate Student Associations Council held an open forum Wednesday to discuss the possible dearth of dissertation funding and to learn about a new Mellon grant which was recently given to the University. The new Mellon grant is in place this year, but it provides dissertation fellowships to only five departments on campus -- English, History, Romance Languages, Music and Classical Studies. In order to obtain the new fellowship, students must complete their studies within five years or they may no longer be eligible for University funding. Doctoral students currently studying at the University can apply for the Mellon grant funds as long as they are entering their final year of study, either their fourth, fifth or sixth year at the University. Graduate students said they think this "five-year rule" limits their studies. "I think the concern of a lot of students is the issue of trying to fit a lot of different departments into one rigid time schedule," former GSAC president Anne Cubilie said. But Fitts said the new grant does not place a time limit for a student to receive a degree, but limits the amount of money students can receive. Students also discussed the lack of communication between graduate students, departments and the dean's office. Many students said they have no idea how graduate funding decisions are made. Those students present at the forum said their departments had told them accounts contrary to what Fitts was telling them. One student said his department told him he would be unable to receive funding beyond his fifth year. But Fitts said that doctoral students who remain at the University beyond their fifth year would still be eligible for teaching assistant positions, lectureships and other University funds. "There should be something in writing that students can access," Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Vice Chair for Policy Susan Garfinkel said. "There's a huge communication gap. How can we fix it?" Other students at the forum stressed the need for flexibility in regards to funding. "It seems that Mellon is saying, push them out in five years," one student said. "It reflects absolutely no qualitative factors. A student can be doing very well and if their work doesn't fit into a five-year scheme, it's to no avail." Although the forum was held to allow graduate students to learn more about the University funding process, the outcome remained uncertain. "It's all still very unclear," Cubilie said. "The departments are saying one thing and the dean is saying another." At the forum, Fitts said that students would be welcome to see a copy of the new Mellon grant proposal. Cubilie added that seeing the proposal might clear up other questions graduate students may still have.

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