Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

I congratulate The Daily Pennsylvanian on the article highlighting the special challenges facing an often-overlooked part of the student community at Penn -- parents ("Students balance studies, family," DP, Dec. 13).

Deputy Provost Peter Conn's characterization of what Penn is doing for families as "only modest" highlights the extent to which this population has been neglected. Conn says support for graduate students with families is currently under review.

Perhaps he could share with the DP and student groups how this review is being conducted and by whom, how students with dependents are being consulted and when we can expect a report.

I hope the review will consider the University of Michigan, where health insurance premiums are paid for graduate employees and their families. Starting this year, Penn will pay the individual premiums for only part of the graduate student population and for no dependents, and the insurance plan itself is unsatisfactory. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison childcare is provided for students with dependents: their counterparts at Penn have nothing.

These two examples are benefits negotiated by graduate employee unions. Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania believes that when a significant part of the graduate population is struggling to make ends meet juggling low stipends, unaffordable health insurance and prohibitively expensive childcare, our community suffers. Poor working and living conditions make excellence in research and teaching harder to achieve.

When graduate employees come together to win a place at the bargaining table, we will use the strong collective voice of a graduate employee union to negotiate the kinds of services that will make Penn a supportive environment, attracting and retaining the best and brightest graduates, including those with dependents.

Emily West

Communications Ph.D. '04

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.