Grad students discuss diversity, financing at Wine and Whine event

Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, graduate students from the School of Arts and Sciences came to the second annual ‘Wine and Whine’ Town Hall event to discuss concerns ranging from employee status for doctoral students to gym memberships.

Organized by SASgov, a graduate student government group for the School of Arts and Sciences, the forum on Monday allowed graduate students to raise questions for Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Eve Troutt Powell. Issues of financing and diversity loomed throughout the course of the discussion.

Third-year political science student Joseph Wuest opened the discussion, asking why Penn does not guarantee financing for sixth-year doctoral students, unlike rival institutions such as Yale and Columbia.

Powell said Penn is working to balance financing with larger enrollment numbers compared to these institutions.

“We are under so much pressure, in the grander vision, to limit our class sizes. But we are trying to welcome as many students as possible,” Powell said.

After being asked about the “strange logic” of her response to financing issues later in the discussion, Powell noted that financing issues are common for those who work in academia.

“Part of your professionalization is adapting to that pressure, because it’s not going to change. You chose this life, as I did. It’s not going to change in the next ten or fifteen years,” Powell said.

One student asked why Penn had filed a brief in opposition to graduate student labor unions, citing an article in The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Fourth-year sociology student Leslie Jones asked about why gym memberships are not subsidized for graduate students, considering that they are classified as students and not employees of the University.

“Considering the empirically proven relationship between exercise and better mental health, it would actually be great for the University to market it as a mental health initiative,” Jones said.

SASgov Vice President Akshay Walia expressed his hopes that the forum would open discussions between graduate students.

“It was a unique opportunity for us, it was the first time we actually got to meet with the dean. Hopefully, this will lead to future events like this.”

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