COVID-19: An Open Letter to Administration

Click here to see our continually updating list of FAQs and Resources regarding the coronavirus.

To President Englert, Provost Epps, the Board of Trustees, and Deans of all Temple’s Colleges,

Temple University Graduate Students’ Association (TUGSA, AFT Local 6290) implores the administration to take the following steps to address the health, safety, and financial security of its graduate employees:

Expand health insurance coverage for all graduate workers and their dependents through the duration of this crisis.

It is necessary that in this time of dangerous health risks, every member of the Temple community has access to affordable health insurance coverage. Currently Temple University subsidizes the health insurance premiums for most of the around 1600 graduate workers at Temple, of which over 750 are members of the TUGSA Bargaining Unit. Many of these individuals receive only a partial subsidy for their health insurance premium based on their status as part-time TAs or RAs. Individuals with a 75%, 50% or 25% subsidy face substantial out-of-pocket costs for the remainder of their premium, in addition to their various out-of-pocket costs to cover copays, deductibles, specialist appointments, and prescriptions. We believe that in this time of health crisis, these individuals deserve comprehensive health insurance coverage. Despite their part-time status as TAs or RAs, they nevertheless are indispensable employees and full-time contributors to the rich and diverse scholarship, teaching, research, and learning community on campus.

Furthermore, a portion of graduate workers pays additional premium costs to cover their dependents on the Temple provided health insurance plans. This places a significant financial burden on these individuals, who often have no other options for insuring the family members who depend on them. In particular, international graduate workers’ dependents are limited by their immigration visas from finding any additional employment or using any sort of government provided health insurance to help offset the costs, effectively forcing them to take on the financial burden of covering their loved ones.

Immediately implement a summer subsidy program for graduate workers equivalent to their current monthly salary to be paid out monthly in June, July, and August.

This situation is particularly devastating for the lives and financial security of international graduate employees. International graduate employees at Temple University face difficult circumstances each summer when they lose their income through their TA or RA positions. These individuals receive nine-months of wages and are otherwise prohibited from working in the United States while on their Temple-sponsored visa. To manage this disruption in compensation, many return to their home countries where they work over the summer before returning to Philadelphia in the fall for the following academic year. However, due to new travel restrictions, these individuals may be prohibited from traveling home, may risk not being able to return in the fall, and may face increased health risks if they return home. Therefore, they are placed in the impossible position of living in Philadelphia all summer without income and no other options for work. Without financial support, the legal permission to work elsewhere, or the confidence that traveling home and back will be both possible and safe, these individuals face extreme economic hardship at a time when financial security is paramount to healthily navigating a global pandemic. Additionally, although the US government is considering a cash subsidy program to support individuals through this crisis, it is reasonable to expect that they will not extend this support to non-citizens and would be insufficient in supporting our community regardless.

Similarly, domestic graduate student employees also face additional hardships this summer. Although they are legally able to seek additional employment outside of the university, with most businesses closing for at least the next two months, many of these Temple employees will be unable to find summer work, thus leaving them in a dire financial position. If these individuals are forced to move home, their travel puts additional communities at risk and distances them from their studies. Now more than ever, it is necessary that the university provide all graduate employees the financial security that they need to advance towards their degree, succeed as teachers and researchers, and abide by CDC and WHO recommendations while doing everything they can to stop the spread of this pandemic.

Commit to proactively finding solutions with immigration officials, colleges, and departments to ensure that, as travel restrictions change, graduate workers will be able to continue their employment, research, scholarship, and teaching at Temple University.

Currently, no one knows how long travel restrictions will remain in place due to the spread and containment efforts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Yet, international students and employees are faced with making travel and visa decisions now for the fall semester and beyond. Temple can lead the nation in proactively working with government officials to ensure that international members of the Temple community are prioritized and that solutions for their unique situations relative to the pandemic are found before the start of the 2020-2021 academic calendar.

Immediately provide prorated refunds of student fees, lab and other course fees, and other costs associated with physically attending Temple University.

Although student fees provide for a variety of programming and resources on campus, without access to campus facilities such as the labs we do research in, the rehearsal rooms we practice in, the studios we make art in, the gyms we exercise in, and the libraries we study in, we must be refunded our remaining costs to use these facilities. Each member of the Temple community is now scrambling to find new ways to do our research, scholarship, and teaching, seeking solutions that force us to take on additional costs. This is on top of the additional costs associated with following recommended quarantine and social distancing procedures. Having already paid for spaces and resources we can no longer access, creating the solutions we need to continue become prohibitively expensive. Therefore, it is imperative that Temple refund 46% (as of Monday March 16, 2020) of all semesterly-assessed fees. We commend Temple in taking this step regarding parking costs, issuing a refund of the prorated fees from March 16 onward, and hope that that decision serves as a model for other fees moving forward. The reimbursement of fees will provide immediate relief for graduate workers as our community transitions online and off-campus.

The Moral Imperative

Temple has both the resources and the moral obligation to ensure that every single one of its employees is able to pay their bills and put food on the table while we all navigate these difficult times. It is imperative that Temple administration do its part in ensuring the extraordinary steps, such as social distancing, self-quarantine, immediate access to health care, and limiting travel, required to prevent the spread of this virus are taken. These steps are vital to creating the herd immunity necessary to protect our community over the coming months. By not providing its employees with the financial means to do so, Temple Administration risks failing both the greater Temple community and all others that its precarious workforce would come in contact with.

Federal and state officials are currently investigating ways of providing much needed cash subsidies to workers across the country, but such measures will likely be limited based on industry and citizenship status. As graduate employees that struggle to be recognized as workers on the national stage, our employer must guarantee our financial security through this pandemic. The TAs and RAs of Temple University are working incredibly hard right now to ensure both that the online teaching transition is smooth, and that their own research and scholarship is maintained. These individuals are doing this work and carrying this anxiety for pennies on the dollar. The over 750 TAs and RAs that make up TUGSA’s bargaining unit cost Temple on average less than $2,400 per month in wages and healthcare. Yet we do over a quarter of all the teaching at Temple and regularly contribute to groundbreaking research and make spectacular artistic creations. In this time of global crisis, local uncertainty, and public health threat, Temple University can lead among its peers in securing its community of employees. We look forward to working with administration in the development and implementation of these plans of action so that all graduate employees receive the healthcare and financial security they so desperately need to weather this pandemic.

Sincerely,

The TUGSA Executive Board

Evan Kassof
TUGSA President
Music Composition PhD Program

Bethany Kosmicki
Vice President
Sociology PhD Program

Elysia Petras
Treasurer
Anthropology PhD Program

John Hess
Secretary
Political Science PhD Program

Matt Ford
Director of Community Outreach
Sociology PhD Program

Robert Carey
Director of Organizing
Creative Writing MFA Program

Lindsay Bartkowski
Staff Organizer
English PhD Program

Alexandria Nazar
Membership Organizer
Painting MFA Program

Marygrace Navarra
Office Organizer
Film & Media Arts MFA Program

Min Kyung Boo
Sexual Harassment Officer
English PhD Program