ANN ARBOR – University of Michigan officials announced on Monday in an email to campus faculty that the majority of end-of-semester grades had been submitted despite an ongoing graduate student employee strike.
According to a U-M release, approximately 91% of total grades were submitted as of 5 p.m. on Monday. Officials said the number is about 4% behind a typical year at the end of term. A small percentage of grades most often associated with study abroad courses or independent study are delayed each term.
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“We have heard from many concerned undergraduates who are facing deadlines for class registration and financial aid, and from many seniors who face grade-reporting deadlines for job and graduate school applications,” Provost Laurie McCauley wrote in an email to faculty on Monday.
“I have asked deans to work with department chairs and faculty to ensure all of them receive grades as soon as possible. Schools and colleges are also taking steps in individual cases, whenever possible, to ensure our students’ future education and plans are not compromised.”
The university was concerned about grades being submitted in a timely manner this semester since the Graduate Employees’ Organization went on strike on March 29, encouraging its members not to submit grades as part of its bargaining strategy.
“GEO members collectively decided to withhold grades as part of our strike,” Amir Fleischmann, GEO Contract Committee chair, said in a statement. “Graduate workers made that decision out of a growing frustration with (Academic Human Resources’) refusal to bargain in good faith and treat the issues grads are facing with the seriousness they deserve. Given that we were not paid for the month of April, there is no reason why the administration should expect us to complete our work obligations.”
Due to the situation, department chairs and other faculty members and staff stepped in to complete the grading.
“Many of you have selflessly put in long hours, contacted individual students, and opened dialogue with your colleagues about how to minimize the harm to our students caused by the strike, from loss of classroom instruction to delayed and incomplete grading,” McCauley continued in her email, thanking those who had volunteered to submit grades.
“On behalf of university leadership and the many undergraduates who have contacted our office and others with concerns about course continuity, untaught material, and grades, we are appreciative of the faculty who have worked to meet uncertainty with dedication and ingenuity.”
The university’s contract with the union expired on May 3.
According to a U-M release, with no end date to the strike announced, a Michigan Employment Relations Commission mediator working with both sides has urged the to meet at the negotiating table as often as possible.
GEO has committed to two more days in May, citing that previous meetings with U-M officials were not productive.
“Unlike HR’s bargaining team, ours is not made up of full-time employees making hefty six-figure salaries,” he said in a statement. “Instead, our team is made up of graduate students on a volunteer basis. We have other obligations — not least of which is writing our dissertations — and need to take time to focus on that work.
“Our members are aggravated that AHR continues to represent their sub-inflation salary offer — an effective pay cut — as a serious offer. It isn’t. Until AHR is ready to present a serious offer, we do not feel additional bargaining sessions would be a good use of our team’s scarce time.”
The union is asking for a 60% pay increase in the first year of a new three-year contract. The university is currently proposing an 11.5% increase in raises over the next three years.