Our Campaign to Fight for Degrees/Programs and Improve Conditions for Graduate Workers

In the face of funding cuts at the university and federal level, the increasing economic strain on workers across IU, and the attacks on international students and other vulnerable student groups, it’s become clear that workers across IU need a say in how the university operates. People like Whitten, Braun, and the Board of Trustees see IU as a place to enrich themselves at the direct expense of students, faculty, and staff. They’ve forgotten that the real work of the university is in the classrooms, archives, and labs.

IU is our university. As the workers who make it function, we deserve to say how it runs.

We want to make IU a better place to learn, work, and research. Our campaign has three pillars:

Our Degrees

Protection of At-Risk Degree Programs:

IU must take measures to protect degree programs and associated departments at risk of dissolution under HEA-1001-2025 through negotiations with elected bargaining representatives for the graduate workers, students, faculty, and staff impacted.

Secured Funding

IU must provide living wage employment for graduate students to finish their degree, including alternative sources for programs for which federal funding has been cut, without financial burden placed on departments or faculty grants.

Our Work

Union Recognition

IU must recognize the IGWC as the collective bargaining representative for graduate workers.

Living Wage

IU must provide a path to universal 12-month contracts for SAAs with a living wage for all graduate workers, which according to the MIT Cost of Living standard is currently $43k/yr.

Our Campus

Legal Protection

In addition to maintaining enrollment, IU must ensure that international students receive financial support to finish their degrees regardless of their student or visa status.

Sanctuary Campus

IU must refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and must provide the fullest protection to students of vulnerable populations.

This is our university.