Open Letter of Solidarity with UH Faculty by Graduate Students
- by: Concerned Graduate Students at UH
- recipient: The UH Community
We, graduate students and graduate student alumni at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, write to express our solidarity with the UH faculty who voted to protect affordable, public higher education in Hawai'i. By voting to reject the university's Last Best Final Offer, the UH faculty clearly demonstrated their commitment to UH students and quality public education.
We do not share President M.R.C. Greenwood's "disappointment" in UHPA. Rather, we are gravely disappointed in a university administration that would consider "fair and reasonable" a contract that leaves open the door to retrenchment.
As graduate students, we are also concerned with how the proposed budget cuts will affect our education and our ability to gain professional experience. If faculty we came here to work with lose their jobs, we will be unable to receive the education we were promised when we chose to come to this university and committed ourselves to working in the UH community. Decreasing support for graduate students until it is impossible for us to study or to teach is unacceptable.
We oppose retrenchment entirely. Now is the time to invest in quality higher education in Hawai'i. It is not the time to cut staff and faculty, entire programs and departments, all of which are crucial to our education and those of generations to come. While we do not refute that there exists an economic crisis, we reject that the wisest course of action is to weaken an already poorly-funded university.
We believe that the university administration, with the cooperation of the university community, must find creative solutions to the current budget shortfall. As the administration considers how to resolve its dispute with the faculty, we hope that its representatives bear in mind that the graduate students of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa stand in solidarity with the UH faculty and oppose all efforts, including retrenchment, to weaken our university.
If the UH administration truly cares about its students, it will treat its faculty with due respect.
We, graduate students at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, write to express our solidarity with the UH faculty who voted to protect affordable, public higher education in Hawai'i. By voting to reject the university's Last Best Final Offer, the UH faculty clearly demonstrated their commitment to UH students and quality public education.
We do not share President M.R.C. Greenwood's "disappointment" in UHPA. Rather, we are gravely disappointed in a university administration that would consider "fair and reasonable" a contract that leaves open the door to retrenchment.
As graduate students, we are also concerned with how the proposed budget cuts will affect our education and our ability to gain professional experience. If faculty we came here to work with lose their jobs, we will be unable to receive the education we were promised when we chose to come to this university and committed ourselves to working in the UH community. Decreasing support for graduate students until it is impossible for us to study or to teach is unacceptable.
We oppose retrenchment entirely. Now is the time to invest in quality higher education in Hawai'i. It is not the time to cut staff and faculty, entire programs and departments, all of which are crucial to our education and those of generations to come. While we do not refute that there exists an economic crisis, we reject that the wisest course of action is to weaken an already poorly-funded university.
We believe that the university administration, with the cooperation of the university community, must find creative solutions to the current budget shortfall. As the administration considers how to resolve its dispute with the faculty, we hope that its representatives bear in mind that the graduate students of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa stand in solidarity with the UH faculty and oppose all efforts, including retrenchment, to weaken our university.
If the UH administration truly cares about its students, it will treat its faculty with due respect.
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