Cutting our Future: An Open Letter to University of Maryland President, Dr. Wallace Loh

Dear President Loh,

On February 3, in response to recent budget deficits, the University of Maryland announced a $15.6 million cut from the University’s $1.86 billion operating budget. Similar shortfalls have befallen the other campuses in the University System of Maryland, but while they met the challenge by eliminating waste and delaying costly initiatives, the College Park administration placed the burden of austerity measures on the University’s student body and workforce. You write of shared sacrifice and of “creating our future” and have called on the campus community to “respond creatively” to constrained funding. But your administration has, for its own part, taken an uninspired approach that treats students and teachers as items in a budget to be balanced -- or cut.

Our mid-year tuition increase was greater than any other USM campus, only our teachers and staff are facing furloughs for the fourth time in five years, and only our administration levied a tuition surcharge on undergraduate and graduate students. A tuition surcharge of $100 may not seem injurious to you, but when rent in Prince George’s County eats up 60% of the standard ninth-month Graduate Assistantship of $15,294, we cannot afford to sacrifice any more. According to MIT, the standard assistantship at the University pays $10,000 below the $27,464 living wage for a single adult in College Park.

What place will our core mission of “providing outstanding instruction and nourishing intellectual growth” have amid increasing financial pressures faced by graduate students? If the University expects competitive excellence in these areas, graduate students cannot be underfunded and teachers cannot be undercompensated. Student debt loads are increasing at a time when the percentage of classes taught by adjunct lecturers is at a record high. We call on you to buck these worrying trends in higher education. A university of “fearless ideas” should redefine -- rather than accept -- any “new normal.”

If the University strives to be equal to the best universities in the nation, we urge the administration to define “best” by prioritizing its employees and students over expensive building projects. A truly excellent university offers graduate education that is based on financial commitments to graduate student teaching, research, and long-term career opportunities; ensures that graduate programs are not limited to the independently wealthy; actively combats racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression; and recognizes that much of the world-class research, innovation, and creative work at the university is undertaken by graduate students who earn a fraction of administrators’ salaries.

You have asked students “to share your ideas to help create our future.” We share the following:

1. We call for all money raised from tuition increases to be earmarked for undergraduate financial aid, adjunct salaries and benefits, and graduate program funding. You have said that the University must be a “prudent steward of state resources.” Students’ tuition dollars deserve the same respect. There must be assurances that new revenues will fund the core educational mission of the University. Education, not administration, should center university life.

2. We call for the tuition surcharge to be revoked and for the administration to apologize for failing to demonstrate consideration for graduate students’ concerns. Graduate workers must be acknowledged as essential to the University’s mission of excellence in the classroom and in research. The tuition surcharge undervalues these vital members of the campus workforce. A pledge never to repeat the surcharge will demonstrate, through conduct and communication, the administration’s respect for graduate students as indispensable members of the campus community.

3. We call on the University to celebrate higher education as a public good and repudiate the limited perspectives that “view higher education as a private benefit,” as voiced in your “Creating the Future” message to campus. As the state’s flagship university, the University of Maryland must promote education as more than subsidized job training. Higher education instills a keen awareness of the benefits of learning, which are far more valuable than personal monetary profit. Knowledge enlivens our democratic spirit and gives us the tools to forge a more just society.

We are dedicated to spreading awareness of these issues within and beyond the University through every channel of democratic appeal available to us, including future action. We invite all members of the University to join with us in speaking out against policies that put buildings ahead of people. Together, we can create a stronger campus community that allows and encourages all voices to be heard.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

When signing, we welcome you to also comment below to make your signature publicly visible and indicate your affiliation (University, department, organization, position, etc.) if applicable.

To participate in an ongoing conversation about these issues, please join the public Facebook group “Cutting Our Future at the University of Maryland”.

To contact the writers of this letter, email EnglishOrganizing@gmail.com.