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The Graduate Student Organization plans to push for increasing the minimum stipend for Syracuse University’s graduate student employees for the coming year, GSO President Yousr Dhaouadi said during Wednesday’s senate meeting.

The current stipend minimum is $16,485 over a 9-month academic year period, which equates to $1,831 a month, Dhaouadi said. The GSO conducted a survey in the spring 2021 semester on Ph.D. student pay where it found the desired minimum is $18,612.

CJ Arnell, a GSO senator, argued that the GSO’s proposed desired minimum is still too low. After excluding Medicare and social security taxes, which graduate employees are not required to pay, the minimum stipend for a 9-month period should be at around $23,000, Arnell said.

Based on the MIT living wage calculator, the required income before taxes for one adult with no children in the city of Syracuse over nine months is $25,528.

“It’s just to make sure that people have enough to live on,” Arnell said. “To ask for anything less is an insult to those that we represent — the graduate employees.”

The GSO Senate should appeal for a larger stipend based on the living wage in Syracuse, instead of comparing to peer institutions, he said.

Dhaouadi also said there were 43 new fellowships granted this past summer, but the number of fellowships was propped up by one-time COVID-19 relief funding. The GSO Senate plans to allocate permanent internal funds for such increased fellowships. She added that the GSO Senate is in discussion with both the Graduate School and the provost’s office.

Dhaouadi also announced the graduate housing initiative this year, saying that GSO Senate will implement a virtual tour option for incoming students to view certain housing options before arriving on campus, she said.

The GSO Senate also called for feedback to the university’s honorary degree revocation report. The report was filed by the chancellor’s office after the University Senate passed a resolution calling for the Board of Trustees to rescind Rudy Giuliani’s honorary degree he received from the university’s College of Law in 1989.
The report is currently under review by the executive committee of the Board of Trustees. Students can send comments to Gabe Coleman, SU’s director of project management and operations, by Oct. 26.

Other business:

The senate elected five at-large senators during Wednesday’s meeting: Roger Rosena, Dominic Wilkins, Partha Sai Preetam Reddy, Komal Sharma and Pulak Jain.

During the meeting, Dhaouadi announced that Richard Kaufman, formerly the chair of Student Association’s board of elections, now serves as the liaison between SA and the GSO Senate. The GSO Senate listed the position in its constitution but has not filled it until now, she said.

The senate confirmed Vito Mariano Iaia, a graduate student in physics, as the president pro tempore of the GSO senate. He received 41 votes in favor and one vote abstained.

The senate also passed a resolution to update its diversity committee charge and an amendment to change the committee name to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility committee.

Published on October 13, 2022 at 12:10 am

Contact Francis: btang05@syr.edu | @francis_towne