Khurana Says University Will Maintain Academic Continuity In The Event Of A Graduate Student Strike | New

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As the graduate students’ union is set to hold a walkout in the coming days, College Dean Rakesh Khurana said on Friday that the College plans to maintain academic continuity if scholarship holders and course assistants leave the room. class for the picket line.

The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers threatened to go on a three-day strike on Oct. 27 if a deal is not reached with the university. Contract negotiations between Harvard and the union, which began in March, have been hampered by persistent disputes over pay, benefits and grievance procedures for sexual harassment complaints.

Khurana said in an interview on Friday that ahead of the potential strike, the college was working to avoid any interruption of classes.

“What the College is trying to do is minimize any kind of negative impact on our educational mission in the event of a strike,” he said. “We are undertaking contingency planning, working with our faculty and staff to support our students.”

“It is a prudent thing to do – to ensure the academic continuity of our students, while respecting the right of our graduate students to vote to organize a strike,” Khurana added.

Ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, many union members – who work as fellows, course assistants and graduate research assistants – made announcements to their students during class or via email about the strike, their plans. participation in the strike and resources for undergraduates. to be involved.

In addition, some teacher-scholars have rescheduled or canceled sections and office hours, and some professors have chosen to move courses online.

HGSU-UAW also circulated a document outlining how the strike will affect undergraduates. According to the document, graduate students will refrain from grading homework, responding to emails and holding sections and office hours if the three-day strike takes place.

“We understand that our strike will interfere with your learning or receiving grades and comments,” the document read. “That being said, it will be up to each faculty to decide whether or not to grade or hold sections in the absence of the TF. If a graduate student is your primary instructor for a course, then that striking graduate instructor will cancel the course.

Khurana said the college is working to provide teachers with resources to avoid disruption to classroom instruction during this time.

“Our goal is to make sure we plan for academic continuity for our students and to give our faculty and staff the tools they need to adapt to circumstances as needed,” he said.

In September, the union voted overwhelmingly to call a strike – with nearly 92 percent of members in favor.

If the union goes on strike on Wednesday, it will be its second walkout in two years.

In December 2019, HGSU-UAW called a 29-day strike after a year of negotiations with the University on issues such as compensation and discrimination policies and sexual harassment grievances.

During the nearly four-week strike period, striking union members stopped organizing sections and office hours and grading homework and exams.

University president Lawrence S. Bacow said in an interview last week that the university plans to continue negotiations with the graduate students union and that he hopes the two sides can come to an agreement without strike.

The two sides will meet for another negotiating session before Wednesday’s deadline, with another scheduled for that day.

Regarding the state of the negotiations, Khurana said he recognized that there was “goodwill on both sides to reach a resolution”.

—Editors Cara J. Chang and Meimei Xu contributed reporting.

—Editor-in-Chief Alex M. Koller can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @alexmkoller.

—Editor-in-Chief Taylor C. Peterman can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @taylorcpeterman.


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