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Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 2/27/07 Section: News
Protesters seek presidential rendezvous
Graduate student group GET-UP protests outside College Hall to convince Amy Gutmann to discuss problems
Paul Richards
"Amy, don't you run away, listen to what we have to say!"
This was just one of many chants that could be heard on Locust Walk yesterday as about 55 graduate student protesters, led by a ten-foot tall puppet of Amy Gutmann, converged on College Hall at 12:30 p.m.
The protest was organized by Graduate Employees Together - University of Pennsylvania, a graduate-student group formed in 2001 that advocates for graduate-student teachers and research assistants at Penn.
Participants in the protest hoped to convince Amy Gutmann to finally meet with members of GET-UP and discuss their problems face to face.
The protest commemorated "a letter that Amy Gutmann had written to the former president of GET-UP saying that she would meet with GET-UP and work with them on some of their concerns," said Walt Hakala, a third-year School of Arts and Sciences graduate student and member of GET-UP.
He said that Gutmann wrote the letter while she was still a professor at Princeton, before she became president of Penn.
Now, GET-UP is looking for some results.
"We've been trying to talk to her for two years," said Stefan Heumann, a third-year SAS graduate student and current GET-UP treasurer. "We're tired of running after her."
Gutmann herself declined to comment on the protest, but University spokeswoman Lori Doyle wrote in an e-mail that Gutmann "wrote to GET-UP in July 2004 making clear that they should work with the 'existing Penn graduate student structure that has served the University and its graduate students well over the years.'"
Gutmann continues to offer that same advice, Doyle said.
But some graduate students find Gutmann's position hypocritical.
She "writes all these books about deliberative democracy and how you have to sit down with people and how a democratic institution should be based on people having conversations and solving our issues together," said Tatjana Scheffler, a fourth-year SAS graduate student and GET-UP secretary.
This was just one of many chants that could be heard on Locust Walk yesterday as about 55 graduate student protesters, led by a ten-foot tall puppet of Amy Gutmann, converged on College Hall at 12:30 p.m.
The protest was organized by Graduate Employees Together - University of Pennsylvania, a graduate-student group formed in 2001 that advocates for graduate-student teachers and research assistants at Penn.
Participants in the protest hoped to convince Amy Gutmann to finally meet with members of GET-UP and discuss their problems face to face.
The protest commemorated "a letter that Amy Gutmann had written to the former president of GET-UP saying that she would meet with GET-UP and work with them on some of their concerns," said Walt Hakala, a third-year School of Arts and Sciences graduate student and member of GET-UP.
He said that Gutmann wrote the letter while she was still a professor at Princeton, before she became president of Penn.
Now, GET-UP is looking for some results.
"We've been trying to talk to her for two years," said Stefan Heumann, a third-year SAS graduate student and current GET-UP treasurer. "We're tired of running after her."
Gutmann herself declined to comment on the protest, but University spokeswoman Lori Doyle wrote in an e-mail that Gutmann "wrote to GET-UP in July 2004 making clear that they should work with the 'existing Penn graduate student structure that has served the University and its graduate students well over the years.'"
Gutmann continues to offer that same advice, Doyle said.
But some graduate students find Gutmann's position hypocritical.
She "writes all these books about deliberative democracy and how you have to sit down with people and how a democratic institution should be based on people having conversations and solving our issues together," said Tatjana Scheffler, a fourth-year SAS graduate student and GET-UP secretary.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 14
Flapjacks
posted 2/27/07 @ 12:39 PM EST
SHUT - UP
Stop Hurting Undergraduate Teaching - University of Pennsylvania.
former grad student
posted 2/27/07 @ 2:31 PM EST
When I was admited to Penn we didn't get the health plan covered. I thought that was stupid, but I still came. If I think that the compensation for my work should include covered health insurance why shouldn't I try to negotiate with my employer to get it? I came to Penn because I wanted to work with a great research group, but that doesn't mean that I didn't also want a better stipend than they originally offered. (Continued…)
go away
posted 2/27/07 @ 2:38 PM EST
GET-UP should get lost. it is unfair for some graduate students to receive extra compensation (i.e. health insurance for dependents) because they have decided to marry or have children. (Continued…)
tim
posted 2/27/07 @ 2:40 PM EST
SHUT-UP is right
timeline
posted 2/27/07 @ 2:59 PM EST
Dawn of time -> 2000-2001 academic year: grad students pay for their own health insurance.
GET-UP starts organizing in early 2001
2001-2002 academic year -> now: health insurance is included. (Continued…)
Staff
posted 2/27/07 @ 3:06 PM EST
GET-UP needs to GET REAL! You are students, NOT faculty or staff!
Puritanical Rightwing Nutjob
posted 2/27/07 @ 7:49 PM EST
Now, I wonder how much that giant puppet of Amy Gutmann cost. Because folks, the 10th year "history PhD candidates" who run GET-UP force a union shop across all departments, guess where your union dues will be going. (Continued…)
Recent Alum
posted 2/27/07 @ 9:26 PM EST
Perhaps harassing Amy at her inauguration ceremony was NOT the best way to start their relationship off on the right foot...
Undergraduate Student
posted 2/27/07 @ 10:27 PM EST
NOT ONLY FREE EDUCATION AND STIPEND YOU GUYS COMPLAIN? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU ARE NOT FACULTY!!!!!!! SHUT UP YOU EMBARRAS OUR UNIVERSITY. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT (TRUST ME WE HAVE ENOUGH TA'S)
Former Grad Student
posted 2/28/07 @ 12:53 PM EST
Timeline: your timeline has a couple of errors in it. Let me fill in some details.
Dawn of time -> 2000-2001 academic year: grad students pay for their own health insurance. (Continued…)
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