Advocacy and Initiatives
Currently SASgov is working on the following issues.
Grievance Procedure
For problems that are not protected under federal law (such as Title IX), there is presently no formal avenue through which SAS students can seek redress. In its lack of a formal grievance procedure, Penn is practically alone among its peer universities. SASgov is therefore committed to working with the administration to establish an equitable and appropriately flexible grievance procedure for SAS graduate students.
Dental Insurance
Last year, SASgov began urging the School of Arts and Sciences to complement graduate student healthcare plans with reasonable dental insurance, which it presently lacks (students who wish to add dental insurance to the standard university plan must pay roughly $300). SASgov will continue its efforts to encourage the School of Arts and Sciences to remedy this problem, through such efforts as the essay contest which raised awareness about this important issue by awarding dental insurance as prizes.
Master’s Students
SASgov is aware that SAS graduate students who are enrolled in terminal master’s programs face various problems that differ markedly from those faced by doctoral students. Having made such strides in advocacy for doctoral students last year, this year SASgov is committed to examining ways to improve the lives of master’s students and to putting together a program through which to address problems specific to this segment of our constituency.
Tuition Reform
Like dental insurance, tuition reform is an initiative that carries over from last year. Now that the finalized tuition reform stipulates that students who remain at Penn beyond their fifth years will face substantial increases in tuition, SASgov will work with the administration and with SAS graduate students to make this change less onerous. Since there seems to be little chance of having tuition reduced, SASgov has determined that the best way to aid students is to work towards decreasing the time that it takes to obtain their degrees. To do so will primarily require that we work to increase awareness of funding opportunities—both for summers and for the sixth year—and that we ensure that individual graduate programs have degree requirements that are consistent with the Graduate School’s tuition and funding structure.
