A message from PHENOM (http://www.phenomonline.org):

It has been a year since Governor Patrick filed legislation to fund the negotiated contracts of the faculty and staff at UMass and half a year since he submitted the contracts for the state and community colleges. The Legislature has yet to act upon the Governor’s funding requests, which he said were “the result of a cautious collective bargaining approach our administration took…to effectively respond to the extraordinary fiscal challenges.”

The unions are waiting for a reponse this week from House Speaker DeLeo about his plans for funding these contracts, and PHENOM and GEO are asking you to ask your Representative to urge the Speaker for no further delays in funding the contracts. Faculty and staff members have not had a raise since 2007 and the negative impact on our colleges is growing by the day.

The contracts to be funded are bare-bones. After a one-year wage freeze, there is only a 1 or 1.5 percent increase in the first year of the new contracts. Recently, health insurance deductibles and co-pays have increased, so faculty and staff in effect have taken a pay cut.

Investing in the higher education workforce is investing in higher education since it makes the system competitive with comparable institutions in other states. It helps colleges and UMass recruit and retain excellent faculty and staff. Enrollment in each of our public higher education institutions has skyrocketed, while the number of faculty and staff positions has, in most cases, remained stagnant or declined.

You can click the link below to log in and send your message:

http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/phenom/F8tWir6c.aspx

After you send your message, please call Speaker DeLeo directly at 617-722-2500 and ask him to commit to the funding of our Higher Ed contracts (bundled in HB 1141 and 4396).

FRONTLINE recently reported on for-profit universities, which are managed "more like a corporation than a university." Currently, about 2.8 million students attend for-profit schools, where the tuition runs "five to six times the cost of a community college and as much as twice a four-year state university," according to FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith. As a result, for-profit students take on an average debt load more than double that of traditional students.

Instead of directing more public funding toward public universities such as UMass Boston, the government is subsidizing this growing, private industry, which receives about 75% of its revenue from the federal government. By providing for-profit students with grants and loans, "[t]he taxpayers are essentially funding this industry," argues Daniel Golden, an education reporter for Bloomberg News.

Many for-profit universities enroll a majority of their students in on-line courses, such as Grand Canyon University, which has 35,000 of its 40,000 students taking classes over the web. A similar shift is happening at UMass Boston, where students are increasingly enrolling in more expensive and more profitable on-line courses. In fact, UMass is currently planning its so-called "University College," which will primarily enroll students in on-line degree programs. Given the trend, UI Education professor Nicholas Burbules warns about "a kind of fast-foodization of higher education itself, where a low cost, convenience and ease of finishing become values in themselves, to the possible detriment of the things that only can be accomplished slowly and over time."

You can watch the entire episode here.

On Thursday, April 29th, the GEO will be hosting elections for a new Organizer.

The elections will be held near the Catwalk in the Campus Center from 11am to 3pm.

Here are the candidates!

Neha Bhartia
Vinay Dagar
Sudeep Kumar
Vu Thi Hoang Lan
Karen Powell
Seshu Ramineedi
Golnaz Tabatabai

Neha Bhartia ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

I am Neha Bhartia, a student of College of Management doing my MBA in Healthcare Management and Marketing. I have recently been appointed as a Graduate Assistant, and this is my second semester. I am applying for the position of Organizer.

Being fairly new to the system, I lately found out about the redundancies existing within UMass Boston system. This is when I came across GEO flyer and when was unable to understand the need of a Students Union fee being added to my GA pay. We as Graduate Assistant are not given ample information about how our GA contract works and what it entails. Due to my recent conversation with one of the GEO members I came to know about similar problems that have been faced by many other GA’s I look forward to working with GEO and bring issue such as difference in health insurance, reduction in student working hours and student payments between various branches of UMass. My own experience with UMass has motivated me to work for the causes that have been raised by GEO. Furthermore, there is need that UMass provides all GA’s with an information brochure that would give ample information about the benefits and requirement from a GA.

During my Undergraduate in UK, I have closely worked with the students’ body to create awareness about the health related issues and represent the students in front of the college to enhancing various curriculums for better value for money. Furthermore, I had successfully negotiated with the college to increase the basic wage for the students working on campus. I think with the prior experience I will form an effective part of GEO and work together with other member to bring forward issues and motivate others to join our cause.

Vinay Dagar ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

My name is Vinay Dagar. I am a second semester graduate research assistant in the Management department. I am in the college of Management, majoring in Information system. I am excited about the opportunity to work with GEO on campus. I got an opportunity during first semester to be a part of it. In my life, people have helped me in the academic setting, now it is my turn to give back. I have the necessary skills to work with individuals that I gained through my own trial and error as well as education from learning resources centers. I come to this election with a strong academic background; I have excelled in my studies of Science and am now doing graduate work in same. With the tools I have learned, I would be able to help others using my full potential.

I have worked with individuals and coordinated with activist groups in the past during my undergraduate. I have also worked in the veteran’s upward bound department of our University. I wish to build on my knowledge and gain new skills to continue working with individuals and schools officials. Thank you!

Sudeep Kumar ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

“It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always” Motivated by these words of ‘Oprah Winfrey’ I have always been on the wondrous journey of self-development.

Hi fellow Graduate Assistants, my name is Sudeep Kumar and I am contesting for the position of “Organizer”. I am currently pursuing MBA in Marketing and International Management at UMass Boston and am a Graduate Assistant to Oscar Gutierrez, Director of College of Management.

Before coming here, I was working as a Junior Manager in Sales and Marketing Department of Tork Air Tools, a pneumatic tools manufacturing company. My responsibilities there ranged from specifying market requirements for current and future products by conducting market research supported by on-going visits to customers and non-customers to managing the entire product line life cycle from strategic planning to tactical activities. I have always believed ‘Innovation is the key to progress”. Motivated by this belief, I have brought in numerous process improvements at my workplace. Using the same approach, I would help GEO in raising awareness and strengthening its steward system.

My acquaintance with ‘Scouts and Guides’ and ‘National Cadet Corps’ taught me how to be disciplined in life and to complete my work before deadline. I have also been an active member of an NGO for over two years that works for helping orphan children. My efforts would always be directed towards generating enthusiasm and energy in the GEO committee by being positive, focusing on finding solutions and motivating others. I completely understand responsibilities of this position and would do my job with utmost sincerity. I promise to serve the UMass community and do the best I can for all of you.

Vu Thi Hoang Lan ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

The discrepancies of schooling fee, health care subsidies and stipend payment between Umass Boston and Umass Amherst and Umass Lowell give me ideas to run for GEO election where I can raise my voice for the benefits of Graduate Assistants. Students at UMass Amherst and UMass Lowell had already won significant improvements to their stipends, tuition waivers, and health care subsidies while graduate student employees at UMass Boston have to pay more for their educations and receive less compensation for their work. Our low pay combined with nearly unbearable cost of living in Boston, parking here on campus, food cost at cafeteria and the ever-increasing curriculum fees have led me to run for an organizer position of GEO. By this election I can get a chance to struggle for living and studying condition improvement of Graduate Assistants.

I am Vu Thi Hoang Lan, an international female student of the college of management doing a MBA in marketing & health care. I currently hold a position as Graduate Assistant at MBA program. I actively join social activities for the rights of students.

I once worked for projects, where the duties I performed was managing program budget, organizing social activities to change the behaviors and attitudes of villagers, and protesting for their rights. By my past experience I will be able to sever well for GEO and propagate about the rights and benefits of GEO among the graduate students. I do count on your votes to be able to fulfill this purpose. Thank you for your support.

Karen Powell ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

My name is Karen Powell, and I am interested in serving the GEO members as the GEO Organizer. I believe that my professional and educational background would support the GEO’s valuable representation of graduate student employees. During the fall 2010 semester, I will a third semester student in the Dispute Resolution program, and I am currently serving as a research assistant for that department. I hope to apply the organizing and negotiation skills I have gained in my professional career and that I am refining as a graduate student to the position of GEO Organizer in order to build awareness of the GEO’s advocacy for graduate student employees and to build solidarity among graduate departments in order to strengthen these efforts.

I am also a practicing attorney in the Boston area with a part-time practice heavily involved in advocacy for my clients’ interests and contract negotiation. These professional endeavors require a great deal of organizational and interpersonal skills, both of which will go far in accomplishing the responsibilities of the Organizer position. I look forward to making the best use of these abilities in support of the GEO’s objectives and to serve the interests of UMass graduate student employees.

Prior to my legal career, I was a college administrator (after having earned a MA in Public Administration) and a union member in a public college. This experience has given me a unique insight into the interaction between a public educational institution, a union and union members that would support organizing and coordination efforts on the behalf of graduate student employees and GEO members.

Effective union representation requires effective organization, and I hope to support and enhance the GEO’s dedicated representation of UMass graduate student employees to this end.

Seshu Ramineedi ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

I am Seshu Kiran Ramineedi, a full-time MBA student in my second semester from the College of Management. I work as a Graduate Assistant under Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Oscar Gutierrez. Currently, I am assisting him in automating the application process and the reports to be generated for the applicants and students.

I would like to nominate myself to the GEO organizer position where my primary responsibilities would be promoting GEO and its contract details among all the Graduate Employees. I am looking forward to do the job by strengthening the stewards in all the departments. Encouraging graduate assistants in each department to volunteer as stewards by advertising in Mass Media and meeting them regularly would strengthen the GEO’s departmental contacts and enable it to implement the contract and ensure its enforcement.

With my industry work experience, I realize the benefits of a unionized employee association over a non-unionized employee group. Since the union has formed GEO has done a tremendous job in improving the contract of the Graduate Employees at UMASS Boston and working forward to achieve the similar contractual benefits enjoyed at UMASS Amherst and Lowell. I am looking forward to be the voice of the union and represent it in raising the concerns of Graduate Employees at UMASS, Boston. As an organizer, I would also create more awareness about the details of the contract and collect feedback on the improvements needed.

My experience as a secretary of student body during the undergrad days also will help me carry the GEO organizer responsibilities very effectively. As a secretary I have represented the student body and raised their concerns to the education committee and conducted inter-college events to improve the image of the university. Therefore, I think my prior experience as a secretary and as an employee would make me understand the Graduate Employee’s concerns more effectively and represent them in a meaningful manner to the university committee. So I sincerely request you to vote for me and provide the opportunity to serve the Graduate Employee community for better contractual benefits.

Golnaz Tabatabai ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Entering my second-year at UMass Boston this past fall, I obtained a quarter-assistantship with Professor Jalal Alamgir in the McCormack School of Policy Studies. It was through this position and also applying for a grant that I was introduced to the GEO and informed about its commitment to benefits and equality among graduate employees and students. This commitment inspired me to seek office this April and run for the Organizer position.

My work experience as a Research Assistant for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and also working with two non-profits organizations on their Financial Education projects will enable me to be an effective candidate.

For these reasons, I submit my candidacy for the Organizer position. I feel confident that I can contribute a high level of dedication to support the GEO in its important mission to serve graduate students across different disciplines and nationalities and foster a place where we can work together toward not only a higher education but also an increased collaboration.