Following a national trend by graduate students on campuses across the nation, the Graduate Student Assembly is working with a wide array of constituents to implement our own Graduate Student Bill of Rights & Responsibilities. The effort is led by Student Affairs Director Elizabeth Cozzolino of the Sociology Department. All currently enrolled graduate students interested in contributing to the drafting process are welcomed to participate. You may sign up for the UT list-serve here.
May 22, 2014 Draft of the BOR
[gview file=”https://www.utexasgsa.org/testing/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/BoR-5.22.pdf”]
Bill of Rights at Peer Research Institutions
The majority of our peer research institutions have comparable BORs that have been affirmed and agreed to by University faculty and administration. The University of California Student Association, which serves as the umbrella student government for all UC student governments, has created a BOR that multiple satellite campuses at all three tier levels of the UC educational system have signed. Here are additional BORs that you may review: Arizona State University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Nevada, New York University, and others. The National Association of Graduate and Professional Students has also crafted and publicized a Bill of Rights.
History of Bill of Rights at UT Austin
In past academic years, the GSA has worked with our peer LSOs to create a University-wide BOR. Our current efforts that remain focused on graduate students began under the direction of President Columbia Mishra (2013-2014 term). In Spring 2014, the GSA began an open discussion and drafting process for the BOR. To that end, the GSA has remained in regular contact with the Administration as we pursue the development of the BOR in weekly Spring 2014 meeting sessions.