Provost Rahul Shrivastav announced IU increased the minimum stipend for IU graduate workers to $22,000 and eliminated mandatory fees in an email to faculty, staff and graduate workers on Tuesday. The changes are effective immediately and will be applied retroactively to July 1.
Shrivastav’s email said the changes were part of initial recommendation from the Task Force on Graduate Education, a group of faculty members and one graduate student representative established in April.
The new stipend is a 46% increase from last academic year, which offered a $15,000 minimum stipend. Shrivastav said the changes moved IU from the bottom of Big Ten university stipends to the top half.
In addition to these changes, the Dean of the IU Bloomington Graduate School will be responsible for ensuring the minimum stipends remain in the top half of the Big Ten.
Katie Shy, media spokesperson for the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition-United Electrical Workers said the response was an exciting result of their strike.
“The increase in SAA stipends shows what graduate workers can accomplish by coming together, and underscores that we will continue to fight for a union on campus so that responses to our demands are permanent and created at the bargaining table, not in one-off promises,” Shy said.
She said the changes were a win for graduate students and would increase momentum for union recognition in the fall.
