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As the University of Michigan Graduate Employees’ Organization’s strike continues into its fifth week, the grading of student work remains a central issue with classes and finals having concluded for the winter term. The union, which represents Graduate Student Instructors and Graduate Student Staff Assistants, has been striking due to ongoing disagreements with the University’s administration over salary and contract specifics.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen noted that GEO had recently agreed to advise its members to turn in all recorded grades and any ungraded assignments submitted before the union went on strike following a court order from the Washtenaw County Circuit Court.
Rackham student Amir Fleischmann, chair of the GEO Contracts Committee, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily this agreement only requires GEO leadership to recommend that grades be submitted. It is not a binding agreement for individual members.
“The agreement we reached with the University was that the union would send an email to all members, telling them that if they have graded or ungraded material from before the strike, they need to turn it in,” Fleischmann said. “That’s it. So there is actually nothing in the ruling that says that an individual worker has to follow through with that.”
Fleischmann said he sees the grading process as an advantage in their negotiations with the University. He noted that grading is a large responsibility of GSIs and GSSAs and one the University depends on heavily.
“A big chunk of what we do is grades,” Fleischmann said. “Grading is really important for the University to be able to move its bureaucracy along as we go from term to term, so we see this as a big point of leverage for us in our strike.”
Rising LSA junior Nat Leach, student leader in the U-M chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, said while GEO is not grading new assignments while on strike, they are not explicitly demanding that faculty withhold grades. Leach also discussed the open letter signed by some U-M faculty in solidarity with GEO. Since the open letter was first made available, members of several U-M departments, including the History and Linguistics departments, have issued their own statements regarding grades and GEO.
“These are tenured and tenure-track faculty independently organizing amongst each other,” Leach said. “In the case of the History Department, (some department members are) voting … saying ‘we stand with our graduate workers.”
Despite concerns regarding the potential impact of the strike on the grading process, Fleischmann said GEO will delay grades until negotiations conclude.
Broekhuizen said the University has extended the deadline to submit final grades by 24 hours in light of the strike and expects faculty to meet the extended deadline.
“There may be delays in some cases, but our faculty are committed to accurately assessing students’ work and ensuring grades are processed,” Broekhuizen said. “The Registrar’s Office has extended the deadline to submit grades from 72 to 96 hours after the final exam for courses impacted by the strike. It is the expectation that faculty members meet those deadlines.”
Correction: this story was updated to accurately reflect the statements issued by the History and Linguistics Departments.
Daily Staff Reporter Amer Goel can be reached at amergoel@umich.edu.