Eric O. Scott, a third-year doctoral student in English, couldn’t contain himself.

It would be another 27 minutes until the smattering of red shirts between and around the Columns would swell into an impassioned throng protesting the university’s mistreatment of graduate student employees, but Scott let loose his battle cry nonetheless.

“MU, Grads too! MU, Grads too! MU, Grads too!” Scott shouted as he shook his posterboard sign above his head.

The single word on Scott’s sign — “United” — did well to define the graduate students who would gather en mass on the Quad by the start of the [noon rally](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/8/26/start-movement-graduate-students-walk-out/).

Scott refined his language when he spoke to the crowd who, by 12:15 p.m., had filled out the grassy area between the Columns and Jesse Hall.

“The motto of this university and this state is a line from Cicero,” Scott told the crowd. “I know that because I was taught Latin by a Mizzou grad student.”

The motto to which Scott referred is “Salus populi suprema lex esto” or, in English, “Let the Welfare of the People be the Supreme Law”.

Scott denounced MU administration for betraying their motto.

“Welfare of the people — not welfare of the lazy river, not welfare of the softball stadium,” he said, referring to amenities in the Student Recreation Complex and the construction of a new softball stadium in the Hearnes Parking Lot.

Scott was among the first members of the Forum on Graduate Rights and co-chairs the group’s Organizational Committee along with Connor Lewis.

FGR was established shortly after graduate students were informed they would lose their university-sponsored health care subsidy Aug. 14. On Aug. 19, the group released a list of seven demands of the administration that were to be met by Aug. 24. Administrators were unable to adequately respond to the graduate students’ request, so they walked out.

William Palmer is a doctoral candidate and graduate instructor at MU’s theater department. Palmer is a Type 1 diabetic, so losing the health care subsidy was particularly hard on his family. He said he’s unsatisfied with the uncertainty of his healthcare plan moving forward.

“We only get our healthcare back for one year,” Palmer said. “I’m sorry, diabetes lasts more than one year.”

Jeremy Simkins came to Wednesday’s rally with his wife, who is a graduate student at MU. The couple moved to Columbia from Minnesota so that Simkins’ wife could pursue her studies. The two have had trouble finding adequate childcare in Columbia for their baby.

“We came down here expecting a health insurance subsidy,” Simkins said. “Not having one makes a difference.”

University Village, which housed the Student Parent Center, was demolished August 2014.

Palmer said he was pleased with the turnout for today’s rally, but he stressed the importance of remaining relevant.

“The moment we go invisible, we go voiceless,” he said.

_Brian Consiglo and Tessa Weinberg contributed reporting for this story._