Graduate students plan to participate in an all-day celebration of their worth to the university Wednesday that some are calling a “walkout.” The event is being held in response to the administration failing to meet the deadline for seven demands listed by graduate students last week.

Issued on Aug. 19, the Forum on Graduate Rights gave administrators six days to put forth a plan addressing their demands. That initial release said graduate students would walk out at noon Aug. 26. A later release called for an all-day walk out.

The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and students will rally at the Columns from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

According to the release, their demands were as follows:

— A guarantee that no graduate student employee be paid at a rate below the individual poverty line regardless of their appointment status, department or college.

— A guarantee that all graduate student employees receive full tuition waivers, regardless of their full-time equivalent appointment.

— Revised Aug. 22: a fully-subsidized student health care plan for all graduate student employees that is guaranteed for the full term of their graduate student employment.

— Immediate action on the part of the university to ease the burden on international students caused by the loss of their health insurance subsidy.

— More and affordable university-sponsored graduate student housing.

— A return of affordable, on-campus, university-sponsored childcare facilities for graduate students.

— Revised Aug. 22: A waiver of supplemental fees imposed by colleges, schools and departments for all graduate student employees.

A week after graduate students were informed that their insurance had been canceled, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announced that the university would in fact defer its cancellation of graduate student health insurance. After the initial announcement of their loss of health insurance, graduate students created the group Forum on Graduate Rights.

“We are as invested in the University of Missouri as the undergraduate students,” said Rebecca Benson, a member of FGR’s Outreach Committee. “We want to see the university prosper and send out the best students it can, but in order to provide the best research, teaching and resources possible, we have to have acceptable living conditions.”

After graduate students contacted faculty members across campus in request of their support, departments started to publish formal statements about the issue. Collaborating with graduate students across campus, FGR collected statements of support of 22 departments, all of which supported the walkout by promising to not penalize its participants.

Lynda Kraxberger, associate dean of the School of Journalism, informed students via email Tuesday evening that journalism classes and labs would meet as scheduled during the Wednesday walkout. The School of Journalism’s faculty was the first department to announce that its graduate faculty members unanimously support the walkout and would not penalize graduate student employees for participating.

####A Domino Effect

The groundwork for the walkout was laid Aug. 14 when graduate students were told they were losing their university-sponsored healthcare coverage due to an IRS interpretation of the Affordable Care Act. According to the IRS, the subsidies offered to graduate students through the university are considered “individual market plans,” which are prohibited by the act. The email notification was sent out about 13 hours before domestic student health insurance expired. For international students, this information came 13 days after their promised health insurance plans had started.

On Aug. 17, the Graduate Professional Council and the Graduate Student Association held a forum in Middlebush Hall. Nearly 500 graduate students gathered to discuss grievances regarding the loss of their healthcare plans. On the same day, Loftin created a task force to search for solutions.

FGR was created shortly after the forum and graduate students began to discuss the walkout and rally at the Columns. According to GPC member Matt McCune, some GPC members aided in the formation of FGR and then stepped aside to allow the new group to spearhead further efforts.

In a news release dated Aug. 19, FGR identified seven demands addressing the loss of graduate student healthcare and the lack of childcare facilities and university-sponsored housing available to graduate students since [the demolition of University Village,](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/7/8/univesity-village-awaits-demolition-sparks-graduat/) which housed the Student Parent Center.

Loftin said he had received and reviewed the demands issued by FGR.

“In addition to health insurance, this letter addresses a number of issues that are closely linked to the university’s budget,” Loftin wrote in an announcement. “MU’s budget priorities are addressed through shared governance, primarily through the Budget Allocation and Advisory Committee, in which graduate students have ongoing representation.”

FGR revised its demands Aug. 22 in response to the temporary restoration of graduate student health care.

On Aug. 25, an image was uploaded onto MU’s Research, Graduate Studies and Economic Development website that quoted Hank Foley, senior vice chancellor of the department, expressing his support for the rally.

“Be at the Columns at noontime tomorrow to express gratitude and support for our students and to celebrate the central roles that they play in teaching, scholarship, research and the life of the mind at MU,” Foley said.

#Mizzou #GradsDo appreciate words of support, but still need real actions to back them up. @MUGradRights @MUGRADDEAN pic.twitter.com/sterIYeHo3

— Sarah Senff (@AuburnAmazon) August 25, 2015

####A Celebration of Graduate Student Contribution to the University

Some GPC members were involved in the creation of FGR, but since its formation nine days ago, a steering committee and several other committee have emerged. GPC members stepped aside to allow an elected and volunteer group.

GPC President Hallie Thompson said GPC is focusing on the rally and the march that will follow shortly after rather than the all-day walkout.

“We’re not referring to the walkout, but we’re referring to the rally or gathering at the columns and a march at noon as a celebration of graduate contribution to the university,” Thompson said.

GPC also requested that faculty, graduates and professionals wear red at the rally.

Although the some GPC members are no longer involved in the FGR, members have worked together to contact faculty members and request their support in the event in order to promote the well-being of its constituents. Thompson said she and other members of the GPC met with Loftin and Foley to discuss the needs and demands of graduate students.

“The administration is excited and wanting to work with us because they know graduate students are very important to the research and teaching missions of the university,” Thompson said.

According to FGR, graduate student employees will hand out flyers, operate information booths, cancel classes, or spend a portion of classes educating their students about these issues.