OU officials need to take into account grad students’ wants and needs.
Ohio University’s Class Gateway on Union Street calls on each of us to encourage “schools and the means of education.”
We agree with graduate students' protesting Saturday that OU has room to improve at fulfilling that maxim.
Pursuing a graduate degree is a time-consuming ordeal that takes years of work. If those students say they don’t have time to attend OU sporting events, they mean it. They might literally not have time to spend a few hours away from their books, research or lab work.
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That’s why OU Graduate Student Senate’s proposal from last spring makes sense. If graduate students don’t attend Ohio Athletics events, they shouldn’t have to pay that portion of the general fee going toward those activities.
Last academic year, the general fee for OU’s graduate students was $1,256. That’s a significant amount of money, considering the median stipend for those students currently is about $9,000.
The university wants to bill itself as a place where students want to continue their education past receiving their undergraduate degrees, but ultimately fail because they lack empathy toward the graduate students already here.
It doesn't leave a good impression on the university when students coming to a football game for the first time or attendees coming from out of town see the very people teaching their classes protesting against wages and work hours.
In a time where money has become the means toward higher education, officials must do more to encourage that opportunity at Ohio University.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes, Opinion Editor Will Gibbs and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
