Alex Wolf-Root

Alex Wolf-Root

Open Letter from RWU to the President

In November 2022 Alex Wolf-Root, signed the Open Letter from RWU to the President .

Committee on Rights and Compensation

November 2019, University of Colorado Boulder graduate student labor union is planning a week of sit-ins and a walk out to put pressure on university leaders to get rid of mandatory student fees.

The Committee on Rights and Compensation’s Week of Action, which starts Monday, will include four-hour sit-ins every day at the Regents Building and culminate with a walk out on Friday at noon.

The goal is to get a commitment from the university that it will waive fees for graduate student workers in the next academic year, said spokesman Alex Wolf-Root.

At nearly $1,800, mandatory fees for CU Boulder graduate students are 9% higher than comparable institutions, according to a graduate task force report released in August. Graduate students make $23,000 to $26,000 a year.

“In principle, it makes no sense to pay to do your job,” Wolf-Root said. “Fees are effectively tuition by another name and we see that by what they fund and what they go to.”

CU Boulder does not recognize the Committee on Rights and Compensation as a union and mediates graduate student issues through the United Government of Graduate Students. On Thursday, the university published a Q&A with administrators that downplayed issues raised by the union and highlighted positive changes made so far.

Organizer Peter Shaffery said he hopes the events create a sense of urgency on campus and among administrators.

“One of the things we’ve been frustrated with the administration’s approach is that they’re pretty consistently dragging their heels,” he said. “If you look at most universities in the United States, it’s clear that CU Boulder is charging out sized fees and it seems like they’re drowning us in buzzwords rather than acknowledge that this is a real problem that needs to be solved.”