United Campus Workers in Louisiana Secure a Big Win for Graduate Students

Last Thursday, in a win for members of United Campus Workers at Louisiana State University (UCW-CWA Local 3465), Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law that requires universities to provide payment or waivers for mandatory graduate fees for graduate students that have research assistantships, teaching assistantships, or curator assistantships. At Louisiana State University, mandatory fees for graduate students for the 2022-2023 school year are almost $2,000 per semester depending on how many hours the student takes. “We have to pay the university a pretty sizable percentage of our pay in order to have the privilege of working for them...students are not supposed to be customers at a public university,” said United Campus Workers of Louisiana member Adam Dohrenwend. This is the latest win for United Campus Workers who have successfully mobilized to eliminate burdensome student fees in other states including Tennessee and Georgia.