Readers react to a column about cuts to graduate student stipends in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. Graduate students do a vast amount of research and work for the university, yet are paid with wages that place them near the poverty line.

Read the full column here. 

Derek Held: “This is how we get to be a top-25 research university, right? Scaring away all the best graduate talent that do all the heavy lifting on the ‘research’ part of ‘research university.’ Yeah, I’m sure this is how it’s supposed to work.”

Sarah Price: “Cutting grad student stipends by one-sixth can be close to $4,000 a year, which is huge. This was the College of Engineering’s choice. Go after them, not Schulz and the school as a whole. Other colleges found different ways to slash the budget.”

Kay Craig: “Totally out of line. Grad students do all the scut work but don’t get paid enough as it is.”

Sarah Fakhoury: “I’m leaving if that’s actually true — there’s no way to support ourselves on $1,600.”