UI graduate student union concerned about Deloittee

June 18, 2014

By MacKenzie Elmer, Waterloo Courier

Iowa City | The University of Iowa's graduate student union is mobilizing its members to attend a public forum with the consultants hired to find savings at the state's public universities.

Deloitte Consulting revealed it could save universities $30 million to $80 million annually during a town hall at the University of Northern Iowa on Monday.

"We have deep concerns this is going to impact the quality of undergraduate education, increase class sizes and faculty loads," said Jeannette Gabriel, leader of UI’s graduate student union or COGS. “We feel strongly that there should be a drastic cut of salaries at top rather than impacting undergraduate education.”

The 97-page report released after the public meeting Monday identified 17 ways universities could operate more efficiently. It included ideas like streamlining information technology services, reducing utilities by consolidating classes into certain buildings and changing purchasing practices.

Most of Gabriel’s concerns lie in the report’s preliminary review of academic programs. The regents delayed launching the full review until fall to allow more time for faculty input.

But Gabriel wonders what Deloitte meant by calling for “strong enrollment management,” which vaguely mentions “instructional class size” and “faculty and resource allocations.”

"We're doing a lot of the undergraduate teaching and increasing class sizes dramatically impacts us. It means graduate students are doing more work for the same amount of money and it cuts into research time,” she said.

Gabriel said she and other graduate students were "disciplined" for standing up at a public Iowa Board of Regents meeting in March and yelling to "ditch Deloitte, stop the audit."

The second public forum will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at the University of Iowa in the second floor ballroom of the Iowa Memorial Union.

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