Many LSU graduate assistants denied promised wage hike

BY PIPER HUTCHINSON

Louisiana Illuminator

LSU was given $8 million in the state budget on the promise it would raise its minimum pay for all doctoral-seeking graduate assistants to $23,000 per academic year — the highest among schools in the Southeastern Conference — but many qualified students aren’t seeing the benefits.

In phone and email interviews, seven doctoral-seeking grad assistants at LSU confirmed they were offered stipends significantly below the newly-advertised minimum. They also shared that many of their friends working in doctoral programs are in the same boat.

Many of these students spoke to the Illuminator on the condition they remain anonymous out of fear they could lose their jobs or even their visas. Graduate assistants do much of the labor required to keep a university running, including research and teaching freshman courses. They are typically offered a tuition waiver and stipend for 20 hours of work, although several told the Illuminator they work many more hours without additional pay.

Md Tanvir Ahmed Sarkar, a student senator representing graduate students, said he was offered a stipend of just $14,000. A graduate adviser in LSU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering informed its graduate assistants who were being paid with grants given before 2022 they would not receive the new minimum stipend, Sarkar said. LSU announced the new pay rate in February, months before the legislature appropriated money for that purpose. The stipend hike was hinted at in memos circulated around the university during fall 2022 in the months following the hiring of LSU Provost Roy Haggerty, who spearheaded the efforts.

An LSU official confirmed the pay raise was going to happen regardless of the appropriation, which was nowhere near a sure thing. The $8 million LSU requested was added to the final version of the state budget bill, which was released just minutes before the legislature adjourned June 8.

A memo Haggerty and LSU Graduate School Dean Jim Spencer released to faculty and graduate students last October indicated the university planned to finance the stipend increase by eliminating a small number of positions.

It’s unclear exactly how many Ph.D.-seeking graduate assistants will not receive the new minimum wage, but Sarkar said he believes the number to be around 150.

The graduate assistants interviewed made between $14,000 to $20,000 for nine months. The lowest rate of pay for a graduate assistant at LSU is around $11,000. If Sarkar’s estimate is correct, it would cost the university less than $2 million — perhaps closer to $1 million — to raise every graduate assistant to the promised stipend.

The Illuminator reached out to Haggerty to explain why the university is not using the extra cash to ensure all qualified graduate assistants receive the advertised pay rate and to clarify what criteria LSU is using to decide who receives the increased stipend.

In a statement, Haggerty declined to explain LSU’s use of the cash appropriated by the legislature but indicated the university had okayed the lower rate of pay for some graduate assistants.

“LSU A&M is raising the minimum stipends for all terminal-degree-seeking students to $2,556/month,” Haggerty said in a statement. “We encourage those with funding from exter- nal sources to increase their GA rates to the same as LSU A&M, if they are able to rebudget the funding. Going forward, we require all grant proposals to use the $2,556/month minimum in their budgets.”

The $2,556 monthly rate comes out to $23,000 for nine months.

House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma, who was involved in negotiations on the final version of the budget, expressed disappointment that LSU is not following through with its commitment.

“It’s always a trust issue,” Magee said. “If things are not followed through on, the next time they ask for money, we will be more skeptical or criti-

WAGES, from page 3 cal and less likely to do it.”

A stipend of $23,000 would be a substantial improvement on the income graduate students currently struggle to survive on after paying mandatory student fees totaling as much as $2,000 per semester.

Several graduate assistants interviewed for this article are

SCOTT, from page 2 tempted to disperse a Black Muslim demonstration, gunfire erupted on North Boulevard, killing the two sheriff’s deputies. Nine Black Muslims were charged with the murders.

“The minister told us don’t be caught out on the street, and definitely do not associate with the renegades,” Beverly said.

Agent Hahn was sent from the FBI’s New Orleans office to interview the indicted men

“We were called white devils. They didn’t call me ‘Mr. Hahn’ or ‘Agent Hahn.’ We were keeping the Black race down, and we were totally useless,” he said.

Hahn learned that Nation of Islam members did not carry weapons but trained in combat skills that would allow them to seize police guns. He was advised that they chanted the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God international students, who could face deportation if they take on additional employment in violation of the terms of their visas. is great,” to build up courage.

With these working conditions, several students said they feel like LSU is exploiting them.

“They’re treating graduate students as slaves,” one international student said of the university.

“From that day forward,”

Thomas said, “the temple was highly watched by the FBI. … They’d harass us more than the way they harass now.”

Scott told his wife that he had noticed white men following him.

Although FBI documents show no surveillance of Scott, Beverly speculates that Scott’s nightmare prompted him to fight.

“He knew he was going to die. He knew they hadn’t been following him on those days for nothing,” she said.

At the door with the misconceptions

The Army declared Scott a deserter from a base in California on Nov. 22, 1972. It provided Scott’s date of birth, physical description and Social Security number, and Hahn obtained a copy of Scott’s driver’s license.

“For me, it was just another deserter case,” Hahn said. “So, I took

The student, who studies engineering, said despite being paid a $14,000 stipend for a 20hour work week, he frequently works 30 or more hours.

“I think they are abusing us because we are stuck here and they have the power, and they can fire us easily and they can get rid of us whenever they want,” he said.

Another international stu-

Bill Wood with me. We figured we’d have the guy in jail and have lunch.”

Two perspectives collided at the wooden door when the agents approached the house.

The “Milton X” sign was his first indication, Hahn said, that Scott was a Black Muslim.

Scott confirmed his identity and then slammed the door.

The agents said they tried to kick it in before Scott charged out at Wood. Beverly said Scott rightfully denied the armed “white liars” entry into the house as they barged in.

According to the FBI files, only one witness — a city/parish sanitation worker — saw the fight develop, and he recalled seeing a Black man pushing two white men off his steps. Beverly and the agents say Scott screamed, “Allahu Akbar!”

Hahn said that when he heard those words, flashbacks to the dent studying engineering shared that when he pushed back on being offered a lower stipend, his adviser “politely threatened” him by telling him he should be grateful for his position because the professor gets many applications for potential replacements.

Sarkar said he plans to enlist the help of United Campus Workers of Louisiana, a chapter

Black Muslims involved in the North Boulevard violence rushed through his head. He said he assumed Scott would try to steal the agents’ weapons “because that’s what they said they do.”

Hahn said he saw Scott pick up an object from the ground. He thought it was Wood’s gun.

“I’m pretty sure that Bill said ‘Shoot,’ and I’m thinking, well, [Scott] has his gun, and that’s why Bill wants me to shoot him.” of an international communications workers union, and the Graduate Student Association. He said he hopes to petition LSU administration to follow through on its commitment so that every worker can pay their bills.

Hahn shot Scott twice. Scott was pronounced dead on the scene, with only a gold wedding band, three dimes and one nickel on his person.

And it turned out that the object Scott had picked up was not Wood’s gun but the blackjack that Hahn had taken from the car and placed in his pocket.

Beverly’s last memory of Scott was his eyes rolling to the back of his head and blood gushing from his body.

“The current pay rate that we are getting is not enough to survive,” another graduate assistant said.

Fifty years later, Hahn believes the FBI should have done more to verify who had enlisted. Scott’s family also said the mistaken identity could have been resolved if the agents had done their homework.

A glance at state and federal records would have revealed that Scott was working at LSU when Wallace deserted.

According to Hahn, Scott could have prevented his death by saying he had never been in the Army instead of shutting the door. Beverly protests that Scott repeatedly told the agents he had never enlisted.

“It just took so much out of me and just to actually see it happen,” she said.

This story was written by Myracle Lewis and reported by Lewis, Amelia Gabor, Birdie O’Connell, McKinley Cobb, Brooke Couvillon, Hannah Rehm and MacKenzie Wallace.