The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper
THE DIAMONDBACK Spring Grad Guide
Founded 1910, independent since 1971.
APURVA MAHAJAN Editor in Chief
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Apurva
https://dbknews.com/jobs/ Newsletter: https://ter.ps/DBKNL
A Ring-Billed gull flies over Lake Artemesia in College Park on Feb. 12, 2025. (Ryan Bowie /The Diamondback)
Graduate Student Deadlines
Spring 2025
Feb 21
Doctoral nomination of dissertation committee form
March 3
Master’s nomination of thesis committee
April 15
Doctoral report to examining committee forms and dissertation submission
April 29
Master’s report of examining committee forms and thesis submission
June 3
Master’s programs and postbaccalaureate certificates*
Professional practice doctoral programs*
*subject to change if the semester GPA calculations are delayed
Summer 2025
June 17
Doctoral nomination of dissertation committee form
July 11
Master’s nomination of thesis committee
July 18
Application for graduation
Aug 1
Doctoral report of examining committee forms and dissertation submission
Aug 8
Master’s report of examining committee forms and thesis submission
Aug 21
Master’s programs and postbaccalaureate certificates*
Professional practice doctoral programs*
Fall 2025
Sept 15
Application for graduation
Sept 29
Doctoral nomination of dissertation committee form
Oct 1
Master’s nomination of thesis committee
Nov 14
Doctoral report of examining committee forms and dissertation submission
Dec 3
Master’s report of examining committee forms and thesis submission
Jan 8
Master’s programs and postbaccalaureate certificates*
Professional practice doctoral programs*
UMD graduate school dean Stephen Roth reflects on first year, future goals
By Oliver Mack | Staff writer
University of Maryland’s associate provost and graduate school dean Stephen Roth outlined his priorities — which include improving diversity and retaining underrepresented graduate students — as he enters his second year as dean.
In an interview with The Diamondback, Roth said he strives to improve retention and graduation rates for underrepresented populations, increase graduate student diversity and improve students’ satisfaction with their programs and careers.
“I see these as priorities that will arguably remain unchanged over the time of my tenure,” Roth, the former principal associate dean of this university’s public health school, said. “They all sort of feed into each other.”
After a June 2023 Supreme Court decision prohibited colleges and universities from considering a student’s race in their admissions processes, Roth and his team created a new admissions review process.
The process, now in its second year, includes a revamped student application and new training for admissions officers, which teaches them to better recognize a student’s life experiences and “perform a holistic review,” Roth said. Roth has also worked with the Graduate Student Government’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee to update the graduate school’s websites to use more inclusive language, such as using gender-neutral pronouns when referring to students, according to epidemiology and biostatistics doctoral student and GSG representative Nora Jameson.
The graduate school has also worked with this university’s career center to collect data on student and early alumni satisfaction, Roth said.
Rose Ying, an organizer with the Graduate Labor Union — a campus organization that advocates for collective bargaining rights for graduate workers — said she has talked to Roth about her concerns with his opposition to collective bargaining.
Roth’s stance against collective bargaining rights for graduate workers has led to “ongoing tension” with many graduate students at this university, said Keegan Clements-Housser, GSG’s operations director.
Collective bargaining would have “an overall negative effect” on students’ education, Roth said.
“We feel strongly that graduate assistants are students first and should not be treated as employees,” Roth told The Diamondback. “The relationship of graduate assistants to faculty will change if they are suddenly viewed as an employee class.”
Jan-Michael Archer, a graduate assistant for the facilities department in the behavioral and social sciences college, said the “students first” concept erases and dismisses people in his position. The work Archer does on campus is unrelated to his degree, he added.
A majority of graduate workers in the Graduate Labor Union signed union authorization cards supporting collective bargaining rights, according to Ying, a neuroscience and cognitive science doctoral student.
According to Archer, a global, environmental and occupational health doctoral student and Graduate Labor Union member, graduate school deans at this university have testified to the Maryland General Assembly every year against legislation that would secure collective bargaining rights for graduate assistants.
Clements-Housser, a journalism studies doctoral candidate, said the GSG has historically supported collective bargaining rights and classifying graduate workers as employees.
This dissent with Roth has been “a point of contention,” Clements-Housser said.
Roth said he continues to support graduate workers by working with the graduate school to increase graduate assistants’ stipends and change policies such as the parental accommodation policy, which was adjusted last semester to extend graduate students’ parental leave by two weeks.
This year’s GSG executive board has focused on eliminating the international student fee, which charges $125 a semester to each international student, The Diamondback previously reported.
Roth said he supports the international student fee as many university resources rely on the funds it generates. But the graduate school should be more transparent about why the fee exists and where its funds are allocated, he added.
This university has also broken ground on a new university-owned graduate housing development at the site of the former Old Leonardtown community, Roth said, which will effectively double the amount of university housing available to graduate students. The project will be considered below market rate and primarily benefit international graduate students, Roth said.
Despite the likelihood that GSG will once again vote to support collective bargaining rights, Clements-Housser said, Roth has a productive relationship with GSG.
“He has been quite helpful in getting us connected to the right people and helping us overcome administrative hurdles,” Clements-Housser said.
Jameson, a Graduate Labor Union member, said Roth “excels at helping students one-on-one and being an advocate for them in whatever department they’re coming from.”
Moving forward, Roth said he wants to better understand what is working for graduate students and what needs improvement.
“I took this job because I know there are places that we need to improve and we can do a better job for graduate students,” Roth said. “Until we can work directly with students on what those challenges are, we’re going to struggle to make headway.”
Stephen Roth, the University of Maryland’s associate provost and graduate school dean, poses for a portrait on Oct. 17, 2024. (Alexa Yang/The Diamondback)
UMD graduate students criticize proposed health center fee
By Anastasia Merkulova I Staff writer
University of Maryland graduate students are expressing concern about a proposed mandatory University Health Center fee.
The health center’s executive committee presented the fee proposal’s initial draft to the student health advisory committee on Oct. 23 after approving it. Full-time students at this university would pay $136 for the 2026 academic year, and part-time students would pay $68, according to university documents.
Many graduate students say their limited use of the health center would not justify the proposed fee and that their wages would not cover it.
The proposal states the fee would allow the health center to offer a variety of services for no charge and “ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of healthcare offerings.”
For services covered by the fee, the proposal would replace insurance billing and student co-pays for health center visits, according to the proposal. The fee would also allow the health center to balance its budget and create a $500,000
reserve, the documents state.
If approved, the new fee is slated to go into effect on July 1.
The health center fee started being incorporated in student tuition during the 2022-23 academic year, which allows some graduate students to cover the fee with tuition remission from their assistantship or fellowship, according to this university’s graduate school website. The new proposed fee would be separate and mandatory, according to Mikol Bailey, the Graduate Student Government’s financial affairs and student fee matters
“
As grad students, we have more expenses than income, and so it’s really important for the university to understand that and help us rather than hinder us.
vice president.
This university’s student fees review committee voted 5-4 in favor of the proposed health center fee in a secret vote on Jan. 27, Bailey, a history doctoral student, told The Diamondback.
The student fees review committee consists of five undergraduate representatives, two graduate representatives and two staff members, Bailey said.
“It was the only vote that was that close in the committee,” Bailey said. “That is significant and I think that it shows that there is a divide on this campus between graduates and undergraduates for the fee.”
GSS president Varaa Kukreti said the organization urged committee members to keep graduate student perspectives in mind when casting their votes.
Kukreti, a cybersecurity graduate student, said she met with university president Darryll Pines on Feb. 3 to relay graduate students’ concerns Story continued on page 7.
Health center fee continued: with the proposed fee. The president’s cabinet
voted on the proposal Tuesday, Kukreti added. This university did not provide comment about the outcome of Tuesday’s vote.
In a statement to The Diamondback on Feb. 7, this university said the proposed fee is in the “internal review process.”
“We remain very sensitive to the needs and concerns of our graduate students and will take our review of the Student Fee Committee’s recommendations very seriously as we weigh input from all sides,” the statement read.
Hima Agarwal, an English doctoral student, said she uses the health center but does not agree with the proposal because graduate students are not paid enough to afford extra fees.
“As grad students, we have more expenses than income, and so it’s really important for the university to understand that and help us rather than hinder us,” Agarwal told The Diamondback.
Bailey added that many graduate students do not use the health center and rarely come to campus because they live far away.
Spencer Durham, a mathematics doctoral student, said graduate students will feel the additional fees heavily, because inflation has increased while wages have not. Charging graduate students for an amenity that seems to be primarily used by undergraduate students does not make sense, he said.
“Having the goodwill of the graduate students and the employees in general probably goes a long way,” Durham said. “The more that is done to alienate them, it seems like it will hurt the university in the long run.”
Other students, including electrical and computer engineering doctoral student Xiyang Wu, said it is important for this university and students to
improve their communication to better understand each other’s situations.
“If you want me to pay the fee and you give me a reason why it’s necessary, and I feel ‘OK, it’s really necessary,’ I think I’d just pay,” Wu said.
The Health Center on Feb. 5, 2025. (Gurnoor Sodhi/The Diamondback)
UMD GSG passes resolution in support of accommodation fund for students with disabilities
By Oliver Mack I Staff writer
The University of Maryland GSG passed a resolution Oct. 26 that urges university administration to establish a centralized accommodation fund for graduate students and graduate assistants with disabilities. The resolution was passed without amendments in the body’s first in-person assembly meeting this semester. It calls on this university to establish the fund to “ensure access and equity for graduate students with disabilities.”
This university’s Accessibility and Disability Service covers the cost of academic accommodations, which include mobility aids, transcribers and interpreters, according to Mikol Bailey, the resolution’s author. But the student’s academic department is responsible for funding for
other accommodations, such as those for lab assistants and teaching assistants, said Bailey, a history doctoral student.
“It creates a conflict where there’s a financial incentive to not retain the student,” Bailey, the Graduate Student Government’s financial affairs and student fee matters vice president, told The Diamondback.
Creating a centralized accommodation fund was one of Bailey’s primary goals at the beginning of their term for the 202425 academic year, The Diamondback previously reported.
Bailey said they’re excited GSG passed the resolution and looks forward to seeing how it develops in the future.
The resolution alludes to other Big
Ten universities that have implemented similar programs and proposes that the fund could be financed, in part, by grants from the National Science Foundation. The foundation is currently “accepting applications for funding to support [people] with disabilities,” according to the resolution.
Nora Jameson, an epidemiology doctoral student and GSG representative, told The Diamondback the plan to fund the bill is designed to help the university.
“There’s resources in the bill itself to show [this university] how to do it,” Jameson said. “[This university] should know how to implement programs on their campus to allot money to certain Story continued on page 9.
GSG Disability Accomodation Fund continued: individuals that have disabilities because we already have ADS.”
Varaa Kukreti, GSG’s president, told The Diamondback she was not aware of the issue facing graduate students with disabilities until Bailey and other GSG members brought it to her attention.
Kukreti said she discussed the issue with university administration and is hopeful for a solution moving forward.
“It is really encouraging to know that there are already folks at the university who are working on this,” Bailey told The Diamondback.
Jameson voiced support for the resolution after it was proposed by Bailey and hoped that it is the first of many initiatives this university takes to support graduate students with disabilities.
“I think it needs to be here. It should have already been here,” Jameson said. “There are many good first steps that the university can take.”
Junior staff writer Talia Macchi contributed to this report.
An Automatic door button outside McKeldin Library on Oct. 28, 2024. (Kaya Bogot/The Diamondback)
UMD GSG resolution urges university to recognize graduate students’ right to unionize
By Oliver Mack I Staff writer
The University of Maryland GSG passed a resolution Nov. 22 that urges this university and the University System of Maryland to voluntarily recognize graduate student workers’ right to unionize.
A similar resolution passes each year in the Graduate Student Government. Past resolutions have pressured the state legislature to enshrine collective bargaining rights for graduate student workers into state law, according to GSG member and Graduate Labor Union organizer Rose Ying.
This year’s resolution instead puts pressure directly on this university’s administration and the university system, the neuroscience and cognitive science doctoral student explained.
“There’s not anything in the law that says
[graduate student] workers can’t unionize,” Ying, who co-authored this year’s resolution, said. “There’s just nothing in the law to compel public universities in Maryland to recognize those unions and bargain with them.”
More than 2,500 graduate student workers at this university have signed union authorization cards in support of unionization, Ying said.
Maryland state law currently does not grant collective bargaining rights to graduate student workers. This university’s administration has historically testified against bills in the Maryland
General Assembly that would allow for unionization.
Story continued on page 11.
The Graduate Student Government holds a meeting on Feb. 17, 2023, in Stamp Student Union. (Jess Daninhirsch/The Diamondback)
Unionization continued:
Rather than continuing legal battles against GLU in the state legislature, this university and the university system could voluntarily recognize the union, Ying said.
Voluntary recognition happens when an employer chooses to recognize employees’ choice to unionize based on majority support without a formal election, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
This university and the university system did not immediately respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
According to GSG director of operations Keegan Clements-Housser, the resolution “strongly signals” the desires of the graduate student body.
“[This university] doesn’t have much in terms of official graduate student advocacy,” the journalism studies doctoral student said. “That’s kind of become our role.”
The benefits of collective bargaining rights, such as increased wages, hours negotiations and improved parental and medical leave, would improve the livelihood of the graduate student body, Clements-
Housser said.
In preparation for the resolution, co-author of the resolution and GSG representative Nora Jameson worked with GLU members from the public health school to compile citations supporting the mental and social health benefits of unionization, they said.
“There was also no evidence suggesting that it harmed faculty-student relationships once collective bargaining went into effect,” the epidemiology doctoral candidate said Jameson said they hope the endorsement from GSG will allow for more transparency for graduate student workers who are
hesitant to support unionization.
“Being afraid of retaliation is not a fault of the union, ” Jameson said. “It is a fault of the environment in which … our students [are] afraid to ask for their needs.”
The Graduate Student Government office in room 0121A in Stamp Student Union. (Ornelle Chimi/The Diamondback)
