Dear colleagues,

On May 16, 2013 the English department’s representative, Derek Woods, to the Humanities Graduate Student Association (hereafter HGSA) presented the HGSA council with a copy of the letter that you, the graduate students of the English department, sent to Rice University President David Leebron expressing your displeasure with the funding situation, particularly the unequal distribution of new funds for incoming humanities graduate students. After much discussion between the HGSA officers and department representatives, we are writing to support efforts to secure livable and equitable funding for contemporary Houston. The needs of English graduate students outlined in your letter to President Leebron are in many ways the needs of all humanities graduate students. As such, we think this is an opportunity for us to work together to better the working situation for all graduate students in the School of Humanities.

The HGSA has discussed the ways that we may meaningfully address your concerns and those of all of our colleagues. Because of the lack of clarity in information available to us regarding funding decisions, we have agreed that increased transparency is a concrete focus from which we will all benefit. The HGSA officers plan to meet with the Dean next week in order to continue our dialogue with him on the subject of funding and make clear how such decisions are made. We ask for your patience as well as your continued support and advice as we move toward a more transparent, dynamic, and interdisciplinary School of Humanities.

Lastly, we would like to extend our gratitude to you for passionately pursuing an issue that means so much to your cohort in the English department. Many of the issues

August 16, 2013

raised in your letter to President Leebron confirmed for us that the HGSA is an organization that humanities graduate students need at Rice. We’re looking forward to working with all of the graduate students across the humanities to increase professionalization opportunities, build a sense of camaraderie, and accentuate the unique contributions that each humanities graduate student brings to the academic community at Rice. The HGSA’s ability to successfully pursue its goals depends on the support and involvement of our constituents, and as the English department is the largest graduate program in the School of Humanities, we hope that you will promote and take advantage of the many academic and social opportunities we have planned for the 2013-2014 academic year. With your help, we can enrich the graduate experience for humanities students at Rice and hopefully make progress on issues that need to be addressed.

Sincerely,
The Humanities Graduate Student Association