The University of Iowa is informing graduate students that it “can no longer guarantee financial support” for them. Grad students in the university’s English Department received an email from their department executive officer (DEO) on Wednesday night informing them of the change. It’s unclear how many other departments have sent out their own emails, but […]
Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS)
Posted inCommunity/News
COGS asks for a 25% raise for UI grad student workers; Board of Regents offers 3%
“The university works because we work,” members of COGS chanted as they rallied outside the Iowa Memorial Union on Thursday. The Campaign to Organize Graduate Students, to use the union’s full name, represents the graduate student workers at the University of Iowa. Members teach most of the general education courses UI offers to undergraduates. On […]
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Regents walk out as UI grad student workers protest for ‘a real raise’; Reynolds announces $1.8 billion state budget surplus
The Iowa Board of Regents meeting at the University of Iowa’s Levitt Center on Wednesday came to an early and abrupt end as members of UI’s graduate student union staged a protest to demand a living wage. A leader of the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) called out, “What do we want?” as union […]
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Use of the UI food pantry is up, with international students disproportionately relying on the support
Rajorshi Das had visited the University of Iowa’s food pantry before, mostly out of curiosity. But rising food costs have since made it difficult to buy kitchen staples, even from supermarkets like Aldi and Walmart. So they’ve gone to the food pantry more and more, now out of necessity. “I have seen a very discernible […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Student group demands University of Iowa ensure access to abortion, contraception, gender-affirming care and parental leave
On Thursday, graduate students and undergrads at the University of Iowa joined more than 60 universities and high schools across 29 states for The Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice, a student-led protest urging governments and educational institutions to ensure access to abortion, contraception, sex education and gender-affirming healthcare. The Campaign to Organize Graduate […]
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As spring semester gets underway, the grad student union pushes UI to improve its ‘worst in the Big 10’ pandemic policies
On Jan. 11, a week before classes started for the University of Iowa’s spring semester, the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) Local 896, the union representing UI grad students, sent a letter to the Iowa Board of Regents and UI administrators asking for classes to be conducted online for the first two weeks of […]
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: COGS stands in solidarity with Deere strikers
To the members of all UAW Locals on strike against John Deere and Company, We, the members of UE Local 896 / COGS, graduate workers at the University of Iowa, are in solidarity with your brave and necessary strike actions. While John Deere brought in record profits this year, they have offered you inadequate wage […]
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Viral post details harrowing experience of UI student who tested positive for COVID-19
Update:On Friday morning, the Press-Citizen published a profile of the anonymous student, identifying her as Annie Gaughan, 18, from Park Ridge, Illinois. Gaughan reportedly left the UI campus earlier this week and is staying in a hotel in Naperville, Illinois. The return of University of Iowa students to Iowa City is always a bittersweet time […]
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Iowa Board of Regents receives almost meaningless penalty for violating the law in contract talks with UI grad student union
The Board of Regents acted in bad faith and broke the law during contract negotiations with the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS) in 2016 and 2017, the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled last week. As punishment for its dishonest and illegal behavior, the Board of Regents will be required to post public notices at the University of Iowa
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The Board of Regents offers UI grad student workers a new contract with no benefits
The hallway outside Room 351 of the Iowa Memorial Union was crowded but quiet on Wednesday morning. Members of COGS, the union representing University of Iowa graduate students, were staging a grade-in — a protest that allowed them to do their work as teaching assistants, while demonstrating their resolve prior to the start of a […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Best of the CRANDIC 2018: Community
The results are in! Here are the winners of Little Village’s 2018 Best of the CRANDIC competition in the Community category, representing voters’ favorite people, places, organizations and innovations in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area.
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In packed statehouse, protesters oppose proposed changes to collective bargaining
With protesters filling the rotunda of the Iowa Capitol Monday night, speakers at a packed public hearing for collective bargaining legislation overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to proposals that would strip away public employees’ collective bargaining rights.
