To Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele and Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate Division Andrew Szeri:

On March 31, 2014, Dean Szeri informed the Graduate Assembly that Stephens Hall Graduate Student Lounge (Room 440) would be discontinued for use by graduate students as a study and workspace effective May 16, 2014. This decision must be reversed immediately because it is harmful to graduate students in three ways.

First, the decision to close the Stephens Lounge was based on its alleged disuse. However, representatives of Dean Szeri’s office have failed to provide evidence for this claim. Instead, they have asserted that underutilization is “self-evident.” Stephens staff began collecting visitor data in November 2013, since which an average of 20 students have used the space each day, with some days seeing as many as 50 visitors.

Second, the Dean has insisted that substitute workspaces already exist or will soon be created. However, the cited alternatives are not comparable. The Dissertation Writing Room in Doe Library was created nearly four years ago, and is less than one third the size of Stephens Lounge with none of the amenities, such as natural light, a supportive communal environment, and food and drinks. A proposed space in Sproul would be devoted to “professional development activities,” not workspace. The proposed Stephens Lounge closure would therefore greatly reduce the workspace available to graduate students.

Third, the decision to close the Lounge has been opaque and undemocratic. Neither the Graduate Assembly nor any other student group appears to have been consulted at any point. Dean Szeri’s office has failed to clarify how the closure decision was made, yet insisted that it is “final and beyond appeal.” No information has been provided about the Lounge’s future use. This style of decision-making sets a precedent for the disenfranchisement of graduate students in matters directly related their working conditions.

Therefore, we the undersigned demand that the Executive Vice Chancellor Steele and Dean Szeri do the following:

– Immediately and indefinitely halt plans to repurpose the Stephens Lounge;

– Immediately refrain from implementing any reorganization of graduate student workspace that would lead to a net decrease in its quantity or quality;

– Commit to engaging graduate students transparently and deliberatively in any major plans to reorganize graduate student workspace.


(To see a list of current signatories, please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/savethelounge/)

(To see a selection of testimony given by petition signatories, please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/savethelounge/testimony)

(To see correspondence between the administration and graduate students, please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/savethelounge/szeri)