photo by: Nick Krug/Journal-World File Photo

A bus whirs by as University of Kansas students wait along Jayhawk Boulevard on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016.

Graduate teaching assistants at the University of Kansas say they are facing a mental health crisis that may cause many to stop teaching during the pandemic, while the university’s provost said she’s concerned the GTA’s union is on the verge of illegally striking.

The Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition, whose member base consists of over 1,000 teaching assistants, on Wednesday sent a letter to Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer stating that a lack of communication from KU officials in implementing the university’s response plan to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a mental health crisis among graduate students.

The abrupt shift to online learning and a shift to an optional credit/no-credit grading system, combined with a lack of proper resources to teach remotely, has led to a sharp increase in mental health conditions that will force graduate students to seek emergency inpatient treatment, the five-page letter from Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition President Neill Kennedy said.

GTAC said it has also seen a spike in the number of members reporting suicidal depression since the university began the quick implementation of emergency management protocols.

As a result, graduate students who are union members will soon begin taking leaves of absence that are guaranteed in their collective contract, the letter said. The move could throw dozens of courses at KU off track, and students could be left without an instructor.

“KU’s directives force teachers to sacrifice what little is left of their health – and then some. Right now, every GTA has the choice to continue teaching or to take paid leave for the rest of the semester, and GTAC will continue to support teachers in accessing their paid leave to care for their health and families,” Kennedy said in a statement. “But only KU can say what will happen to those classes.”

Bichelmeyer expressed concern with high numbers of GTAs taking leaves of absence during a challenging time for KU.

“I’m especially concerned by the encouragement in the open letter for graduate teaching assistants to engage in a ‘sick out,’ primarily because of the damage this would do to our undergraduate students, many of whom are also struggling during this difficult time, and because this would be an illegal strike under Kansas law,” Bichelmeyer said in a statement to the Journal-World.

The letter is clear that GTAC does not blame Bichelmeyer — who assumed the position of KU’s second-in-command in February — for the conditions facing graduate student employees. Nor does it blame her for the struggles the union says it has faced in negotiating better pay and health care.

In fact, the letter says that most of the officials at fault — without naming them — no longer work at KU. But issues remain, Kennedy wrote, since during the process of implementing an emergency response to COVID-19, KU officials didn’t consult with graduate students on the changes that would be required to their workload.

Doing so could have given graduate student employees necessary input to avoid some of the hardships they’re facing, the letter said. The failure to communicate during a time of crisis, combined with what GTAC calls a “historical refusal” by KU to pay graduate student employees a living wage, has pushed the collective unit to a breaking point.

“When teachers are already stretched so far, it limits how much more we can do for our students and community during a real crisis. It’s really unfortunate because KU’s teachers and students are the ones being hurt by this lack of planning from former KU administrators,” Kennedy said. “But the appointment of a new Provost could change everything.”

Bichelmeyer said she appreciated the concerns expressed in the GTAC letter, but that its timing raised questions. KU officials, the provost said, were prepared to meet with GTAC on Thursday to negotiate details in the union’s contract, but the meeting was postponed by GTAC officials until the fall.

GTAC officials said the decision to postpone wasn’t that simple. Their contract with KU doesn’t expire until October, and while both parties had hoped to get an early start on negotiations, the union’s negotiation chair, Patrick Gauding, said the COVID-19 crisis prevented that from coming to fruition.

“In light of the pandemic, we felt that attempting to negotiate in these uncertain times was not in line with our commitment to our shared mission at KU,” he said.

The union’s letter isn’t consistent with what Bichelmeyer has heard from graduate students since the pandemic began, she said. Her statement closed by saying KU officials are ready to meet with GTAC leaders and find a “mutually beneficial agreement.”