The Key — A Strike Avoided, A Budget Tested
Penn narrowly averted a strike by over 3,000 graduate student workers this week. On Monday night, Penn’s administration and the bargaining committee from Graduate Employees Together UPenn - United Auto Workers (GET-UP) reached a tentative agreement for the union’s first contract.
To understand the agreement, we have to ask: where did Penn compromise, and where did it hold its line?
Penn agreed to pay more, but it did not cede authority over academic decisions and operations. Compensation and academic authority have been central sticking points since Penn graduate students voted to unionize with 95% approval in May of 2024. The tentative agreement, which is expected to be ratified by graduate student vote next week, preserves Penn’s sole authority over curriculum, academic standards, and academic judgment, determining what is taught, how it is taught, and by whom it is taught.
That boundary is essential to Penn’s core mission, enabling excellence in teaching, learning, and research. Faculty and administrators must retain control over curriculum, standards, and grading to protect the value of a Penn degree. Undergraduate students depend on rigorous instruction from graduate workers, and graduate students themselves choose Penn for its academic reputation. In holding that line, the administration protected the university’s core function.
Financially, however, Penn moved.
GET-UP originally proposed a 50% increase in the minimum yearly stipend for fully funded PhD students, from $40,000 to $60,000. Under the tentative agreement, the minimum stipend will increase 21% to $49,000 in the first year and to $50,470 the following year. Students earning above the new minimum are expected to receive 3% increases over the next two academic years. The agreement also expands health, vision, and dental coverage and includes paid medical leave and paid time off.
This increase is substantial. It moves Penn’s minimum stipend from near the bottom of its peer group to the middle of the pack, an especially attractive position given Philadelphia’s relatively low cost of living compared to Palo Alto, Cambridge, or New York City.
Raising stipends is a strategic investment in talent. If Penn hopes to attract the strongest PhD candidates, its compensation must remain competitive with peer institutions while exercising the financial restraint necessary for sustainable operations.
What remains uncertain is how Penn will absorb these increased costs. Penn has not yet disclosed the full financial impact. Given the university historically graduates over 500 research/scholarship doctoral degree candidates each year, the costs of higher stipends and expanded benefits will materially affect Penn’s budget.
As we discussed last week, this agreement arrives while Penn is navigating a delicate financial landscape. The administration faces mounting endowment tax exposure, a volatile federal funding pool, and continued uncertainty around donor support. For the upcoming fiscal year, departments already face a 4% budget reduction.
Higher graduate student compensation introduces additional financial pressure. This may translate into smaller cohorts, tighter departmental budgets, or pauses in expansion plans. While the precise impact is not yet known, tradeoffs are inevitable.
Penn’s long-term stability depends on two principles working together: sound academic authority and disciplined financial management. The tentative agreement reflects the first, and its implementation will test the second.
Money can be recalibrated over time. Academic governance, once conceded, rarely can. In the months and years ahead, Penn must navigate how to absorb these new costs without compromising the standards it worked to protect.
The Almanac
Curated highlights from this week’s Penn news
Former Penn President Liz Magill appointed dean of Georgetown Law
Magill’s presidency at Penn lasted for less than 18 months and ended after campus unrest, criticism over her handling of antisemitism, loss of donor support, and her controversial congressional testimony following the October 7th terrorist attacks in Israel and their aftermath on campus.
Before Penn, Magill served as the dean of Stanford Law School from 2012-2019 and as the executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia from 2019-2022, until she left for Penn.
So what? Magill’s departure from Penn followed a period of reputational strain and donor unrest. Her return to a leadership role at Georgetwon suggests that the events of 2023 were not disqualifying in the broader landscape of higher education leadership, even as they remain a defining chapter in Penn’s recent past.
Penn joins amicus brief supporting Harvard’s lawsuit to maintain international student enrollment
Last month, Penn joined 47 peer institutions, including the entire Ivy League, in filing an amicus brief supporting Harvard’s lawsuit against the federal government over the revocation of its ability to enroll international students.
In May of 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, which it needs to host international students. Harvard sued immediately and secured a court order blocking DHS’s actions, allowing it to continue enrolling international students while the case proceeds.
DHS quickly filed an appeal and separately initiated a formal administrative process to revoke Harvard’s SEVP certification. This could independently bar Harvard’s international enrollment regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.
The amicus brief joined by Penn argues that international enrollment is essential for American universities to compete globally, advance research, and support the nation’s health and economic strength.
So what? Penn’s participation reflects broad institutional support for international enrollment as central to academic and research excellence. The brief highlights Penn professor Katalin Karikó, who came to the United States for academic work and helped pioneer mRNA vaccine development. The outcome of both the lawsuit and the administrative revocation process could reshape the role of international students and scholars in American higher education.
Penn Nursing tops list of NIH funding for nursing schools
This NIH-sponsored research ranges from studies of clinical outcomes — like differences in patient outcomes based on nursing resources — to AI applications for preventative care, to new cancer therapies.
So what? Even amid concerns about indirect cost caps and shrinking federal research budgets, Penn Nursing’s NIH funding has increased by over 50% since it last topped the list in 2019. The growth is focused on research that can be translated into clinical excellence, supporting Penn’s overall mission and improving healthcare worldwide.
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