Grad students protest sick leave policy at Iowa

Graduate students at the University of Iowa picketed yesterday, protesting policies by the school’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that require them to add an extra hour of work for each hour of sick time they take.

The grad students’ union picketed outside Schaeffer Hall (left), as part of its negotiations on a new two-year contract with the university.  A spokesman for the Iowa City school said that grad students have “overarching responsibilities” during the semester—such as covering all the material in a course—that require such extra work.