Dear colleagues: In response to the appeal below, the YUFA Executive Committee has approved a donation of $5,000.00 to the York University Graduate Students' Association (YUGSA).

Where possible, we encourage you to make your own donation, one-time only or ongoing, to help support graduate students at York, who are facing increasing hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information about how to donate is provided in the appeal below.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Sincerely, 
Art Redding
YUFA President
On behalf of the YUFA Executive Committee

Please support York's graduate students!

An urgent appeal from the York University Graduate Students' Association

To faculty and staff members of the York community, 

I am writing on behalf of the Executive Committee of the York University Graduate Students' Association (YUGSA) to make an urgent appeal for financial support for an Emergency Hardship Fund we have established for our members. YUGSA is the only independent students' union that represents all graduate students at York University.

The YUGSA Executive recognizes that many of our members are dealing with a challenging financial situation as a result of the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our members face reduced hours, lost jobs, and a need for additional income to cover basic necessities, while staying at home in the coming months. For most of our members, the Canadian government has provided an inadequate patchwork of support for precarious and low-income workers, which fails to address the financial hardship that our members, and millions of others, are facing.

In response to the lack of support available to our members, the YUGSA Executive has pooled our unused budgets from the fiscal year and set up a meagre Emergency Hardship Fund, which has aimed to provide a $150-payment to affected members. Given the size of the Fund, we were able to serve only a very narrow section of our membership. Within less than 24 hours of opening applications to the Fund, we exhausted 100% of it.

We are now urgently seeking external contributions from the York community, to help replenish the Fund and to respond to the overwhelming, and continuing, demand for support.

We are deeply grateful for whatever amount any of you can manage to donate, either as a one-time-only donation or an ongoing series of donations. Regardless of the amount, your donation will help support a struggling graduate student whose life is becoming ever more precarious.

How to donate

YUGSA is able to accept Interac e-transfers. Using online banking, please send your donation to [email protected]. Please use this password: emergency

On behalf of our Executive Committee, and of our entire membership of 7,000+ graduate students, I thank you for your time and consideration.

In solidarity,
Alia Karim
YUGSA President