The University of Washington laid off 13 employees in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health June 16 — four days after commencement — including six graduate program advisers whose union contract remains under negotiation.
The advisers, represented by SEIU 925, strongly believe the timing was no coincidence. They argue the cuts don’t align with what the dean of the school of public health told them directly in April, and that they will leave graduates with far less support.
“To move forward two days after graduation, as soon as we could possibly be done graduating students, is intentional,” Emily Bernet, one of the advisers laid off, said. “I know they must have been planning this for months.”…