Protect Scientific Diving, Research, and Teaching at UConn: Reinstate the DSO and Restore TA Funding

To: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Leadership and the Board of Directors

We, the Graduate Students of the University of Connecticut, Department of Marine Sciences, respectfully submit this petition to demand the reinstatement of our Diving Safety Officer and to urge you to reconsider the recent and proposed budget cuts that threaten the academic, research, and training missions of our program. These reductions—particularly the loss of funding for Teaching Assistant (TA) positions and the elimination of the Diving Safety Officer (DSO) position—pose serious and immediate risks to the quality, continuity, and national standing of our university.

Our Requests
We urge CLAS leadership and the Board to:
1. Reinstate and protect the Diving Safety Officer position by April 2026, recognizing it as essential infrastructure for research and compliance.
2. Restore funding of TA positions by Fall 2026 to levels that reflect the department’s teaching needs and enrollment.
3. Engage in an open dialogue with department leadership and students to identify sustainable solutions that do not compromise academic and research operations.

1. Reinstatement of the Diving Safety Officer (DSO)
Without a certified DSO, our department will lose AAUS program status by April 2026. This has brought all scientific diving operations to a halt, effectively stopping a large portion of our ongoing research, jeopardizing existing grants, and severely impairing our ability to secure future funding. UConn is one of 176 total member organizations (universities, agencies, and labs) to hold an active AAUS member status. Scientific diving is one of the most distinctive and competitive strengths of our department. Each semester, both the open water certification course and the scientific diving course meet their enrollment caps with 100% class capacity each semester. Many students, including current and prospective graduate and undergraduate students, choose this program because of the AAUS-accredited diving opportunities. Without the Scientific Diving Program, our department will be unable to function and perform our research.

Next year alone, there are two EPA-funded grants, one LISS Sea Grant project, and one NERACOOS-funded project that will be unable to conduct research without a DSO present. In addition, the R/V Connecticut is scheduled to complete a 10-day cruise in July 2026, fully funded by Fish and Wildlife, that will be cancelled without an active DSO.
The loss of the DSO position endangers the core of our scientific research and training program. The DSO is responsible for:
• Overseeing all scientific diving operations under AAUS (American Academy of Underwater Sciences) standards.
• Ensuring diver safety, training, certification, risk mitigation, and legal compliance.
• Maintaining the program that allows our department (Marine Sciences) to operate research vessels and conduct fieldwork that supports numerous grants, graduate projects, and faculty research initiatives.
• Works closely with other universities (ex., University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) and programs (ex., Sea Grant and the National Estuarine Research Reserve) to perform scientific diving across New England that otherwise would not be possible without our DSO.

2. Impacts on Teaching Assistant (TA) Funding
Budget cuts to CLAS will directly impact graduate student funding starting in Fall 2026. The limited financial resources will make it nearly impossible for our department to fund TA positions.
• UConn Marine Science Students are responsible for teaching courses in the MARN sections as well as BIOL, CHEM, EEB, GEOG, and PHYS.
• The reduction in funds available for our department will reduce TA positions, which undermines the department’s capacity to meet its teaching obligations and serve the university’s growing undergraduate population.
• Reduction of TA positions threatens our livelihoods and job security.
• The undergraduate population continues to grow, which increases course sizes and the demands on graduate students to TA. By reducing available TA positions, student-to-instructor ratios will increase, and the quality of education will decrease.
• Reduced TA funding will result in a lower student retention rate.

3. Long-Term Impacts on Research, Funding, Recruitment, and Retention
These budget cuts create a cascade of negative effects:
• Budget cuts and decreased funding will lead to a lack of research and likely result in the loss of UConn’s R1 research status.
• Loss of diving operations will delay or terminate funded research, risking grant deliverables and future awards.
• Faculty productivity will decline as essential fieldwork becomes impossible.
• Graduate recruitment will suffer as students choose programs with stable funding and access to scientific diving.
• The university’s reputation as a leader in marine sciences and field-based research will be significantly weakened.
• Reductions in CLAS funding will create higher student-teacher ratios and ultimately decrease the quality of UConn education.

Conclusion
The Marine Sciences Department contributes significantly to the university’s research output, external funding, outreach, and national reputation. We recognize the financial challenges facing the institution, but the current cuts disproportionately harm the operational capacity and scientific mission of our department.
We respectfully request that CLAS and university leadership take immediate action to reverse or mitigate these cuts to prevent irreversible damage to our program, the research it generates, and the students whose careers depend on it.

Sincerely,
The Graduate Students of the Marine Sciences Department