Direct Academic Benefit

Every academic year, or every semester in some cases, graduate employees receive an appointment letter outlining the type of work we have been assigned. At some point during our graduate careers at Temple, many of us will work as a Research Assistant (RA) in one form or another. You may be assigned work as an RA in a number of ways: as a full RA at 20 hours per week, as both a Teaching Assistant (TA) and RA each for 10 hours per week, as a TA for the Fall and Spring semesters and an RA for the Summer, and more. If any part of your assignment involves work as a Research Assistant, you will find an additional form attached to your appointment letter labeled “Individual Declaration of Academic Benefit,” also known as the Direct Academic Benefit (DAB) form.

What is it?

The Individual Declaration of Academic Benefit (DAB) form is included with all RA appointment letters. In this form, RAs must indicate whether their research duties in a given semester or assignment provide a “direct academic benefit,” meaning the work will contribute directly to their thesis or dissertation.

While this may seem like a small administrative matter, the implications are quite serious. For graduate workers with 100% RA appointments, signing to receive DAB removes you from the TUGSA bargaining unit, meaning you are no longer represented by the union nor guaranteed the protections of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). This is the legally enforceable contract between the union and the University that secures our wages, benefits like 100% health insurance coverage, and safeguards against unfair treatment including overwork, harassment, and discrimination. Losing these rights is troubling enough on its own, but it is also important to note that the DAB procedure is entirely unique to Temple; we know of no other university, including those with graduate researcher unions of their own, that has DAB or anything like it.

It is critically important that RAs understand what they are signing, but the language of the form makes that difficult. Whether RA work will ultimately be included in a thesis or dissertation is often hard to predict — for incoming grads or those early in their programs, it's often impossible. For this and other reasons (see FAQ below), we recommend that graduate RAs always sign saying they “WILL NOT” receive DAB unless they are absolutely certain the research they are doing during the time period specified on the form will be used directly in their thesis or dissertation.

RAs have raised concerns about the DAB form for years. Common issues include: signing incorrectly due to insufficient information, supervisors pressuring RAs to waive union rights regardless of assignment, being told a decision couldn’t be changed after signing, and general confusion about when DAB applies.

Last year, TUGSA reached a settlement with the university that corrected many misleading inaccuracies on the form and formally recognized several interpretations of DAB that grads and departments were already using. These changes should help faculty and administrators better understand DAB and reduce the risk that RAs are unnecessarily deprived of their legal rights as employees.

But the settlement didn’t fix everything. Despite acknowledging that their go-to resource for DAB was actually the TUGSA website, admin refused to include all of the information on this page in the official guidance, and the form itself still not fully accurate or relevant for many RAs. For example, if you’re both a TA and RA at the same time, you’re in the TUGSA bargaining unit regardless of how you sign. And if you’re a TA during the Fall/Spring semesters and an RA in the Summer, you remain in the bargaining unit for the entirety of your TA appointment, again, regardless of what the form says.

Recent DAB Settlement

Given the issues that remain, we encourage all grads to check the FAQ section below and email union@tugsa.org with any and all questions about direct academic benefit.

Here are the key takeaways of the DAB settlement:

  • If you sign the form saying you “WILL NOT” receive DAB, but later determine that the research is actually essential to your thesis or dissertation, you can always switch to receiving DAB to use it in your work (a fact that has already been affirmed in our CBA for many years).

  • No faculty, supervisor, or administrator may make any statement that could in any way be interpreted as directing or coercing you to sign the DAB form in a particular way. 

  • If your appointment includes more than one RA assignment, you must be provided a separate DAB form for each assignment.

  • Anyone with a split TA/RA appointment is always represented by TUGSA, regardless of how they signed the form.

 Frequently Asked Questions

  • You will receive a new DAB form to sign each time you receive an appointment letter. The appointment letter is like your work contract. It outlines your pay, benefits, job duties and expectations, etc. Our appointments (i.e. our TA and/or RA work assignments) typically last between one semester and a full calendar year.

    How you sign is applicable only for the timeframe stated in the first paragraph of each specific DAB form. Once that time period has ended, how you signed the form is no longer relevant. If you will continue working as an RA, you will be given a new DAB form alongside your new appointment letter. Your response on the form will vary based on the particular job duties you've been assigned and your research focus and goals in a given semester.

  • No. If you're unsure, you should always sign saying you “WILL NOT” receive a direct academic benefit.

    The university has agreed that if we sign saying we will not receive DAB but later realize research we'd previously done actually is relevant to our theses/dissertations, we can switch to receiving a direct academic benefit later in order to use it in our work. Furthermore, even before the settlement, we’ve never heard of an RA needing to go through any formal process to change their DAB decision in order to use their research. Normally, RAs move on to defend their thesis/dissertation without any concerns or questions related to DAB and their specific work.

    You should only sign that you “DO INTEND” to receive DAB if you are absolutely certain that the RA work done during the time period specified on the DAB form will be directly used in your thesis/dissertation. You can always sign the form differently in your next appointment letter (see "How often do I have to sign a DAB form?" above), or change how you've signed it later on.

  • No. How you sign the DAB form has no bearing on your ability to work at Temple. DAB only relates to the specific research you do as part of your RA employment and how the product of that research will or won’t be used directly in your thesis/dissertation. 

    Further, your PI should not have given you this instruction in the first place. In our recent settlement, the university reaffirmed that no faculty, supervisor, or administrator may make any statement that could in any way be interpreted as directing or coercing you to sign the DAB form in a particular way. This includes saying something like “most people sign the top line.” Whether or not to declare a direct academic benefit is solely your choice, one that should be made with no interference from your superiors.

    One of the most important benefits of having a union is that you don’t have to face these situations alone. If you feel you have been pressured, instructed, or encouraged in any way to sign your DAB form a certain way, contact us immediately at union@tugsa.org.

  • No. Graduate RAs often ask how they should sign the DAB form if they anticipate using the data and information that they develop as part of their work assignment in a publication, presentation, conference poster, etc., but the language on the form is clear: DAB only applies when the work that you are doing will be directly used toward the completion of your degree requirements as outlined in the Graduate Bulletin. DAB has no impact on your ability to publish research in a paper. If you are not directly using this research in your thesis or dissertation, then you should sign that you “WILL NOT” receive DAB.

  • If 50% or more of your appointment in a given semester is as a TA, then you are represented by the union regardless of how you sign the DAB form. In this scenario, even if you have signed “DO INTEND” to receive DAB for your 10 hours a week RAship, you are still represented by the union for the entirety of your work appointment. 

  • DAB only applies within the work appointment for which you signed it and it never applies to your work as a TA: TAs are always represented by TUGSA. 

    If you sign that you “DO INTEND” to receive DAB for your Summer RA, you are removed from the TUGSA bargaining unit for that session, but you will still be represented by TUGSA in the Fall and Spring as a TA.

  • You should be given a separate DAB form for each RA job. If you have more than one RA assignment and did not receive multiple DAB forms, contact us right away at union@tugsa.org.

  • Yes! While receiving DAB does mean that you are removed from the TUGSA bargaining unit (unless 50% or more of your appointment is as a TA) and therefore do not have the legal rights of union representation for that semester or year, you are still encouraged to remain active in TUGSA. It is in your best interest — as well as in the interest of your colleagues and future Temple graduate workers — to continue attending events, staying connected through newsletters, and engaging with fellow members. Even while on DAB, your pay, healthcare coverage, and working conditions as an RA are set by TUGSA’s collective bargaining agreement, meaning the union’s strength and success directly affect you. Even if you determine that you must sign to receive DAB, you are always welcome and encouraged to participate in TUGSA.

  • Reach out! Many TUGSA members have been through this process and would be happy to help you talk through it. If you think you may have signed the form incorrectly, email union@tugsa.org and we can help.

If you don’t know, sign no.