Lecturers, graduate students, undergraduates and other members of the University community gathered in Regents’ Plaza prior to yesterday’s Board of Regents meeting to voice their concerns about issues at the University.

The rally was a mix of about 100 University students and lecturers who spent the afternoon trying to persuade regents and administrators to address issues of concern, including allegations of a breach of contract on raises for lecturers, a proposed continuous enrollment policy for graduate students and concerns about a possible tuition increase next year.

Members of the Graduate Employees’ Organization and their supporters gathered to protest the proposed continuous enrollment policy, which is currently under development. The policy would require Ph.D. candidates to remain students at Rackham — and continue paying tuition — from their admission through their graduation, despite breaks they may take or independent research they may conduct.

Rackham student Patricia Chen said the continuous enrollment policy doesn’t make any logical sense and sets many students at a disadvantage when paying for their education.

“The continuous enrollment policy they have is completely unacceptable,” she said at the rally. “It’s going to end up hurting people already having a difficult time — all the people who are already at the margins having a difficult time because they have families or because they don’t have funding or because they’re international students.”

At the rally, Rackham student Shaun McGirr, who also serves on the Continuous Enrollment Working Group, said the policy will hinder students’ options and diversity at the University. The CEWG is an organization that has communicated students’ concerns about the continuous enrollment policy to Rackham administrators.

“Basically it ends an option at the moment, which is called tuition-free detached study, which allows a whole lot of flexible uses,” McGirr said. “Our really big concern is that this reduces diversity at the University of Michigan.”

McGirr, along with three other Rackham students, also spoke in front of the Board of Regents at its monthly meeting after the rally. McGirr presented the regents with a petition signed by over 750 graduate students who oppose the policy and urged the regents to block it from being implemented.

Rackham student Marie Puccio spoke at the meeting to outline why so many graduate students have concerns about the policy.

“We believe Dean Weiss and Rackham, though well-intentioned, have pushed this policy forward without adequate consultation of those affected,” she said. “Without providing a strong rationale, they are completely overhauling the current system and without considering the unintended negative consequences of the policy for those students who currently use tuition-free detached study or will require it in the future.”

Rackham student Tiffany Tsang, who serves as president of the Rackham Student Government, told the regents she thinks many Rackham students are opposed to the policy because they don’t fully understand what the policy will do.

“A significant number of students are still clueless about the policy,” she said. “Of the remaining students, many have been fed misinformation, and of the group that has the correct information, some are supportive, especially in the biological and physical sciences.”

In response to the speakers at the meeting, University Provost Teresa Sullivan told the regents that the continuous enrollment policy is still being worked out, which is why she believes there is so much confusion and opposition to the proposal right now.

“The fact that there are perhaps more questions than answers now is because there really has not been an implementation of those yet, that phase is just now starting,” she said.