The Graduate and Fixed Term Employee Organization (GFTEO), a body of teaching, graduate and research assistants, will hold a rally at noon today on the steps of Old Main.

GFTEO members have lobbied for better health care coverage for two years since Penn State President Graham Spanier said Penn State's "ultimate goal [is] to eventually provide benefits equivalent to those of faculty and staff," at a 2002 Board of Trustees meeting.

"The rally is intended as an awareness-raising event more so than an effort to seek to satisfy a set of specific demands," Melanie McNaughton, GFTEO media advisor, wrote in an e-mail message. "With specific attention to healthcare ... the Big Ten schools with the best health plans are universities with graduate employee unions."

Speakers from Penn State, other graduate unions and the State College community will present their case for GFTEO healthcare reform.