The group questions the integrity of some of the grades that are being turned in by professors without the graduate students' help.

Appelquist and Brodhead instructed faculty members to grade final exams themselves if necessary. Some professors even asked the undergraduates to grade themselves on class participation and to report what they received for midterm grades.

"The transcripts will go forward with cooked up grades," said Andrew Dimock, a teaching assistant in the English Department who has refused to submit grades for his American literature class. "This will hurt the integrity of a Yale grade."

The move also will hurt the graduate students' pocketbooks. The average teaching stipend per semester is about $4,900. Graduate students who don't receive financial aid would lose the money outright. Those on financial aid would be able to apply for grants or students loans, Fryer said.

Brown and Dimock said most graduate students already are deep in debt from students loans and would be loathe to take on more liabilities.

"It's intimidating, I buy food with that money. I pay rent, utility bills," Brown said. "If they were to lock us out of teaching positions, it's either loans or another job."

Union spokesperson Deborah Chernoff said the move might force some graduate students to drop out of school and added that foreign graduate students might have a rough time because they can't get work visas.

For some graduate students, the threat of losing their teaching post or letters of recommendation hit home. One graduate student in the language department who wished to remain anonymous said he submitted his grades, though he is a member of the group.

"It's a very dirty tactic but effective. At that point, I really felt there was nothing I could do. I felt I wouldn't give up my academic career for a cause, even though it's an extremely important cause," he said