By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
After repeated claims that they are overworked and underpaid, UA graduate teaching assistants may finally see their concerns alleviated.
A proposal steered by Graduate College Dean Gary Pivo is asking the Arizona Legislature to allocate funds for the University of Arizona to lighten the workload on the 1,200 graduate teaching assistants, by allowing for the addition of nearly 150 TA positions.
It's good that the administration came up with the commonsense answer to this nagging problem, and the Legislature should understand this as well.
Too few TAs are forced to teach too many students for too little money. Pivo said the number of UA undergraduates per TA is 20 percent higher than the average amount of students being taught by graduate students at peer institutions.
Pivo also admitted that UA teaching assistants work 20 percent more than their stipends reflect - in other words, a TA that is being paid for 20 hours per week is in fact putting in at least 24 hours, though many would probably say they work even more than that.
Graduate students not only actually teach classes - from introductory composition courses to advanced-standing sociology classes - to undergraduates, they also spend hours preparing the classes and grading homework.
This is in addition to their own course work as they work on their dissertations, as well as juggling family responsibilities for some.
In order for graduate students to teach, learn and live with as little stress as possible, their workload simply needs to be cut back - and the work they do perform should be better compensated.
Pivo also noted this concern by adding a salary provision to the package presented to the Legislature - a tri-university proposal would boost the barely-subsistent pay that TAs at the UA as well as the other state universities are given.
Bill DeGenaro, co-chair of the UA English Graduate Union, said that despite the major research and teaching work graduate students perform, they are currently being paid a "pittance" for their work.
"The university has an ethical obligation to lay out the resources necessary to compensate us," he added.
Pivo agreed.
"We know that there are currently 16 departments with people taking home less than $10,000 annually. This is unacceptable," Pivo said.
Graduate student concerns with low pay and hours of work are not new. Numerous attempts to get the university's attention on the subject were made by a group of graduate students last year. The group circulated petitions garnering support for their cause, and presented an argument for pay and benefit increases to UA President Peter Likins.
The administration listened, and Pivo set to work creating a task force that would look into the issues raised faced by TAs.
Now the Legislature should listen as well.
The Arizona Legislature would be wise to approve the UA's request to solve the teaching assistants' interests. Addressing the issue is a long time coming, and is only fair to the vital portion of the student body that helps make the university's gears turn.
This editorial represents the collaborative stance of the Arizona Daily Wildcat opinions board.
