By
Mindy Jones
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Some graduate students not happy with provost's decision
Provost George Davis approved an initiative yesterday that would allow UA graduate teaching assistants a new tuition payment option.
After repeated requests from the Graduate and Professional Student Council to alleviate financial strain on University of Arizona graduate TAs, Davis announced that graduates will be able to have their tuition and registration fees subtracted from their university paychecks.
Davis said the decision came from his experiences as a teacher and graduate adviser in the geosciences department and knowing the economic difficulties of a beginning teaching assistant.
"The students have fees to pay and rent deposits to put down when they get here," he said. "It occurred to my wife and I that maybe we could provide some relief for their hardship."
Although Davis said that the main relief will come from future decision packages presented to the legislature, he believes that this is a step in the right direction.
Mary Jean Braun, a member of the Coalition to Organize Graduate Students, was quick to disagree with Davis, however.
Braun, who added that COGS had not made any official statements regarding the tuition-payroll option, said this initiative proves that the university is not ready to compensate the teaching assistants for their work.
The graduates teach mostly students in their first and second years, she said, and provide them with the guidance and assistance they need at the university.
Braun said that she would be surprised if other students did not view this development in a negative way.
"I see this as a slap in the face," she said. "By making this statement, the provost office has admitted they hear us, but they aren't really listening."
Gary Pivo, dean of graduate students, was involved in working out the logistics of the tuition-payroll option.
After a recent survey of UA graduate student issues, Pivo said the most common complaint was financial difficulty.
Pivo saw this initiative as an answer to problems associated with graduates' "start-up" costs at the UA.
"We don't see this step in lieu of addressing eliminating tuition fees," he said. "There is still more to do."
Members of the Graduate and Professional Student Council could not be reached for comment last night.
