Being a graduate student in the sciences is not such a bad life. We get our tuition waived and a stipend with which we can pay rent, pay bills, buy groceries and even a couple of beers every now and then. On top of that, if you are like me, hoping to end up as the most adored and inspiring teacher, you have the great opportunity to become a teacher's assistant, and teach labs or recitation sections, etc. You get the much-needed experience of interacting with students and getting paid for doing something you love, all while taking classes to get further in your field and closer to your goal in life. Why complain, then? Why want a Union? Am I just being a greedy ingrate?
No! Wanting and demanding a Union for graduate student employees is not about complaining about my situation. It is just a matter of being able to exercise the rights we have as workers.
I am a part of the Tufts community that is very essential to making Tufts a great learning institution. In my experience, many times students go to see their TAs with more than lab questions; TAs, in fact, become a second teacher. Many students realize that the one-on-one help they can get from their TAs is essential for them to grasp what was not fully communicated in the classroom setting. Sometimes students come to TAs not because they do not know how to do a problem, but just because they need some reassurance that they are on the right track and only need a little boost in their confidence. I remember my calculus TA when I was an undergraduate: she was my savior! Even though my professor was excellent and I loved her classes, the additional help I received was invaluable.
As TAs, we get paid for this service we provide; we are employed to do this. Hence, as employees, we should also get the rights we deserve. We deserve the right to be able to negotiate for better working conditions. However, so far, this right has been denied to us and our work is being undervalued.
As student workers, we not only have to prepare for the classes we TA, but we also need to concentrate on our own studies. We have years of practice as students: living on the strict minimum and attending every free food event there is. While my stipend can pay the bills, something as seemingly trivial as getting fined $350 for a late tuition payment can cause panic. I have to decide whether to max out a credit card or come up with some other ingenious way to get out of this or some other predicament. Constant money problems are enough to turn anyone's hair white.
One of the hallmarks of American society is the existence of labor unions to fight for workers' rights. Living in America, when people are not allowed to form a union, there is a blatant infringement on basic human rights. Teachers on campuses can get together and form a Union, and TAs at other universities (such as New York University and UMASS) already have unions, so why not TAs at Tufts? Just because we are students as well, does not in any terms devaluate our purpose as workers without whom many classes would hardly function.
Radha Pertaub is a teaching assistant and Ph.D. student in the Physics
Department.
More from The Tufts Daily
