Friday, November 8, 1996
Strike would only harm undergrads
It saddened me greatly to read that some of my fellow graduate
students are threatening to strike. Although these students may
have a legitimate grievance in that the administration is refusing
to abide by a court decision granting the right to collective
bargaining, a strike is the wrong action to take for two important
reasons. First, the court’s decision is currently being appealed,
so it is not yet certain whether or not the TAs actually have a
right to collective bargaining. Second, the strike maliciously
harms the education of innocent bystanders  the
undergrads.
The second reason is the most troubling one. Teaching
assistantships do not exist merely to make it easier for grad
students to pay for college. Otherwise we could simply give that
money to grad students without requiring any services in return. It
may come as a shock to some, but the reason for having a TA
position is to help educate the undergrads. By walking out on
classes, the TAs would be betraying their commitment to the
innocent undergrads, something that should not be tolerated.
I hope the administration will fire any TAs who abandon their
responsibilities and replace them with graduates or even seniors
who are committed to educating the undergrads and are willing to
accept over $12,000 a year in return for their efforts. While they
are at it, they could also somehow link TAs’ pay to the performance
of their students. As for the striking TAs, if they really want to
walk out of a class, I suggest they walk out of the classes they
are taking rather than the ones they are teaching.
MacLane Key
Graduate student
Computer science