I have been a graduate student for nearly five years at the University, developed relationships with a number of administrators and served the University on a number of committees. In fact, I helped to form a Joint Committee on Insurance to help look at issues of mutual interest between the University and the graduate teaching fellows. I have had disagreements with University decisions, but I felt that my voice was heard and that we could make progress together to reach mutually beneficial goals.
Lately, I have felt increasingly under attack. The recent ODE cartoon depicting GTFs as crybabies ignores the fact that we work nearly 80 to 100 hours a week (including course work and research) for less than 20 hours pay (about $200), and it ignores the crucial point that if we did not receive a tuition waiver, we would be somewhere else. Personally, I would be at Florida State University right now if I knew I would be receiving 4 years straight of pay cuts, after accounting for inflation.
Campuswide, GTFs are feeling the pressure of funding and economic constraints. According to the University’s 1999 “Process for Change Report,” a 33 percent increase in GTF pay would not be “fat.” The ability of the University to attract and retain the graduate students it desires depends on the ability to provide incentives that match or outdo its competitors. Given the low rate of pay, Oregon lags significantly behind in this respect. Of particular interest to recruitment, international GTFs must be employed and cannot obtain employment outside of the University. Most must subsist on GTF salaries alone — an income below the poverty level.
Although pay is a major issue of concern for many graduate students attempting to eke out a living on their GTF salaries, there are other issues of concern to which the University has turned a deaf ear. Recently, a pair of GTFs were berated and harassed by a professor who publicly blamed them for losing grades for a course. In fact, the professor had deleted them herself. The University argued in a settlement with the GTFs that the professor was in fact wrong, but the contract between the University and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (the union that represents GTFs) did not cover the issue. Despite the University’s admission, officials have since refused any attempts to address the issue within the GTFF contract.
All of these issues have major implications for undergraduates. As their tuition rises and the amount of services they receive does not necessarily increase, they are faced with an environment that is less and less conducive to learning. Pressure is building to increase class sizes, but GTFs are not given more time or resources to deal with the students that they have. Overworked, underpaid, hungry GTFs (I actually had a student who brought food to class for me because I looked peckish) cannot perform optimally to give the quality education undergraduates deserve.