4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY,NOV.1,2001
TALK TO US
PERSPECTIVE
This week,graduate teaching assistants work for improved working conditions
Despite their valuable and essential labor, GTAs are not fairly compensated by the University of Kansas. Nor does it seem that the University respects the work we perform, when ludicrously low wages and sub-par working conditions are the norm. In fact, to many members of the university community, the University seems to be more of a business than a school, and quality education is the first thing to suffer.
The week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 is Campus Equity Week, which focuses attention on issues of fairness and equality of education. Campus Equity Week is honored by teachers and their unions across the United States and Canada, and yesterday was devoted to recognizing the work of graduate employees.
Commentary
The week falls at an intriguing time for the University of Kansas. The negotiations for a new contract between graduate teachers, who feel they are not being compensated fairly for their work, and the University have already entered their second year.
The negotiations process involves University administrators and their legal team meeting to exchange counter-proposals with the Graduate Teaching Assistants Coalition (GTAC).
Amy Cummins Columnist opinionakansan.com
GTAC is the union representing all GTAs,affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Kansas Association of Public Employees (KAPE).
When an administrator earns 20 times what a graduate teacher makes, the University's priorities are out of order. All employees need to be treated fairly have a role in University decision-making.
Working conditions for our graduate teachers remain sub-par when compared with other institutions. Not only are benefits better at other schools including full health care coverage, but the pay is better.
For example, the minimum salary at the University of Iowa is $14,130. At the University of Michigan, GTAs' minimum salary is $12,560.
The University of Kansas doesn't even have a minimum salary. Pay varies
widely, depending on the program. At the University of Kansas, the average GTA pay is above $9,000. But graduate teachers in some departments receive only $8,400 for the school year.
The University needs to allocate enough money so all GTAs earn closer to a living wage. The University might find doing so even helps recruit and retain the best graduate teachers.
Until a new contract is ratified, GTAS' first contract, approved in September 1997, is still in effect.
That initial contract brought such benefits as: guaranteed tuition waiver, 20-hour work week for half-time GTAs (who make up 50 percent of all GTAs), a codified grievance process, contributions to health care for many GTAs and GRAs and a three-credit hour fee waiver guarantee.
GTAC's slogan for this year also is a national motto for Campus Equity Week: "Working conditions equal learning conditions." All undergraduates will work with graduate teachers at some point during their studies at the University. The education of undergraduates is greatly affected by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs), who teach about one-third of undergraduate courses.
The services provided by the more
than 900 GTAs employed by the University every semester are varied.
Many of us instruct courses autonomously. Other GTA tasks include leading discussion sections for large courses, meeting with individual students in conferences, evaluating essays, operating labs, lecturing, preparing lesson plans and (your favorite part) writing, proctoring and grading examinations.
Managing the University as if it were a corporation negatively affects students' experiences at KU.
Results of "corporatization" start with exploitation of part-time teaching faculty, but also include overcrowded classrooms, inappropriate policies that hurt teaching but save money, and the denial of social justice.
If the University of Kansas wants to be a top-ranked school, it needs to fund education fully and treat its employees better.
Then maybe in future years, Campus Equity Week will be more of an occasion for celebration. But first, the University's educational mission must be a priority
Cummins is a graduate teaching assistant in English, GTAC president and graduate student senator.
PERSPECTIVE
Women's rally still needs to work on equity
They say college is all about personal growth and finding truth in unexpected places. Over the past few years, I have been extremely critical of Womyn Take Back the Night. This year, for the first time, I decided to drop by.
I had planned to be obnoxious and buy a T-shirt and annoy my feminist friends. Unexpectedly, I found myself moved by the testimonials and performances I witnessed. Womyn Take Back the Night isn't an orgy of male-bashing — it's an opportunity for people who have been affected by violence to give voice to their experiences.
vote to their experience.
I regret I did not understand that earlier, and admit I was wrong in my previous characterizations of the event. Not that I imagine anyone is particularly affected by my columns, but if anyone felt his or her experience was marginalized by my writing, I'm sorry.
justice.
For example, Almas Sayeed asserted in a recent column that "domestic violence continues because of a combination of factors that include women's lack of economic and political equality and lack of access to forming and implementing social policies." She also asserted that "women and children are the most affected victims of any systematic form of perpetrated violence."
What I'm not sorry about is my critique of the feminist interpretation about the underlying causes of these tragedies. If anything, this experience has strengthened my resolve to speak out against the myopic gender obsession that seems to infect any discussion of the subject. Without an advocacy that transcends current single-constituent interest groups, no solution for the social ill that confront us is attainable. This is as true today as it was in 1993 when Cornel West called for a "prophetic leader" to guide America to a new stage of social justice.
However, a quick look at the data from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that "males were victimized [by violent crime] at a rate 42 percent higher than females." Further, "most murder victims were male, 75 percent in 1999." In fact, about 65 percent of murders were one male killing another one. If this is the result a system set up to benefit men, I'd say the patriarchy is failing pretty miserably.
Commentary
However, there are other important factors that are predictive of victimization. Violent crimes committed by rela-
Robert
Chamberlain
Columnist
opinionkansas.com
ives are also closely tied to income. A person in a family with an annual income of less than $7,500 is nine times as likely to be a victim of a violent crime committed by a relative than is a person in a family with an income of more than $75,000. Further, minorities are significantly more likely to be victims of violent crime, as well as far more likely to be incarcerated for violent crime.
they need to understand that violence isn't a gender issue, it's a social issue. Moreover, violence is an issue that affects women in a variety of forms, with abuse forming only a fraction of the whole.
But a "gendered analysis" never brothers to look up from its navel-gazing to see the world as it is. The "nature, context and source of cycles of intimate violence" is closely tied with problems I've identified before: income disparity, urban decay and the tendency of desperate young men to resort to violence and terrorize their communities.
Even in truly oppressive societies, the oppression is never limited to only women. To address these kinds of complex problems requires a form of advocacy that looks beyond a clannish impulse to form exclusionary groups and focus on single issues and single interpretations.
While some have already protested that they only want "equality" and are not single gender advocates, they need to back up these words with action. Be as upset about violence on Prospect Avene as you are about violence on Massachusetts Street. Worry as much about throat cancer as breast cancer. Lobby as hard for male low-wage workers as you do female low-wage workers.
While I believe most feminist advocates really do want to stop violence
Until this is done, the roots of violence will remain buried, and men and women across America will be forced to taste its bitter fruit.
Chamberlain is a senior in political science from Topeka.
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Fraternities are so cool, I wish I was in one. Oh wait, no I don't.
if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
Hi. My name's Davy, and I like monkeys.
Have you ever noticed how you can't spell Greek with G-E-K-E?
if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
I don't know about all you guys, but pornography helps a lot in masturbation.
--if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
Maybe this anthrax scare will finally get rid of the crappy powdered soap in Fraser Hall.
Where have all the flowers gone?
I was just wondering why they are doing with my out-of-state tuition if Corbin Hall can't even get hot water and a coffee machine that works?
Me and my girlfriend have been going out for about 10 months, and she won't have sex with me because she wants to be a virgin when she's married. So when she's 32 and in her sexual prime, I'm not going to have sex with her out of spite.
To the man with the 4-foot, flowing mullet; We salute you.
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If Carrot Top didn't have such stupi-
hair, would you anyone think he was funny?
I'm sorry, boy in the Spanish class who's name starts with an A. But the guy I have a crush on, his name starts with a W. And I don't think he reads the Free for All.
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The babe with the power. What power?
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Do what? Remind me of the babe.
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Has anybody actually read the "Zippy" comic in the paper? It is so weird, and someone gets paid to write it.
--if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
I got my money on Chunk.
if men ruled the world, Hallmark wouldn't exist.
He does the Truffle-Shuffle.
Is it just me, or does it seem like girls hibernate for the winter?
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
Hey, it is possible to get rejected in your dreams? I had a dream where I asked a girl out, and she said, "In your dreams." But it was in my dreams.
This is the girl who ran out in the middle of the street, stopped a car and asked for a ride home. Thanks so much for being my ride home. You guys rock.
Men do rule the world. And Hallmark sucks.
If anybody has a videotape of me getting my minor, could I please have a copy for my archives?
Could someone tell the girl on campus yelling about free T-shirts in the most annoying voice to shut up?
There's nothing more pathetic than a guy calling Free for All over and over.
I bet if Roy Williams was coaching the football team last Saturday, we would have heat Missouri.
Better yet, I think the basketball team could beat the football team in football.
No, I think the Crimson Girls could beat the football team, and they'd be more fun to watch.
I'm kinda like a choc-o-holic, but only for booze.
Hey Ryan, it's Vanessa. I found your virgina,
and you can have it back.
To the girl who smiled at me between Naismith and Robinson: I think I love you.
I'm an obsessive-compulsive Free for All caller.
Masturbation is the mark of true independence.
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If I had a nickel for every time a girl checked out my package, I'd have a big jar of nickels.
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Happy Anniversary to Cecilia because Wednesday is our one week anniversary of being fake lovers.
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I just wanted to say that Tuesday's opinion comic was absolutely hilarious.