To this end, we fought extensively for — and won — increased professional development for our members during our last bargaining cycle. This means every single teaching assistant on campus must be offered training for the particular course they teach, both at the start of and throughout the semester.

Our contract also requires each teaching assistant be observed by a faculty supervisor each semester and given a formal written evaluation, to be placed in each TA’s employment file.

That the university was hesitant to commit itself to continuous professional development at the level of the department was as surprising to us as it will be to most undergraduates reading this, but we understand it is in the interests of all students at MSU that we be trained properly for our jobs.

Finally, it is important to recognize that graduate students are qualified to teach in their field. These are individuals who have had to complete a degree (often multiple degrees), apply and be accepted to a highly competitive institution and then apply each semester for a limited number of teaching positions in their department.

Believe it or not, the university continuously employs undergraduate teaching assistants in order to undercut the already low salaries paid to graduate assistants.

Who would you rather have leading you in the classroom: your dorm mate or an instructor with qualifications, passion for the field and direct departmental supervision? Which would you rather have for your next IAH course: a 300-person lecture hall led by a full professor but with outsourced grading and instruction by iClicker, or a 30-person section in which a TA leads debate and discussion and provides personal and extensive feedback on writing and critical thinking skills?

As we like to say at the GEU, our working conditions are your learning conditions. Just as we are beginning to learn that living conditions, including physical and social necessities, have a direct effect on early education, we believe that those who teach undergraduates, whether tenured faculty, nontenured faculty or graduate students, must have guaranteed basic rights (including adequate health care, proper training and access to resources necessary to do our jobs) in order to perform most effectively.

In order for MSU to remain a top institution, it is essential that administrators work to ensure undergraduates and graduate students have the best training and resources possible as they complete their degrees.

Elizabeth M. Pellerito

graduate student and president of the Graduate Employees Union