The Graduate Employees Union has been known for protesting in creative ways. From marching around campus beating buckets like drums and carrying picket signs, to marching to past former President M. Peter McPherson's home and taping the front entrance shut with construction tape, they are clever when it comes to getting their point across.

Most recently, the GEU sent a caravan of cars driving slowly around campus to protest a proposal that would take away contractual parking privileges from the teaching assistants. Without a parking stipulation in its contract, the GEU says MSU could withdrawal the privileges at any time. So, the motorcade drove around during a negotiation session about its new contract, which must be negotiated by April.

These graduate students are employees of the university and deserve the right to park on campus like any other employee. In some cases, Teaching Assistants are more influential to students than the actual professor of a course. They have one-on-one contact with students in certain recitation sections, and students who need help outside of class can go to a TA's office hours instead of their professor's, which sometimes makes them more important.

Because they obviously deserve the privilege of parking on campus, a protest of some sort was warranted to make their cause heard. Unfortunately, they might not have gotten their point across to the very people they were trying to reach. Pam Beemer, assistant vice president of Human Resources, wasn't aware of the protest until she was called by The State News for questioning. Many people around campus had no idea the protest was even going on, and those who did see it didn't notice it or realize its importance.

With only a short time left until its new contract negotiations must be completed, the GEU needs to find another way to spread the word on the issue of parking.