Posts tagged teaching assistant
Op-ed: Stanford’s Graduate Student Union Tries to Stifle Dissent
September 4, 2025 // At the University of Chicago, graduate students in a similar position have taken their union to federal court, arguing that forced support of the union violates their constitutional rights. In Graduate Students for Academic Freedom v. Graduate Students United, the plaintiffs—including Jewish students—say they are being compelled to fund a union that promotes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, a stance they view as antisemitic. The graduate unions at both Stanford and Chicago are registered as local chapters of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, a national union that funds progressive activism.
Commentary: Ivy Leaguers Aren’t Auto Workers
July 21, 2025 // In general, NLRB decisions are fake law made by fake judges who have to interpret a poorly written statute from 90 years ago that is based on assumptions about industrial organization that no longer obtain in the United States. But the NLRB remains powerful nonetheless, and its decisions matter. That’s why Russell Burgett, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University, which is private, is asking the NLRB to overturn the 2016 Columbia ruling. He isn’t a member of the Cornell graduate students’ union, a UE affiliate, and he said in charges filed with the NLRB on Monday that his choice not to join makes it harder for him to complete his education.
Student assistants are paid more than lecturers at UC. Ripple effects of 2022 strike
May 21, 2024 // Teaching 56 enrolled students in Elements and Cultures of Hip-Hop, Garland was credited for about 33.3% of a full-time instructional workload, because UC Merced requires lecturers to teach three courses per semester to meet a full-time standard. However, her student teaching assistant was credited 50%, which means getting paid for 20 hours per week, for helping in this class. “It’s ridiculous that somebody could have just graduated from undergrad, but they could be making more money per class than a lecturer with a PhD who has been teaching for five or six years,” Garland said. “It just speaks to the (idea that the) university does not value its teaching.”