Subject: Summary of meeting w/ Dean Fri. Nov. 14th
Notes from the Meeting with Deans Berkey and Whitaker
Four of us met with Deans Berkey and Whitaker Thurs. (11/13) morning to discuss some of the concerns that the general graduate student group had been voicing in meetings over the past several weeks.
Overall, we felt that the meeting went reasonably well but that it is difficult to tell how much consideration will be given to our requests.
We mentioned our appreciation of the increase in all continuing TF stipends effective for the spring semester.
In response to our question, Dean Berkey reaffirmed that no one's stipend would be lowered (e.g., next year they should be at least as high as in the spring).
We requested that current, continuing TFs receive the $500 for this semester (the difference between the new TF pay and continuing TF pay for the fall). There was not much response to this.
We discussed the inclusion of a 4% annual cost-of-living increase in stipends, which we felt reasonable as the current stipends do not cover basic living expenses and the longer a student is here, the lower their income becomes relative to the increasing living costs.
Dean Berkey said he was not going to "negotiate" with us... We then put it in the context of the cost-of-living increase improving (atmosphere) among graduate students and improving the view of the university which prospective graduate students will receive when they visit.
We requested that they examine the 4% rate and compare the costs with the University's current policy of occasionally raising the stipends by more than 4% (every few years). They suggested that they might examine this.
We then discussed the actual duties and responsibilities of TFs, which we feel do not correspond to those of an "intern" (which the administration had likened us to). We went through quite a few of these; for example, we generally operate independently and are not treated as interns.
Dean Berkey seemed to want to turn this discussion into something like "how can the University give you better (intern-like) training for your future as a teacher?" We agreed that new TFs might benefit from more training, but rebutted his equating us to interns, since some of us do not plan on teaching as careers, and our activities are too necessary to the functioning of the university (among other reasons). Editorial note: it is likely that the administrators would prefer solutions which do not involve their spending more money, that's a big part of their job... So this was probably a tactic toward that end.
Towards the end of the meeting, they mentioned the possibility of some sort of system that would give new TFs more training while experienced TFs might have more flexibility (in teaching) and possibly higher pay rates??? However, this last part about different levels of pay based on experience is quite *indefinite* at this point. The dean stressed that any changes in this pay system would be looked at by him in concert with department chairs.
We also discussed the fact that, contrary to their statements, RAs are not generally paid more than TFs as RA salaries are based on the current TF rate. The deans appeared to accept this.
We closed by stating our appreciation of their willingness to meet with us and our hope that dialogue could be continued. Dean Berkey stated that he appreciated the chance to reply to us, as some of the letters sent to him did not have return addresses...