What is the problem?
There is a TF stipend disparity between current and first year TF's.
Why is this a problem?
Existing students have more experience and education as compared with
1st year students and therefore should perform their job better,
benefiting the undergraduates. This difference should *at the very
least* be recognized with equitable pay between *ALL* TF's, and
certainly should not be recognized with a pay increase to the least
experienced subset of TF's.
The university in essence recognizes that, in general, TF's should be paid more for their services. This was acknowledged by the university when it gave the 1st year TF's a higher wage.
Comparable universities (MIT, Harvard, Tufts) offer stipends to all
their students that is comparable to the 1st year wage. There is a
general recognization by these universities that maintenance of the
standard of living in Boston requires paying students more money.
How do we raise our concern to the administration in a way that would
result in our wage being comparable to 1st year students?
1. Rally
Proposal:
I propose a CAS-wide Letter Writing Campaign.
Simply, if we were to generate over 500 letters that could be strategically sent to the budget-making administration, our collective voices could be heard. The "Rally" and the Letter Writing Campaign are not mutually exclusive; the Letter Writing Campaign is just another potential solution to the problem and might be an appropriate step BEFORE a rally.
There are somewhere between 500 and 750 graduate students in CAS. If each one of these student sends a letter to the administration stating the concern over the TF disparity, we cannot be ignored. In each letter one would state the problem, state the reasons why this disparity is bad, state what should be done (increase in pay) and then ask for a personal reply from this particular administration. 3 things can happen: 1) there will be no response from the administration, 2) there will personal responses sent back to individuals stating the usual negative rhetoric OR there will be personal responses sent back to individuals stating optimism in budgeting this increase in pay to 98's budget, and 3) there will be a more "general" response either stating the same old rhetoric or optimism in rectifying this disparity.
I believe that the best way to show our collective (CAS) concern would be to facilitate this Letter Writing Campaign amongst our peers. This method of raising the concern would be popular among the general graduate student body because it offers a proactive yet non-confrontational approach to initiating change within the administration. I feel that for something like a "Rally" to be successful, overwhelming participation is crucial. My opinion is that the Letter Writing Campaign, due to its method, might be more widely embraced by our fellow graduate students thereby presenting a more unified and collective front while still putting the "ball in the administrations court" so-to-speak.
Strategy:
1. Starting 10/24 we begin advertising this Letter Writing Campaign.
2. Individuals here would be asked to facilitate this letter writing
so as to get close to 100% participation.
3. The period for writing the letter would be from 10/27 to 10/31.
Unstamped, unsent, individual letters would be collected on 10/31 and
stamped. Starting on 10/31, 100 letters per day would be placed in the
US mail for delivery on Monday, 11/3. Each day thereafter we stamp and
place 100 letters in the mail to continuously infuse the administration
with letters. If we have 500 letters, this would continue for one full
work week.
The administration would really have to claim major ignorance if there is not any response to all these letters. Our next move would be more radical (read: Rally) and if the general graduate student body feels ignored or sleighted due to no response to the letters, greater participation in something more radical would be probable.