Hey! Have you ever thought “Oh wow, I <3 my TA so much! S/he’s so great I forget s/he isn’t a professor!”? Don’t you think s/he should be adequately compensated for all that great work, helping you learn and what not?

Or maybe you’re thinking “Jesus, why are all my TA’s so GRUMPY!” Well, maybe they are ornery because they are overworked, underpaid, and generally lacking in any rights or means to improve their teaching/working/learning conditions.

But HEY AGAIN! Did you know that although graduate students have a union they have no legal right to collectively bargain, thanks to a silly decision by Bush-appointed National Labor Relations board that declared that graduate students don’t count as workers. There’s currently some legislation in play that would restore the labor rights of grad student TA’s, and you can sign a petition to support it here.

But wait, wtf does this have to do with Take Back NYU!? Well, if the budget was disclosed, administrators/trustees would know that undergraduate students could see that they’re beloved TA’s weren’t being rewarded/some of the reasons why their TA’s were so ornery all the time. Undergraduate students might stand up and demand that TA’s be given the right to collectively bargain, because we know that better conditions –> happy TA –> better recitation teaching –> more learning for us. We also might be able to confirm or refute rumors that TA’s in departments with more people of color, women, and queer people (e.g. SCA) get less pay than TA’s in other departments.

The exploitation of graduate student workers is another example of how student voices at NYU have been silenced. Until we Take Back NYU!, we can hope that if they won’t listen to us, they’ll listen to the law. So sign the petition!