Union Strike

Being in the lab is perhaps the greatest part of any science. You get to tinker and observe phenomena you learn about in your textbook. Fortunately, on occasion, your lab goes off the script. In the majority of scenarios, “fortunately” is unfortunately. When your lab goes off the rails, it sucks. It delays progress, you have to figure out what went wrong, etc. When it does go off script however, you learn in a different way. You learn the importance of observations, the consequences of mistakes on your methods of measurement, etc. These moments of learning ultimately aren’t facilitated by your professor, but, at least in the lab, it’s your teaching assistant (TA).

In the photo up top, my previous TA, Prajal, one of the greatest TAs I have ever had, really developed the attitude I work with in the chemistry lab. TAs can be invaluable, and not just ones in the science fields, but in all fields, and they should be supported adequately for the hard work they do.

The graduate students, primarily those who make the majority of their income from TAing, are on strike at UIC. This is because they aren’t adequately supported, financially for one. They have failed in that department really. They make approximately ~26k compared to the ~45k at universities like Northwestern and UChicago. This goes on top of all the fees they have to face being graduate students. For graduate students who are already so enveloped in their research, it’s unfortunate to see them struggle to make ends meet.

It begs a bigger problem as well. Many PhD programs require you to serve as a teaching or research assistant (RA). If universities cannot adequately support TAs and RAs, how will this impact the number of people applying for PhD positions? As someone who is heavily considering continued education, it really rubs me the wrong way.

I was going to be a TA for a biochemistry class for 9th-12th graders at Northwestern’s CTD program this summer. Now my summer classes have made that impossible, but I wouldn’t do it even if I could. You have so many responsibilities, and that includes holding an online study session in the late evening, ~7-8 pm every Tuesday and Thursday. I can’t imagine all the work TAs put in to teach us undergraduates and pursue their own research at the same time.

You can find more information regarding the strike here, and I encourage you to do so.