Re:University of Chicago Graduate Students Vote to Unionize
by Fomite on Friday October 20, 2017 @02:33AM
(#15513893)
"As a graduate student, your boss is usually the administration more than the professor"
This is important to note. I have very little control over how much my students are paid, their benefits, their course load, etc.
And, for the record, I do care if my students are overworked. Burnt out students produce shitty science.
Re:University of Chicago Graduate Students Vote to Unionize
by spaceseaman on Friday October 20, 2017 @05:12PM
(#15519140)
> I do care if my students are overworked. Burnt out students produce shitty science.
Good point and apologies for the slight. I suppose a better way of putting it is that faculty are often ignorant of their students' issues / difficulties due to their busy schedules.
1.) Overwork their students, stretch them thin doing everything.
2.) Have more graduate students.
They would always pick #2. Professors are notoriously short-handed. They are typically not the ones who are outright abusing the power. It's usually the administration tying the professor's hands in these matters.
As a graduate student, your boss is usually the administration more than the professor - especially w.r.t. things a union would care about (workplace safety, wages, benefits, overwork...). Professors do not like to overwork their students - it's just they don't care if you are overworked.