Graduate students at the University continued to face a series of issues this year, ranging from the familiar struggles with funding to the new dilemma of placing TA evaluations online for students to see.
While many University students said they were glad to gain access to course evaluations when choosing classes, other members of the University community said they are not pleased with the availability of TA evaluations -- especially of first-time TAs -- online.
Graduate Student Council President Tom Bryan said he believes one problem with the use of these course evaluations is that the evaluations are not adapted to assess the work that TAs are expected to do.
"Most TAs are operating under the supervision of a professor, so the fact that the evaluation system was using the same questions [that are used for professors] to evaluate TAs could mean that TAs would get praised or blamed for things they didn't really have control over," Bryan said.
Politics Prof. James Ceaser said course evaluations are valuable because they are used by professors to help graduate students and to assess their teaching so areas of possible improvement can be identified. Ceaser said he believes the problem arises when a graduate student with little teaching experience has his or her reputation put on the line when comments that are meant to be constructive are available to the public eye.
"I don't think any graduate student upon coming to U.Va. ever bargained to have his or her evaluations made public," Ceaser said. "What is the pedagogical interest in doing so? They are supposed to be to help us help them as teachers, not to put them out on a plank so that they can be embarrassed before undergraduates."
Of the other concerns graduate students dealt with this year, the recurring issue of funding was at the top of the list.
Ethan Sribnick, president of the Graduate Student Labor Union, said he believes the greatest stride graduate students made this year was in helping to protect funding for out-of-state graduate students.
Bryan said University graduate students rallied with University officials on the issue of out-of-state graduate student funding, and Gov. Warner ultimately submitted a budget amendment to allow general funds to go toward out-of-state graduate students.
Despite this victory, Sribnick said the biggest challenge currently facing graduate students is financial support as the availability of graduate funding must increase for the University to maintain its status as a top research institution.
Bryan added that he believes the matter has been brought to the attention of the University's administration successfully in the past year and that the community has realized the need for improvement in the area of general graduate funding.
The much-debated Virginia higher education restructuring legislation also was a topic on which many members of the graduate student community focused.
Sribnick said while the GLU was originally opposed to the legislation and still holds some concerns, he is interested in seeing if the new relationship between the Commonwealth and the University will change anything for graduate students in terms of funding.
Bryan said he believes the restructuring legislation has potential to improve the University.
"If the University can't get money to pay its faculty at competitive levels and maintain libraries and other facilities, we can't even begin to discuss graduate education, so I think it's a good sign that it passed and it's put U.Va. in a position to improve its standing," Bryan said.
In addition to addressing professional and financial concerns, Bryan also said the Graduate Council has been working to increase interactions between different departments in the graduate schools and improve the overall social structure.
"Traditionally, this school has been very undergraduate-focused and the graduate programs have just kind of grown up around that," Bryan said. "Just now, from what I'm hearing, the administration is taking steps to try and make U.Va. more welcoming for graduate students."
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