TAs to hold class on the grass today

Even the birds will learn to speak German today. Teaching assistants will hold their undergraduate classes outside on College Green today and tomorrow, as part of the third annual Teaching Awareness Days. "We want to make the whole University community aware of how many of us there are and what we do," said Jessica Neuwirth, a member of the Graduate Students Associations Council, which is sponsoring the event. All graduate students are encouraged to participate and according to Sociology doctoral candidate Michael Polgar, some teaching assistants have already committed to conducting their recitations on College Green. "Departments that have made a good committment are sociology, history and philosopy," Polgar said. "The biggest showing so far was from German -- they expect to send out eight classes." And for those graduate students who do not teach classes, but do hold office hours, GSAC has set up a registration table which will inform students where that graduate student is working on the Green. The table will be set up near the Button from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Graduate students who hold "class on the grass" will receive free buttons and T-shirts. Teaching Awareness Days began three years ago for a variety of graduate concerns, including a call for better stipends and more explicit working conditions. According to Polgar, the TA compact -- which was enacted this semester -- was an original goal of TA Awareness Days that graduate students finally met. However, graduate students have been unable to achieve other goals, which included consistent graduate student involvement in University policy and a minimum $10,000 stipend. Graduate students hope that events like Teaching Awareness Days will make their community more visible to undergraduate students and University administrators. "It started as a variation of a teach-in and has evolved into a very positive community event," Polgar said.

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