Thread by @annameierPS

Many grad student TAs are doing a ton of extra, uncompensated work right now to keep courses afloat, often with minimal institutional support.

They’re also doing a ridiculous amount of emotional labor. I’ll explain. 1/

In a 300-person lecture class, the prof isn’t the 1st point of contact for a student going through a crisis. It’s the TA. Every semester, TAs are the 1st ones to hear about personal hardships, lost jobs, Title IX cases, health emergencies, and so on. 2/

Even in a smaller class w/ a TA, students interact with their TA more than with their professor. Their TA knows their names. Their TA knows how they’re performing. Their TA is the first to spot warning signs that something’s off. 3/

So take the fact that students often come to their TA first, even if they also eventually go to their professor, & double the number of crises in a typical semester. Triple it. That may still be an underestimate. In any case, that’s right now. 4/

As someone who struggles w/ anxiety & depression, I’m having a hard enough time keeping myself afloat during this. I feel grateful not to be teaching right now—not bc I don’t like helping students (I do) but bc I don’t have the bandwidth for myself, much less others. 5/

Grad student TAs aren’t only bearing their own burdens. They’re also bearing their students’. The unacknowledged emotional labor that TAs usually perform has skyrocketed. In a grad class, where the TA & their students might be friends, this gets even harder. 6/

Now, profs are doing this labor as well, esp. women & POC (as always). But unlike profs, TAs often have very little power to make accommodations for students. TAs can listen, empathize, & advocate, but they can’t always make real changes to the course that would help students. 7/

This turns the TA into a counselor, or a therapist, or a mediator between the student & a professor whom we hope is sympathetic but whom we know isn’t always. This is a difficult role for someone w/ little power to play in the best of times. 8/

How can instructors help their TAs? First, practice compassion. If you, the instructor, dismiss student concerns or fail to provide accommodations, the student may turn to the TA for further emotional support. This compounds the problem. 9/

It costs us nothing to be kind. It is baffling to me that some instructors continue to think they need to teach their students the difficulties of the “real world” when students live through those difficulties every day. 10/

Second, check in with your TAs, esp. if they are also your advisees. Ask how they're doing, & not just w.r.t. their teaching. You are not a therapist, but you are in a mentoring role. It is your job to protect & support those you are mentoring. 11/

Third—& this is important—advocate for your TAs. Are TAs on your campus receiving extra pay right now? Do they make a living wage normally? If you don’t know the answers, do some research. Your campus grad union’s website is a good place to start. 12/

(Also, the answers are probably no.) 13/

Financial security doesn’t remove emotional labor, but it does lighten the burden by lessening stress & creating mental space we can use to take care of each other. You may not be in a position to make structural changes to grads’ situations yourself, but you can push admin. 14/

Do you serve on a department, college, or university-wide committee? Bring up graduate labor issues. We can, & do, advocate for ourselves, but we don’t have the job security TT faculty have—& we don’t have access to the power that you do. 15/

We could all use some solidarity right now. Just as TAs look out for their students, instructors need to proactively look out for their TAs. Thank you to those who already are. /fin

It looks like this struck a chord. For my fellow grads: I'm so sorry.

For others: please take a moment to donate to a local community or college mutual aid fund. Here's the grad union's for UW–Madison. gofundme.com/f/taa-mutual-a…