Many thanks to those who took the time to read and respond to my post on the value of grad students and their office environment. I received responses from 63 individuals; some individuals commented several time and almost all had thoughtful comments which led to quite a bit of reading on my part! Before I summarize the comments, I will make a few comments re: the purpose and results of my post. First, I did not intend to use my posting as a complaint, but as an information gathering exercise; the objective o f my efforts is not to secure a private office with a view, but to work toward an environment conducive to the success of the graduate students I represent so they can achieve their full potential. From the content and number of the responses, I now realize that this topic is not only applicable to my situation but to graduate students throughout the U.S. and internationally. My future efforts will reflect this; I hope to not only improve the situation at my university, but also to provide support and information for general graduate student use. It was suggested by several individuals that the results of this post be written-up and submitted to a journal. I agree, but would like to expand the scope somewhat, via a questionnaire that asks a specific set of questions (examples of which were provided by several of the respondents). If anyone is interested in this, e.g., via piloting the survey, suggesting questions, etc, please feel free to email me. I hope to develop the questions over the next month in two separate surveys: one for current grad students and one for those who have completed graduate work. I am in a British-based doctorate program but plan to design the surveys to reflect the American system so will certainly need feedback on the survey questions. For now, I will (briefly) summarize the responses.
While some of the responses described positive workspaces and supportive attitudes, most of the responses described a sub-standard office environment or value for graduate work. The most common suggestions were: making administration aware of the amount of time grad students spend as teaching and research assistants, the amount of grant money and fellowships they obtain (and the associated prestige), the number of publications, the (often) significant amounts of tuition paid; obtaining faculty support; unionizing; publicizing the issue; looking into OSHA laws; look at literature on workspace and productivity from other fields; and gathering information (via surveying students, literature, etc) about the value of a work environment conducive to productive thought and activity. Several publications were provided, including: Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1974). Organizational decision making as a political process: The case of a university budget. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19(2), 135-151. http://www.amacad.org/arisefolder/ariseReport.pdf http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/325/5940/528 Several website were provided, including: Council of Graduate Schools http://www.cgsnet.org/ Alliance of Graduate Employee Locals (http://archive.aft.org/higher_ed/grademp/about.html Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions (http://www.cgeu.org/) UC Union http://www.uaw2865.org/home/home.php Thanks again for the interest in this topic; if you would like to participate in additional discussion of this issue (e.g., survey questions, etc), please contact me directly. Cheers, Alisha
