Pay for graduate teaching assistants in the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue University is among the lowest in the Big Ten -- a little less than $14,000 a year, before taxes. So the college’s recent announcement that it’s raising graduate pay to $15,000 or more next year was good news -- to some. Others say that while they applaud the college’s attention to an important issue, the modest pay bump doesn’t begin to make up for what Purdue is proposing in exchange: namely, a redistribution of college resources that includes major cuts to some of the largest graduate programs, and future cuts to overall graduate student enrollment. “One of our goals is to remind the leadership of this land-grant institution that strong teaching and research in the humanities is part of its mission,” said Michelle McMullin, a graduate student in English who is organizing opposition to the plan, “and while they may see it as an expense, we are an asset to the university.” That’s not only as students, but as instructors charged with developing critical-thinking and writing skills and an appreciation for the liberal arts among undergraduates, she said.

February 23, 2016 ・ From Inside Higher Ed