Despite pledges by university officials to protect the quality
of education, the declining quantity of teaching assistants in some
departments suggests the contrary.

“We’ve gone from a time where almost any professor
with a legitimate need for a teaching assistant received one, to a
time where that’s just not a reality anymore,” said
Kathy Bawn, associate professor and vice chair of political science
undergraduate studies at UCLA.

Budgetary constraints have led to reductions in the political
science department’s funding for teaching assistants in the
past six out of seven years.

While in the 1996-1997 academic year the political science
department had funding to hire 46 teaching assistants per quarter,
the 2002-2003 budget for TAs only allocates funds for 32 per
quarter.

With lower division courses claiming roughly 28 TAs per year,
faculty teaching upper division courses must vie for the remaining
allotments.

Even after a written proposal is placed, TAs are not guaranteed.
Proposals are reviewed by Bawn’s committee, which makes the
final decision about assignments.

Among the faculty who were unable to obtain teaching assistants
for their classes is Professor Martin Gilens. His American Politics
in the Mass Media course has 77 students enrolled, but employs no
TA.

“Though there are ways to compensate for the absence of
discussion sections, such as incorporating discussion into lecture,
it is still unfortunate that there just isn’t enough funding
for a TA for this class,” Gilens said.

While TAs are rarely requested solely on the basis of course
size, the presence of TAs usually means that a class can
accommodate more students without sacrificing course quality.

“My fear is that faculty will be apprehensive about
teaching large upper-division classes if they cannot be guaranteed
TAs,” Bawn said.

Faculty and students alike seem to agree that TAs have the
potential to improve class quality.

“Students benefit a great deal from hearing the same ideas
more than one way, by more than one person … TAs can also provide
feedback and ongoing support with writing,” Bawn said.

“If you have a paper, TAs can help you figure out what
they ““ or the professor ““ are looking for in that
paper,” said Robyn Goldfarb, a fourth-year political science
student.

So far, TA scarcity has been a problem mainly for upper division
courses, but Bawn admits that there is the possibility that further
funding cuts may lead to reductions in the amount of TAs for lower
division political science classes as well.

“The absence of discussion sections for any class makes
students more lazy ““ they feel like all they need is to get
the information from lecture and that’s it. Good discussion
sections will force you to do the reading, so that you have
something to discuss and analyze for class,” Goldfarb
said.

Inadequate funding for TAs is not a problem solely in the
political science department, however. Communications Studies 160
currently has 82 students enrolled, but only one teaching
assistant.

“I think it’s the students who are really suffering
from this,” said Angela Jamison, the lone TA for the
class.

“As part of the union, I can only work 20 hours a week,
whether that’s for 40 students or 80 students,” said
Jamison.

Teaching assistants, readers and tutors are represented by the
Student Association of Graduate Employees, which contracts the
amount of hours they work.

“˜The fact is that money is really tight everywhere, but
it’s not fair for graduate students to pick up the
slack,” Jamison said.