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King’s TAs uncertain of future

As the end of first term draws near, some teaching assistants are beginning to question whether they will have a job to return to in January.

Rumours are circulating King’s University College suggesting budget constraints have forced the sociology department to reduce the number of TAs.

Chris Tsiropoulos, a fourth-year sociology student and current TA at King’s, is one of the individuals uncertain about his future as a TA.

“No one from the administration or the department is telling us what’s going on,” Tsiropoulos lamented. “We weren’t worried about Western not paying us — they’re not a sketchy employer.”

“We were told it was a departmental issue,” he added.

The TA contracts currently set in place until the end of the year will be fulfilled, but unfortunately some TAs will not have a contract in the new year, according to David MacGregor, chair of the sociology department, noted.

“We simply do not have the funding to fulfill some of the contracts,” MacGregor said. “Of course students are not expected to consider to work in a contract for which they are not being paid.”

Dale Dupuis, vice-president student issues with King’s University College Students’ Council, spoke with associate academic dean Sauro Camiletti in regards to the matter.

“The dean’s office claims they have made the effort to fulfill all promised contracts for the sociology department,” Dupuis said. “But the additional TAs who currently have jobs but have not been promised contracts cannot be accommodated.”

Desmond Dutrizak, academic dean at King’s, added the sociology department voiced concerns about their budget earlier this year.

“They submitted a request that had an allocation for TAs and marking assistants — that was approved and went through the February budget as requested,” Dutrizak said.

Dutrizak added in anticipation of increased enrollment, five and a half sections of sociology were added. As a result, a number of sections were able to lower their class size substantially.

“It came [as] a surprise to us that there was a request for additional support,” Dutrizak said. “We did ask in October when the chair came to us to see what the contracts were. We proposed to him that he could address all those contracts well within his budget framework. So as far as I know there’s been no cancellation of any TA contracts.”

Tsiropoulos noted while an incomplete contract is certainly upsetting, the lack of transparency is all the more frustrating. He has composed a petition to be passed on to the head of the sociology department voicing his concerns and giving students the opportunity to express the importance of TAs in an educational setting.

“We’re not asking for extra money or longer hours — we’re just asking that the contract we developed from the beginning be honoured,” Tsiropoulos said.

“There’s no transparency whatsoever, so you have no idea who to contact,” Tsiropoulos added.

MacGregor noted while no formal e-mails have been sent out to the sociology TAs, he expected communication to occur primarily between the TA and the professor, as opposed to the department.”

Dutrizak added he believed the process to be perfectly transparent, and welcomed any student concerns.

There will be a meeting between the office of the dean and the sociology department this Wednesday to resolve any budgetary disputes and to discuss the issue of TAs and marking assistants.

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