GSIs

UC Berkeley is currently facing a potential $82 million dollar budget deficit. Chancellor Carol Christ updated the community on budget plans during a Campus Conversation on March 27. 

With the risk of relying too much on broad generalizations, I see that UC Berkeley students approach their academic seats at this school with an extra layer of complexity.

Students lack information and guidance as grading formats change due to new policies enacted by UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate amidst the UC-wide academic worker strike.

Even after UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate enacted a contingency plan Nov. 28 to address the disruption caused by the UC-wide academic worker strike, questions surrounding assignment grading remain for faculty and students alike.

UC Berkeley will still hold final exams — albeit modified — and will not default to P/NP grading amid the ongoing UAW academic workers strike.

Campus cannot act for students if it does not know where issues lie, but students cannot relay issues if they don’t know where or how to do it.

With all of the work GSIs do for us, it is worthwhile to give them some support back, which many of you may already be doing. Here are some additional ways to support and appreciate your GSIs.

Poor working conditions for lecturers and graduate students are huge roadblocks on the path to bringing in diverse, competent educators. 

With no formal system in place to prevent GSIs from using fructose in the classroom, it seems the juicing era of GSI-ing has begun.