But French Director of Graduate Studies Edwin Duval said the changes were made to reflect what was already happening in the department, not as a result of the Kutzinksi report. The Administration is wary of a contract that would limit its ability to make constructive changes in teaching requirements-decisions that are made on a departmental level to suit different disciplines' needs. But it is also important that we have the kind of flexibility our current system allows. Departmental representatives bring constituent concerns, which range this year from academic freedom to vending machine prices, to the Assembly, which discusses, drafts, and approves recommendations to the Administration. Hockfield meets every other week with the GSA steering committee and plans to meet with the full Assembly soon.
Negotiations are verbal, non-binding, and dependent on good faith.
Last year, the Assembly recommended higher pay for some teaching fellows teaching more than one section, which Hockfield has promised to study and redress, and pushed for multiple changes in library usage and health care, the most important of which, according to Adamson, have since been made policy. Hockfield seems already convinced. I think they can play an important role in graduate school policy. Despite her enthusiasm, Hockfield doesn't believe that the body needs more formal power, pointing out that the Assembly is young and still discovering the extent of its influence. Adamson was frustrated by the Assembly's lack of influence last year when, for example, changes to disciplinary procedure were made without GSA recommendation.