Free labor in University

[Taxing Matters]

That is an Ivy League case. OP is not at an Ivy League institution. Many public institutions of higher learning had unionized long before this.

The difference being that government owned colleges and universities are often subject to different rules than are private ones. Such is the case with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is the act that the NLRB enforces. The NRLA excludes from coverage federal, state, and local government employees. It is an act that applies only to private entities. But the significance of it is recognition of a trend in the law towards recognizing that these students are also employees when performing tasks like graduate teaching. The decision gives students of private institutions a right to unionize that they did not have before. That at least some states had allowed that even prior to the NLRB decision certainly is supportive of the direction in the law towards recognizing them as employees and giving them the rights of employees.

Finally, within academia, if one feels that they have a grievance, one does best exploring the proper channels and whether they have a proper grievance. Going off and threatening legal action when there are internal mechanisms is a bad idea.

And sometimes those professors and administrators who have been long in academia lose sight of the real world and need some litigation to knock them out of those lofty ivory towers and see the rest of the world around them.

 

[quincy]

I see no need for litigation here ... nor am I seeing the professors and administrators as the ones who have lost sight of the world around them.

 

[eerelations]

OP has made it clear that he's not looking to be paid for this teaching work. He wants to not have to take these credits and wants us to find him a law that will get him out of having to take these credits and still get his PhD. I have advised him that there isn't such a law.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I see no need for litigation here ... nor am I seeing the professors and administrators as the ones who have lost sight of the world around them.

My comment on that was a general one, not in relation to the OP's particular situation. I agree that the OP's quest to force the university to remove the requirement isn't one that he'll get by litigation as there is no law that helps him on that.

 

[xylene]

If I was forced to to this, I would be the world's biggest prick to everybody I had to grade and just be a miserable hateful person and make everybody around me want to be somewhere else.

Basically, my normal routine.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

If I was forced to to this, I would be the world's biggest prick to everybody I had to grade and just be a miserable hateful person and make everybody around me want to be somewhere else.

Basically, my normal routine.

And you would likely not earn your Phd.

 

[xylene]

And you would likely not earn your Phd.

I don't want to be an engineer.

 

[HRZ]

Way back whenever I got paid rather well as a graduate teaching assistant plus free tuition and as I recall, not taxed on value of tuition .....if an institution has the marketing clout to induce " free" teaching services out of degree candidates while charging tuition for said courses....well that's free enterprise . Your PhD program may be far more political than you think and you might be smart not to bellyache until you get your PhD .

 

[xylene]

I forgot my go to for university BS:

Complain to your university ombudsman (or ombuds if they are genderized and easily hurt)

 

[cbg]

Quite frankly, this OP is coming across as a whiney child. "I don't want to and they shouldn't be allowed to make me!"

I continue to maintain that about ten years from now, he's going to be very grateful that his university forced him to learn how to teach. Unless, of course, his attitude holds him down to low-level jobs.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

I don't want to be an engineer.

Clearly you don't watch "The Big Bang Theory". Engineers don't need to be doctors.

As to the OP, when I was in law school, I had to pay to work for free as well, although I had a choice if I wanted to do it or not. I needed a certain number of credits to graduate, and could get these six credits through an internship or take two more classes. Either way, I had to pay for the credits.

I chose the internship, and the connections I made there launched my practice.

 

[HRZ]

Some might consider a course in gym or diversity as useless...but if it's an institutional or departmental requirement ...so be it ...life is full of things we don't rush to do....but pick your battles with more care ...

 

[not2cleverRed]

Some might consider a course in gym or diversity as useless...but if it's an institutional or departmental requirement ...so be it ...life is full of things we don't rush to do....but pick your battles with more care ...

Cornell University used to have a required swim test that undergrads had to pass. Those who couldn't pass had to take swim lessons until they could.

 

[cbg]

The university I went to required all education majors to take a gym course.

 

[HRZ]

And I remember swimming tests the morning of graduation ..And wet hair with degree ( not mine ) and a friend who never did graduate from major U because he blew off phys ed requirement 3X .

OP...get over it....if the Chair or whomever calls the shots asks you to proctor her sons tennis lessons ....smile and do it ...life is full of added things...pick your battles with far more care...and pick ones you can win!

One of my friends with 2 PhDs in Chemistry is a hard nut about actually doing the assignments and not cribbing ...well he may have the high moral road....but it's not tenure track ...adjunct staff gets paid zippo with no real benefits at fancy U. .