Panel highlights effects of UW system budget cuts - Jake Skubish, Daily Cardinal

After $250 million in funding was cut from the UW System in the state’s last biennial budget, many different members of the campus community condemned the effect the cuts would have on universities. At a panel in Union South Monday, faculty, staff and students came together to discuss the ways in which the cuts are proving harmful. Teaching Assistants’ Association Co-President Dylan Kaufman-Obstler discussed how the budget cuts have kept TAs from earning a living wage while also forcing them to pay increased student fees. These hardships have led TAs to work extra jobs while also finishing their degree. She also lamented a university plan to pay TAs different salaries depending on the “market value” of their respective fields of study. “The budget squeeze leaves the university to operate more like a private business,” Kaufman-Obstler said. “The dean of the graduate school actually told me that there isn’t any money in paying teachers because teaching doesn’t make headlines.” http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2016/10/panel-highlights-effects-of-uw-system-budget-cuts