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NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Vol. 42, No. 90

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014

nyunews.com UNIVERSITY POLITICS

Faculty worried by handbook changes By STEPHANIE GRELLA Staff Writer

STAFF PHOTOS BY TONY CHAU (TOP AND BOTTOM LEFT) AND HANNAH LUU (TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT)

The first ever New York Festival of Light took place in Dumbo, Brooklyn, from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8. Due to overwhelming popularity, the festival had to shut down two and a half hours early Saturday night. The festival has been held in cities across the world, including Berlin, London, Montreal and Sydney. FEATURES

TAs face challenges over university policy

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz, a GSAS student, is working on her doctorate in politics, teaching two recitations of 25 students each and raising her 1-year-old daughter. Ijaz is also involved in the Graduate Student Organization Committee. Ijaz was initially drawn to GSOC because NYU’s child benefits provide a subsidy of only $200 per semester that could not cover basic necessities — let alone child care — for her daughter. Ijaz said if NYU acknowledged the realities of its graduate parents by providing daycare, more child subsidy for babysitting, maternity leave or an additional year of funding for doctoral students, then both parents and

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

the university would benefit. “[NYU] could get so much more out of me and out of other graduate parents if they gave such options,” Ijaz said. In December 2013, 98.4 percent of graduate employees voted to unionize after being without a contract since 2005. GSOC is the first graduate employee union at an American private university to be recognized as a collective bargaining unit and to negotiate a contract. GSOC and NYU released a joint statement commenting on the contract establishing the union in 2013. “We are confident this agreement … will improve the graduate student experience, and

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STAFF FILE PHOTO

By MONICA MILLAY Contributing Writer

STAFF PHOTO BY SAM BEARZI

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz is a new mother and a TA at NYU.

A recent revision of NYU’s Faculty Handbook has raised concerns from many non-tenured and contract professors about their academic freedom and right to negotiate. NYU provost David McLaughlin sent a draft of the handbook — including tracked revisions — to fulltime faculty on Oct. 2. Faculty also received a set of guidelines outlining new clauses pertaining primarily to non-tenured faculty. NYU spokesman John Beckman said these changes were made to the handbook on Sept. 1 with the creation of two faculty senate councils, one designated for tenure-tracked faculty and the new council for nontenured employees. “NYU has taken a major and important step by recognizing fulltime, non-tenure-track, contract faculty within our governance structure,” Beckman said. Ronald Rainey, a master’s professor in Liberal Studies and one of the non-tenured track faculty senators, said these revisions, aimed to tailor policies toward non-tenured faculty, are infringing on contract faculty’s academic freedom. Rainey pointed to one particular clause, which affects only non-tenured faculty in the provost’s new set of guidelines. The handbook reads: “Even in those cases in which a candidate satisfies the appropriate standards of achievement, the decision to reappoint or promote may be impacted by curricular and structural changes and improvements in academic programs.” Rainey said the clause is concerning because it elicits fear in non-tenure track professors whose contracts are under review every five years. “You can meet all the criteria that is required for reappointment and still not be reappointed,” Rainey said. “The lack of job security is rather concerning.” LS professor Michael Shenefelt,

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Class focuses on future of journalism

Violets end season, look to championships

Poly wages unfair for grad students

NYU is offering a spring course analyzing the fate of The New York Times.

WSN recaps how the Violets fared this weekend in sports.

The Editorial Board analyzes the low wages offered to Poly engineers.

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