I often say this, but a controlling plurality of Americans do not understand - on a visceral, emotional level - that decorum is not the same as democracy.

There is so much more I can say about the burden placed on the “lowly grad student”, but I will conclude by just saying it as absurd that a financially powerful, socially prestigious institution would not support its own students and student workers, especially those that are grievously underpaid.

…entertaining guest lecturers and networking to court a possible PhD mentor, participating in grant writing round tables to improve my chances of getting research funding, etc etc).

…being a good grad student (i.e. reading dozens of articles to advance my research, conducting field surveys to test out methods and collect data, participating in seminar course discussions,…

For the 3 years that I was a TA, I was torn between being a good teacher in those labs (i.e. providing feedback so those undergrads might improve their writing and research skills) and…

Then you’d go into a lab meeting with other TA’s and a supervising professor of the lecture course who would explain that your TA responsibilities should not be getting in the way of your thesis research and writing.

and an increasingly heavy heart from having to read poorly constructed arguments through poorly constructed grammar and syntax.

My worst memories of grad school are times when I’d be sitting in bed with a thick stack of rough drafts, a can of Rockstar energy drink on the nightstand to fuel the all-night grading session…

I taught 2-3 sections of around 20-30 students. That means that I would have to read and grade anywhere from 40-90 student submissions and provide meaningful and timely feedback on pretty poorly written drafts.

I was a TA for a writing intensive Organismal Biology lab when I was in grad school. I want to say that the pay was in the range of $13-14,000 per year (gross) and the job was to teach the lab material, have students conduct simple experiments in lab, and write up a paper with peer-reviewed support.

We’re talking about a powerful institution that relies on the low paid labor of grad students using its administrative arsenal to deny pay to said grad student for doing a job that cuts into time for their own education.

American socialist* = left-of-American-center, progressive

For many conservatives, “Socialist” is still a boogey-man, a slur; but, for many young people, for many left-of-center, people are waking up to the substance of what American socialists* are saying. And it is not the communist dystopia that fear-mongering conservative would have you believe.

I have to imagine that, in addition to the thankless groundwork of many in the organization, that Bernie Sanders as a political phenomenon has made this presently possible.