MSU addresses need for improved graduate assistant and TA counseling

Editor’s note: This story was modified in order to clarify the amount of visits students are alloted.

For Onur Agirseven, sometimes the stress of being both a graduate student and a teaching assistant can be grating.

“For most classes, you’re the primary instructor or the recitation instructor,” said Agirseven, a TA for the math department.

“On top of that, you do grading as well. The two together create a lot of anxiety. Slight depression is almost a constant feeling.”

For graduate students who deal with stress like Agirseven, the Graduate Employee Union, or GEU, has proposed expanded mental health as part of their contract negotiations with MSU.

The GEU’s current contract, which expires May 15, provides for some mental health coverage, but what’s there isn’t enough, said Sandra Schmidt, president of the GEU.

“Grad students face stressors such as just the experience of graduate school and the level of work involved, as well as transitioning into being a (teaching assistant), teaching a class,” Schmidt said.

The 2005-08 contract first introduced mental heath benefits for MSU graduate employees. The agreement granted 20 visits to the MSU Counseling Center with a $30 co-pay per visit and an annual $5,000 cap on prescription drug coverage, among other benefits.

All MSU students, both graduate and undergraduate, are alloted 8 free visits to the center.

“Now that we have some (mental health coverage), we’ve learned it’s not sufficient,” Schmidt said. “While it works fine for some students, it doesn’t work well for all students.”

Stressors faced by graduate students and graduate employees are similar to those faced by undergraduates, but with extra considerations, said Jan Collins-Eaglin, director of MSU’s Counseling Center.

“For graduate students, it’s a stressful time,” Collins-Eaglin said. “Graduate students really experience a lot of stress. You’re advancing your career.”

As part of the negotiations, the GEU also proposed more freedom to see outside health care professionals.

Some graduate students have been placed on waiting lists to speak to counselors on campus, Schmidt said.

“It’s not issues with (the counselors) themselves, it’s their use,” she said. “The issue is whether or not they have the capacity to handle the number of graduate students that come in there.”

Collins-Eaglin said the counseling center has made improvements in dealing with patients this year.

A counselor is now immediately available to speak with patients by phone, and appointments can be arranged after the call.

Chris Hanna, interim vice president for Human Resources at MSU, said the university could not discuss specific information about the negotiations.

“The university is committed to providing health benefits that address the health care needs of research and teaching assistants within the constraints of MSU’s limited financial resources,” Hanna said in an e-mail.

Published on Thursday, January 10, 2008