New English office packed
Instructors say sharing one office sacrifices privacy
By Robyn Kriel
Staff Reporter

Twenty-two English graduate instructors share two phone lines, five computers and 30 desks in an office about the size of two dorm rooms.

Each of these instructors teaches at least one class, composed of about 12 students, any of whom might need their attention, in private, at almost any time.

This is the new situation in Reed Hall, Room 312.

“In the past, the graduate instructors were widely spread out in their smaller offices,” said Daniel Williams, chairman of the English department. “This was an attempt to bring them all together and create a community, and to give them better facilities and more storage space.”

But graduate instructors’ representative Erin Sagerson said the instructors preferred their old office situation to this one.

“We used to share one office between four or five people,” Sagerson said. “It was a more manageable situation, because we could stagger our office hours and still maintain some level of privacy.”

Sagerson said she was informed about the new office arrangement over the summer in an e-mail. She said she was surprised and interested to see how a room that was once a classroom could facilitate 22 graduate instructors and their undergraduate students.

Angela Gonzalez, a first-year graduate instructor, said the room is overcrowded, and discussing private matters with a student is virtually impossible.

“Conferencing with a student about grades or a paper is awkward when you have four or five other instructors sitting right next to you,” she said. “I am sure that it makes the students feel intimidated or embarrassed.”

Sagerson said that because of this, she has conducted all her office hours in the library this semester.

Sagerson said that at the beginning of semester, 16 of the 22 instructors signed a letter to Chancellor Victor Boschini informing him of their situation. She said the other professors probably would have signed the letter, but they could not be contacted at the beginning of the semester, and they wanted to appeal promptly.

Sagerson said that Williams and the rest of the English department have been helpful and co-operative.

“Dan has been willing to meet with us and listen to our ideas, and some of the faculty have even made their own offices available to us for private conferences,” she said.

Williams said the English department plans to soundproof the room, upgrade the furniture and install more filing cabinets.

“We are committed to improving the room for the instructors,” Williams said.

However, Sagerson said these improvements will still not solve the privacy issue. She said the graduates would like cubicle offices, or a small room set aside for conferences.

“Ultimately, we want our old offices back,” Sagerson said. “But I do not foresee any major changes like that occurring.”