AUSTIN, Texas — Some graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin have told KVUE that during the fall semester it was unclear where and how to get personal protective equipment from the university.
Underpaid at UT, a group representing UT graduate students, said it's been especially difficult for teaching assistants who are in classrooms giving lessons.
"In all of our sort of explanations about why this is a problem – and has been a problem for a while – have kind of fallen on deaf ears. This is why graduate students are pretty frustrated and don't feel supported by UT," said Kate Cronin, a UT graduate student and a member of Underpaid at UT.
Cronin said it's unfair because graduate students are working for very little pay and teaching assistants (TAs) deserve to get the PPE they need to teach in person.
"The pandemic has only exacerbated those challenges. The average pay for a UT graduate student for there to work is $15,000 per year and the cost of living in Austin is about $28,000 per year," said Cronin.
A PPE survey was sent to TAs earlier in the year, but Underpaid at UT said most never got what they needed, including UT graduate student Tarek Zaher.
"The email included a survey trying to get a reading on what people needed or wanted," said Zarek. "I did that for hand sanitizer and wipes, but I didn't hear back after the survey."
Zaher said he ended up just getting his own stuff and never followed up.
"The thing about UT is it's so decentralized. When you register a problem to one administrator, they tell you to go somewhere else. And then when you go to that person, they tell you to go back to the first person," said Cronin.
UT-Austin officials said colleges, schools, and units representatives, or CSUs, sort through the PPE request forms and make those decisions. School officials said some employees have to supply their own PPE, but custodial teams were all supplies with PPE because they are "frontline staff."
Below is the full statement from a UT spokesperson:
As part of COVID-19 reopening safety plan efforts, the university's Health & Wellness Committee followed CDC guidance to help develop university guidelines for PPE, including those that apply to masks. Find more about the Health & Wellness guidelines here.
To help support PPE purchasing and distribution efforts, University Payment and Procurement Services developed a request form through which colleges, schools and units (CSUs) can request PPE for their departments. This request form includes a basic selection of PPE that may be expanded as conditions change on campus or as new health and wellness recommendations are released by the university. It should be noted that PPE requests are local decisions made by each CSU representative.
The university continues to supply frontline staff, such as custodial teams, with face coverings and other personal protective equipment (PPE), as applicable based on job requirements. Other employees may be expected to provide their own face masks, but the university has supplied and distributed clear face masks for instructors that request them. As mentioned above, units across campus may order supplies (including PPE) through the procurement process and distribute them as needed in their respective facilities.
Even though the fall semester is over, there's still going to be a need for protective equipment in classrooms in a few weeks. UT plans to have a mix of in-person and online classes in the spring semester.
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