Some departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are being affected by teaching assistant cuts because the majority of the 250 teaching assistant positions cut this semester came from LAS.

Associate Provost David Swanson said 250 teaching assistants and 112 graduate assistant positions were eliminated this semester campuswide. But he said the majority of the eliminated positions were in LAS because LAS is the University's largest college.

Even so, Graduate Employee Organization co-president Jeff Scott said he isn't happy about how the University has handled the situation.

"There is a crisis in higher education when more attention is being given to the University's bottom line than the quality of instruction," Scott said. "The loss of TA positions illustrate where the administrative priorities have been set."

Many discussion sections and courses have been eliminated and some classes have increased in size in the college because of the loss of teaching assistants. As a result, the workload for many instructors in LAS has increased, some University faculty say.

Peter Fritzsche, professor and chair of the History Department, said his unit lost six TAs and 18 class sections this semester. The positions cut have been replaced by TAs that only grade papers.

"We are teaching more students, but we are not teaching them well," Fritzsche said. "(History professors) are stressed and unhappy."

Fritzsche said if the University cuts any more of the department's TAs, the department "would slip into second-rate status" and that staff, undergraduate and graduate students would be demoralized.

"We would be extremely angry and threatened if (the University) cut more of our TAs," Fritzsche said. "Our undergraduate program would be severely weakened."

Karen Phoenix was a history TA for the past three years. This year, her position has been reduced to a grader and her salary is only a third of what it was because her hours were reduced from 20 to six a week.

"The quality of student education is really struggling," Phoenix said. "There is a discrepancy in what the (College of LAS) and what the University can do."

The cuts have changed the way the history classes are taught, she said. History classes have moved away from essay tests to more multiple choice tests, Phoenix said.

The Speech Communication Department has also experienced TA cuts, with 10 percent of the department's TA budget eliminated, said Barbara Wilson, speech communication department head.

"Undergraduates suffer the most because there are fewer options. We're trying our best to fill our student's needs with fewer money," she said.

Swanson said the cuts will likely remain in place and more cuts could be on the way next year.

"We are not expecting to do any better next year. The Governor's Bureau of the Budget asked us to reserve some of this year's budget in case there is another recession next year," Swanson said. "We would have preferred not to make those cuts."

Still, TAs in LAS must cope with a heavier workload brought on by the budget cuts.

"Teaching assistants are working harder than ever," said Gina Tassio, assistant course director for speech communication 101.

"By cutting undergraduate sections and raising enrollment, the University is robbing undergraduate students of the chance to connect with their instructor and offer individual feedback," Tassio said.

History teaching assistant Ben Murphy is concerned about job security after this year's cuts.

"Every TA is worried," Murphy said. "I'm apprehensive about next year about how many TA positions there will be."

Faculty in other colleges said they weren't as concerned about educational quality being lost because they rely so much less on teaching assistants.

ACES Associate Dean Kirby Barrick said his college hasn't had to cut any teaching assistant positions.

"We don't have that many TAs to begin with," Barrick said. "Only 4 percent of our courses are taught by TAs, when the University average is 21 percent."

Swanson said the College of Engineering has cut six TA positions this semester. The College of Business hasn't cut any TA positions this semester, said Virginia David, director of communication for the college.