MLA Task Force on Ethical Conduct in Graduate Education Releases New Report

In a newly published report, the MLA Task Force on Ethical Conduct in Graduate Education calls on administrators, departments, and faculty members to embrace “student-centered graduate education informed by an ethics of care.” The report, which emerged out of a 2018 survey of MLA members conducted by the Delegate Assembly Organizing Committee and subsequent discussions at the 2019 convention, addresses member concerns about students’ financial and professional precarity, pervasive power imbalances between faculty members and graduate students, and related problems. To confront long-standing issues in graduate education—such as precarity, bias and favoritism, harassment, mental health, faculty members’ lack of responsiveness, and workplace exploitation—the report makes nine recommendations, including collaborative advising, the categorical rejection of harassment and discrimination, the creation of equitable workplaces, greater mental health support, and more professionalization opportunities oriented toward diverse careers. You can read the report on the MLA Web site.