Teaching assistants (T.A.'s) at Yale University will decide on April 18 whether they will withhold the grades of the approximately 5000 undergraduates in their discussion sections at the end of this semester.

Teaching Assistant Solidarity (TAS), which was formed last year, is considering the "grade strike" in response to the University Budget Committee's refusal to increase assistants' salaries.

In addition, TAS is sponsoring a referendum of all Yale graduate students to assess support for both the grade strike and a proposed union.

The TAS' principal complaint is that members' median salary of $5460 does not cover the administration's estimated cost of living of $8370. T.A.'s have also complained that they put in unpaid overtime and are not trained to teach, and that teaching interferes with their writing dissertations, according to a reporter at The Yale Daily News.

Graduate students are also beginning to take on the job of T.A. in their first year, although they were not intended to teach until their third year, says Ray Lurie, former press liaison for TAS.

In response to TAS' requests, William Nordhaus, who resigned last week from his position as provost, suggested that T.A.'s borrow money to supplement their salaries.

But TAS spokesperson Yvette Huginnie says that graduate students are already overburdened with debts. "Graduate students are currently arriving at Yale with an average of $8900 in loans if they went to a private college," she says.

To earn extra money, T.A.'s often take on jobs outside the university. "Most of us have second and third jobs," says TAS member Ruth Oldenziel, adding that she holds three jobs.

Lurie says when T.A.'s take on other jobs, it lowers "the quality of our own studies and of the teaching of undergraduates." This in turn affects Yale's reputation as well as the quality of education available there, according to TAS member Karen Sawislak.

Lurie blames Nordhaus for the current state of affairs. "The provost office has been the principal impediment in our increase in salaries. He is backed by the president...this is contrary to the policy that [the president] had last spring."

"We have the lowest salaries of any institution for which we have obtained hard figures," Lurie says. "There are various graduate students who live in slums."

Lurie says the administration has passed responsibility for the salaries from one department to the other. "The fact that nobody seemed to know who is responsible for an increase in salary is symbolic of the chaos into which the administration of our jobs has fallen," Lurie says.