Even Wolff acknowledges that this "first step" might not take the University far enough.

"Right now we depend on enrollment patterns to predict the number of TFs that will be needed for a particular course," Wolff says. "But those numbers aren't too accurate."

While making a concerted effort to maintain the shopping period, Wolff says that a possible second step in the process of reforming teaching fellow hiring would be to make specific allocations of TFs to academic departments and individual programs.

Even with that proposed reform, the changes might not be enough, says Graduate Student Council representative Emily A. Hadded.

"We're tweaking the system rather than really changing it," she says. "But, for what they are, I guess these changes will make life easier for graduate students in that they will be less anxious about their immediate futures."

Hadded says that the dissemination of information as early as the spring is vital to the success of any reforms.

"This is hard because this kind of information has never gotten out before," she says, "the pathways weren't open for it to get out.

Professor of Sociology Theda Skocpol, who is a Faculty Council member, agrees that improving the flow of information--short of asking students to pre-register for their courses and eliminating shopping--is best way to fix the system.

The guidelines ask professors to notify graduate students of available teaching fellow positions early in the spring: to accept TF applications until may 15; to set criteria for TF appointments; and to inform graduate students of their chances of being hired for the fall semester by the beginning of the summer.

"While we tried to make sure that we weren't asking for contradictory things, we felt that this would make the whole process easier for both professors and graduate students," Skocpol says.

"Departments are invited to comply with these rational and reasonable guidelines, and I think they will," she adds, pointing out that departments like Sociology established their own standards long ago.

And if some departments don't comply?

"We're not going to police," Skocpol says, "but I think that problems [that] departments or professors might have in following the guidelines would lead to discussions with the dean or something of that nature."

Faculty Council members emphasize that the professors themselves have much to gain from complying with the guidelines.

"We want to balance the needs of professors and graduate students--graduate students want to plan more efficiently and professors don't want surprises once they've started teaching," says Kahn Associate Professor of the History of Science Anne Harrington, a Faculty Council member.