Two Steve Hicks School of Social Work teaching assistants relieved from their positions due to expressing disapproval of the University response to the Israel-Hamas war with students will be offered different employment in the spring semester, according to a University spokesperson.  

The teaching assistants, Callie Kennedy and Parham Daghigi, sent a Canvas message to students taking the UGS course Women and Madness on Nov. 16. The message included mental health resources after students expressed how the conflict affected them. Kennedy and Daghighi also expressed disapproval of the University’s response to the conflict in the message. 

On Nov. 22 Allan Cole, dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, relieved them of their duties and said they would not be reappointed as TAs in the spring; however, they would still receive pay for the rest of the fall. 

“I can no longer trust you as a teaching assistant,” Cole’s letter to Kennedy and Daghighi said. “Effective immediately, you are relieved of this work assignment and will not have contact with the students or the responsibility for the Women and Madness course.”  

Despite the initial choice to not reinstate Kennedy and Daghighi, a University spokesperson confirmed with the Texan that Cole told the TAs on Friday they would be offered employment in the spring, but not as TAs. Further information about the nature of the offer could not be confirmed at this time.