Weekly Commentary 2/24/20 #143: COLA for ALL

UC Santa Cruz graduate students have been striking since December 9th for a cost of living adjustment (COLA) that would meet the rising cost of living, especially increasing rents. Early on, the administration failed to meet with graduate student instructors, prompting the latter to withhold grades at the end of last semester. Despite threats from the administration and police intimidation, the strike has continued.

Last Friday was the last day graduate student instructors could submit previously withheld grades before facing termination – see emails from UC President Napolitano and UCSC Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Lori Kletzer. GSIs now presume they have been fired. The Santa Cruz Faculty Association made a request to bargain over the administration’s planned disciplining of graduate students, on the grounds that the measures proposed might impact the terms and conditions of their employment, over which they have bargaining rights.  The administration agreed to meet with them to discuss this.

There have been statements of support for the Santa Cruz students from the Berkeley Faculty Association, from the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), from the Academic Council (system-wide Senate), from Ronnie Lipschutz and Nick Mitchell, UCSC faculty, and  from many other groups within and outside the UC system.

UC Berkeley graduate students face issues very similar to those confronting their peers at UC Santa Cruz. On Friday, February 21, hundreds of UCB graduate student workers held a rally on Sproul Plaza. At the same time, undergraduates occupied Crossroads Dining Hall in solidarity, voicing their own needs for a fair and livable wage. Similar actions took place across 7 other UC campuses.  Berkeley graduate students have sent a letter to Chancellor Christ with their demands for their own COLA. They ask faculty to sign a petition of non-retaliation against striking graduate student workers should that become necessary.

We salute the courage of the Santa Cruz students in persisting in their demands, despite intimidation–imminent loss of jobs–and economic allurements (yearly $2,500 need-based housing fellowship). They have sparked struggles across UC campuses, drawing attention to the plight not just of graduate students, but also of low-paid service workers, staff, lecturers, and even some faculty. Their struggles have resounded across California and beyond.

Alastair Iles and Maywa Montenegro for the Board of the Berkeley Faculty Association

Media Coverage 2/24/20

Press coverage of the UC system has continued to focus on the wildcat strike in Santa Cruz, with outlets as diverse as The New Republic and Teen Vogue covering graduate student workers’ demand for a pay raise commensurate with the region’s sky high cost of living.

In a letter, UCSC Interim Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer set Friday night as a deadline to either turn in grades or face ineligibility for spring employment. As Mother Jones notes, such an action could put international students at risk of deportation. With that deadline now past, it’s unclear what steps have been taken. Roughly 200 teaching assistants, out of 1,800 total, have withheld fall grades, though it’s unclear how many are participating in wider strike activities that began since the winter term kicked off. Of the 200 withholding grades, about 30 are international students, according to Mother Jones.

After the deadline passed, the campus issued a statement to KSBW, a local television station: “Those who do not turn in withheld grades will not be eligible for a spring teaching appointment. Also, future employment as an academic student employee will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration current disciplinary actions and/or student misconduct.”

A strike participant told the station “she’s expecting that the protesting graduate assistants will receive letters of intent to discipline from the university in the coming week.”

In January, the campus offered a concession, which, according to Mother Jones, included “a $2,500 need-based housing fellowship; and for doctoral students, a five-year funding program that guarantees part-time teaching assistant work.” Strikers rejected the offer, saying it wasn’t enough.

On the day of the deadline, UC President Janet Napolitano issued a statement saying she had “invited leaders of the UC Graduate and Professional Council to join me for a meeting to discuss issues of importance and impact to graduate students, including cost of living, housing, mental health, training and mentoring, career placement, and childcare, among others.”

The UC Graduate and Professional Council is not connected to UAW 2865, the union that represents student workers, and has no legal standing on which to negotiate for union members. UAW’s members approved a contract that prohibits striking while the contract is in effect; as a result, the union has not formally endorsed the wildcat strike. However, as The New Republic reports, the union has requested UC to re-open negotiations, writing in a letter to UCOP, “we believe the circumstances have changed to such a degree as to necessitate immediate bargaining over this important issue.”

At Berkeley and other campuses, a series of rallies were held in support of the UCSC wildcat strike. On Sproul Plaza, a few hundred gathered in support, KQED reports, with a group of undergraduates later leading what they called a “peaceful occupation” of a dining hall. At UC San Diego, protestors led an action that led the campus to close its iconic brutalist Geisel Library.

Support has come from outside the UC system, too, including in the form of a tweet from Democratic presidential front-runner Senator Bernie Sanders. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, roughly 2,000 faculty members from the across the country “pledged to not hold or attend events at Santa Cruz, and vowed to extend that boycott to other University of California campuses if their graduate-student instructors strike too.”

In other news, UCLA abandoned a plan to use facial recognition software in its campus security system. And the LA Times editorial board sided with a UC faculty panel that suggested the campus should continue to use standardized tests as part of its admission process.

Wildcat Strike

2/22 – UC Santa Cruz graduate assistants will continue to withhold grades past deadline (KSBW): A striker told the station, “Tonight, graduate students voted to withhold grades, in order to pressure the University to address our material conditions. People made arguments for both sides and at the end of that we voted and in the room all hands went up to continue the strike.”

2/21 – UC Berkeley Graduate Students Contemplate Solidarity Strike With UC Santa Cruz (KQED): The article notes that some Berkeley students are mulling a strike of their own.

2/21 – In the UC Santa Cruz Wildcat Strike, Class War Meets the California Housing Crisis (MotherJones): According to the piece, strike “members have raised over $85,000 dollars for a support fund.”

2/21 – UCSC strike continues as deadline looms (SantaCruzSentinel): The article points out that “Campus officials canceled classes scheduled after 1:30 p.m. Friday, citing interference ‘by unsanctioned strike activity’ in blocking the Heller Drive and Empire Grade entrances.”

2/21 – UCSC Grad Students Are on Strike for a Living Wage (TeenVogue): The article includes an interview with a striker.

2/20 – Rally In Support OF UC Santa Cruz  Strike Temporarily Closes Geisel Library (UCSDTriton): Protestors chanted, “if you can pay police, you can pay us.”

2/19 – University of California President Janet Napolitano threatens to fire striking grad students (Salon): At UCLA, activists called for a “sick out,” where workers call in sick en masse, to support the strike.

2/18 – UC Santa Cruz grad students still on strike in shadow of firing threat (SantaCruzSentinel): The article quotes T.J. Demos, a professor of History of Art and Visual Culture, as saying of the university administration’s actions, “I feel like it’s a really disappointing attempt to deal with this crisis by effectively escalating discipline and threats and retribution instead of coming to the table in good faith for negotiation.”

2/18 – Grad Students Win Faculty Support as Strike Over Stipends Continues at Santa Cruz (ChronicleofHigherEd): According to the article, “Nearly 2,000 faculty members at institutions across the United States have signed a pledge of solidarity with graduate-student teaching assistants at the University of California at Santa Cruz whose strike to demand higher pay is entering its second week.”

2/17 – A Wildcat Strike Grows out of a Housing Crisis (TheNewRepublic): The article discusses some efforts that preceded the strike by student workers in Santa Cruz, including a local rent control initiative that failed.

Other News

2/21 – Facial Recognition Surveillance on Campus (InsideHigherEd): According to the article, “UCLA first floated the plan last year as part of a larger policy about campus security. Students voiced concerns during a 30-day comment period in June and at a town hall on the issue in late January.”

2/21 – Editorial: Despite complaints about bias, the University of California shouldn’t dump the SAT and ACT (LATimes): According to the editorial, “UC should keep the test scores. Doing otherwise because of political or legal pressure or even personal beliefs would belie the very foundation of great universities, which pride themselves on open-minded inquiry and fact-based decision making.”