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