UC administrators threatening to fire UCSC grad students over protests
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) After months of protesting, graduate student workers at UC Santa Cruz are facing an ultimatum: either submit grades or get fired.
Wildcat strikers are calling it a "draconian and unprecedented ultimatum," but UC administrators say withholding undergraduate grades and refusing to teach is simply "the wrong way to go" and will have consequences.
In an open letter to faculty, staff and students at UCSC, UC system President Janet Napolitano urged protesters to end the strike, saying while administrators are sympathetic to high living costs in Santa Cruz and the pressure it puts on teaching assistants, the strike is not the way to get a pay raise.
Graduate students are not backing down, saying they plan to meet Napolitano's ultimatum with greater solidarity than ever and planning a mass demonstration at each campus entrance on Tuesday.
Just last week, 17 protesters were arrested after blocking traffic on Bay and High Streets. In the letter, administrators say they will not re-open negotiations or open a separate side-letter on the already agreed upon workers contract.
The UC chancellor has already proposed a $2,500 need-based housing fellowship and another funding program for graduate and doctoral student, which still needs approval by legislators in Sacramento.
Administrators say grad students who continue striking and withholding grades could face termination of employment. Students say they have been given a deadline for this Friday.
At the center of the strike is the demand for a cost of living adjustment in the amount of $1,400 a month. Graduate student workers also get their tuition waved.
