UC Santa Cruz grad students to continue protest after Friday deadline
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION)
UPDATE 2/21/20 7:44 p.m.: Despite the Friday deadline to submit grades or potentially lose their jobs, the protesting UC Santa Cruz graduate students say they will continue their strike, one of the students tells KION Friday night.
The protesting student who spoke with KION says, that in their Friday meeting to discuss a final decision, "we voted that we believe the best strategic movement to be to continue to withhold grades. A majority of current grade with-holders in the room also indicated they would not submit grades."
The graduate student protesters plan to continue picketing at the campus on Monday.
UPDATE 2/21/2020: UC Santa Cruz graduate students on strike are deeming Friday's demonstration as "Doomsday".
Grad student teachers on strike at UCSC are facing the possibility of being fired if grades are not submitted by 11:59 p.m. Friday.
A group decision will be made Friday evening on whether the graduate student instructors will submit their final grades from the last quarter. According to the University, as of Friday, there were still 10% of grades missing.
“We’re kind of steeling ourselves for the potential that we are going to be fired,” grad student Will Parrish said.
More than 200 graduate students are on strike calling for a $1,400 a month increase to their roughly $20,000 annual salaries.
For international graduate student Stefan Yong from Singapore, termination could mean having to leave the country all together.
“We put our visas in jeopardy, and my understanding from others conversations with immigration lawyers, we have to leave the country within 60 days,” Yong said.
As the strike has continued, support for grad students has soared. Many faculty members are backing the strike, undergraduate students and graduate students at other U.C. campuses around the state have expressed their support too.
The mayor of Santa Cruz, Justin Cummings, attended the demonstration out front U.C. Santa Cruz's campus Friday. He went to grad school at UCSC.
“Since then, the rents have almost doubled and salary of grad students has pretty much stayed the same,” Cummings said. “High housing rates on campus means students are going to be more inclined to go into the city, and that can lead to higher rents as well.”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a tweet Wednesday that he stands with the grad students. He wrote, "UCSC grad students are fighting to have their labor rights acknowledged. I strongly urge the president of the UC system to stop threatening them, especially immigrant students, for organizing."
“It's just such a strong statement about what we’ve been able to build here,” Parrish said.
Almost $100,000 has been raised for the striking students, too.
Legally their workers union can’t support the strike, because they're under contract.
“We’ve been promised employment for the spring, and we know if they take them a way our union will file grievances,” Yong said.
Day nine of the protesting brought huge numbers, but much less of a visible police presence as demonstrators blocked the entrance to campus.
PREVIOUS STORY: Grad students on strike at UC Santa Cruz are facing the possibility of being fired if grades are not submitted by Friday, but the students are now receiving support from a presidential candidate.
Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a tweet that he stands with them. He wrote, "UCSC grad students are fighting to have their labor rights acknowledged. I strongly urge the president of the UC system to stop threatening them, especially immigrant students, for organizing."
The students have been demanding a cost of living adjustment that amounts to an extra $1,400 a month, and at the end of last semester, many of them began withholding grades.
Earlier this week, the president of the UC system, Janet Napolitano, gave the grad student workers an ultimatum-- either submit grades by Friday or get fired.
In an open letter to faculty, staff and students at UCSC, she 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.
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.
The students are planning what they are calling a Doomsday Rally and March at the Quarry Plaza at 11 a.m. Friday. According to COLA, or Cost of Living Adjustment, they will be calling for solidarity and collective strength.
A GoFundMe account has been created to pay for food, action supplies, potential legal fees and docked pay.
