Thread by @liltove

Now that we’re to the point where I am being vague-threatened by my employers in order to break the on-going #FairUCNow strike by @uaw2865/ @sruuaw, I feel the need to add my voice, as faculty.

Thread below 🧵👇

Yesterday, we, the faculty in the UC system, received an email to give “systemwide guidance” as we bring to a close the third week of strikes for our graduate students. This “guidance” included vague language conflating picking up struck labor with going on strike.

The email:
news.ucsc.edu/2022/12/regard…

Faculty Assoc. response:
cucfa.org/2022/12/respon…

Some of the relevant “guidance” here (note, I am taking full advantage of the suggestion in screenshot 3):

I am expressing my support of all the graduate students of the UC system and the strike for a living wage. My support extends to and includes not picking up struck labor. My graduate students are the backbone of my research and they deserve better.

My graduate students are my mentees and are the driving force for much of the research and intellectual content of my lab. Beyond that, they are the innovators bringing their experiences and thoughts about making our institutions better for everyone, including undergraduates.

Graduate students, who are the backbone of the research & intellectual work, are daily facing housing instability, hunger, health expenses, childcare expenses, & lack of disability access. These are all stressors that plague grad students across the UC system.

As a UC grad student & UC postdoc, I experienced many of the above mentioned stressors myself. I wrote a bit about this at the beginning of the current strike here:
link.medium.com/GlQEJcoxrvb

The imagery of the struggling graduate student is vivid; it’s easy to forget the humans behind the folklore. One cannot sustain strong academic contributions if they are living out of their car, foregoing meals to feed their children, or spending their hours fighting for access.

We, as an institution, tout ideals of social equity, inclusion, and justice. We lament the lack of diversity in our student communities, especially at the graduate levels. Yet we do not do nearly enough to support the needs and rights of those from diverse backgrounds and bodies.

The core of our lab research agenda and mission as a lab community is social justice. I cannot stand by as social injustice is continually perpetrated on the very students who are working –despite the systemic forces working against them– to make the world a better place.

Our graduate students are caring, compassionate, and passionate. They want to be here, dedicating their lives to intellectual contributions that will be shaping every aspect of our world tomorrow.

Despite efforts to make this a “them” vs “us,” there is no “us” without our graduate students. They deserve a living wage, which includes wages that reflect the expenses of the areas they are required to live in to finish their programs.

I am a pre-tenure faculty member, living in housing tied to my employment, & am the sole breadwinner for my family. Still, I owe it to my current and future students and the future of academia, to support this strike.

Find out more about the strike here: fairucnow.org

You can read more about the wonderful work my students have done in our lab. Every day I am inspired and humbled to share community and space with them. 💜

link.medium.com/P1ux7ypxrvb