UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
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Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#2I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school).
Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% of grant money "for overhead like printer paper". If there is money involved, there are plenty of plenty of people willing to "take their cut" before it ever gets to the researcher or student.
If you can't afford to pay grad students enough to keep body and soul together, don't open the grad student slots.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#3I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school). Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% o…
Simpsons grad student sketch is different kind of funny for different people. For most people it's funny because it's exaggeration, for others it's funny because it's so close to reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrCoyVK80I
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On more serious note, grad student working for next to nothing serves similar function as unpaid internships in companies and politics. Some positions are designed to help young people coming from wealthy families without explicitly shutting anyone out.
If you have trust fund, career in politics, academia or high profile law and financial firms is much easier.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#4I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school). Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% o…
Simpsons grad student sketch is different kind of funny for different people. For most people it's funny because it's exaggeration, for others it's funny because it's so close to reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrCoyVK80I --- On more serious note, grad student working for next to nothing serves similar function as unpaid internships in companies and politics. Some positions are designed to help young people…
> If you have trust fund, career in politics, academia or high profile law and financial firms is much easier.
I'm having trouble parsing that
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Simpsons grad student sketch is different kind of funny for different people. For most people it's funny because it's exaggeration, for others it's funny because it's so close to reality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrCoyVK80I --- On more serious note, grad student working for next to nothing serves similar function as unpaid internships in companies and politics. Some positions are designed to help young people…
> If you have trust fund, career in politics, academia or high profile law and financial firms is much easier. I'm having trouble parsing that
“If you have a trust fund, then a career in fields such as politics, academia, law, or finance is much easier.”
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#6I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school). Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% o…
I took out student loans in addition to my stipend just to survive.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#7Just 1.5 generations ago, University was for those who could afford it. Many grad student programs today are in that category. This category of people competing for jobs otherwise filled by individuals with wealth will always exist, there's no 'solution' to this problem.
I think it's best to not take those jobs and to find a cost-efficient way to get through grad school. If people did this, the system would change. There are many ways to access less expensive education, you don't need to be on the coast of California. It's obviously 'too expensive' and that's a real and fundamental issue in life.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#8Hopefully the strike will now spread to other UC campuses.
The back story here is that United Auto Workers (the UC grad students’ union) negotiated an unacceptable contract, and despite many months of pushback from the students, and despite UCSC voting against it, the union ratified it anyway (including a no-strike clause).
Also, the faculty of UCSC voted against the firings.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#9I lived on 54 cent pancakes covered in free butter and honey, 9 cents per can baked beans (turns out I don't like baked beans, I like good sauce which this was not), and candy bars out of a broken and never fixed candy machine. I don't recommend it. I weighed 110 pounds by the time I left. All of my money went to dorm housing (paid to the school). Later when I was a researcher I found out that the Provost takes 55% o…
Why do you (and others) think that education and academia is somehow special and not the same as, say, acting (or any career) where people regularly earn no money and work bad 2nd jobs just to survive and do something they love or want as a career? In a free market system nobody is telling you to choose that career and a University and (typically) a non-profit doesn't have any particular incentive to not act in their own self interest in order to self perpetuate themselves.
Also I am sure the janitor at the University is paid decently and loves to work there. Reason is there are not as many people lined up for that job and basic economics takes over.
Re: UC Santa Cruz fires 54 grad students who were striking for higher pay
#10Hopefully the strike will now spread to other UC campuses. The back story here is that United Auto Workers (the UC grad students’ union) negotiated an unacceptable contract, and despite many months of pushback from the students, and despite UCSC voting against it, the union ratified it anyway (including a no-strike clause). Also, the faculty of UCSC voted against the firings.
> United Auto Workers (the UC grad students’ union)
Why are they represented by such a completely unrelated union?