Q: How do I know if my TA will be participating in the strike?
A: Your TA will likely contact you if they are striking, but if you don’t hear anything you should contact your TA.
Q: Is my TA harming me by striking?
A: Your TAs’ bargaining power is based on their capacity to withhold their labor. TAs have been given no choice but to strike by the UC’s refusal to provide a living wage. The university providing you with grades is dependent on their business proceeding “as normal” – proceeding “as normal” requires graduate students to work below a living wage. The administration does not have to let the effects of this fall on undergraduate students. This is a political decision beyond your control and you do not have to be penalized for it. Contact your academic advisor if you are worried about this.
The Administration stated in an email to the campus community on Dec 9 that you will not be affected: “We are committed to ensuring that this grade strike does not impede your academic progress at UC Santa Cruz. We want to make sure you are able to focus on studying and taking your finals.”
Q: How will this affect final exams?
A: Your striking TAs will still proctor final exams, grade final papers, and all other final assignments. Your TAs will grade your work; they just won’t submit your grades until our demands are met.
Q: Will my TA still grade my paper/exam?
A: Yes, your TAs have complete records of your grades; they just aren’t on Canvas.
Q: When will I get my grades?
A: TAs will upload grades as soon as we receive a COLA. If you want to get your grades sooner rather than later, support your TA’s by vocalizing your support for the COLA.
Q: Will this hurt my GPA?
A: No. Grades will be left blank during the strike, which is not the same thing as receiving an incomplete or non-passing grade. Grades will be submitted as soon as the strike ends, and your blank grades will be updated to reflect the grades you earned.
Q: Will missing grades affect my financial aid?
A: For the vast majority of students, the answer is no. The only students whose financial aid may be affected are those whose financial aid disbursement is subject to quarterly review due to financial aid probation. This is a small percentage of students. If you are one of those students, please contact your financial aid advisor and your TA (you do not have to identify yourself as being on probation – simply let your TA know that you need your grades released). Your TA can submit your grade to ensure that your financial aid will not be affected by the strike.
In the unlikely event that a student’s financial aid is delayed due to the strike, those who live on campus and have a meal plan will be able to maintain their housing and meal plan even if their aid is delayed. For those who live off campus and rely on their financial aid to pay rent, the financial aid office has an emergency advance program that these students can draw from to pay their bills – in addition to slug support. More information on this program is available here: https://financialaid.ucsc.edu/types-of-aid/loans/ucsc-financial-aid-emergency-advance-program.html
The financial aid office has assured us that they will do everything they can to minimize the impact of the strike on undergraduates’ financial aid, including preventing late fees and providing emergency advances.
Q: I’m taking a class that I need as a prerequisite for a class next quarter. Will I be dropped from the class next quarter due to a missing grade?
A: No. According to the Registrar’s Office, students are only dropped from sequential classes when a failing or incomplete grade is entered in a prerequisite class. Withheld grades are not entered as incomplete, they are simply left blank. You will not be dropped from any classes to due a withheld grade in a prerequisite class.
Q: I am on academic probation and need these grades for my status to be changed. How will this affect me?
A: The Council of Provosts has stated that academic review will be waived for Fall 2019. According to the Council, “this means that students will not be reviewed or subject to barment this quarter.”
Q: Will this affect time to graduation?
A: Contact your TA if you are graduating this quarter.
Your grades will be left blank for now, but they will be updated as soon as the strike ends. The official processing of your graduation may be delayed until the grades are entered, but will be processed once the grades are received. Your graduation date will still be recorded as Fall 2019. No action is required on your part. If you need your graduation to be officially processed sooner, let your TA know and they can submit your grade so as not to delay the official processing of your graduation.
The administration does not have to let the effects of this fall on undergraduate students. This is a political decision beyond your control and you do not have to be penalized for it. Contact your academic advisor if you are worried about this.
Q: I need my transcripts this month because I’m applying to grad school. What do I do?
A: You will still have access to your transcripts. Even if they were turned in as normal, these grades will not even appear on your transcripts (this will appear as something like “currently taking”). You are turning in unofficial transcripts right now and you will turn in official transcripts once you accept your offer from graduate school.
Q: If the university doesn’t budge, will everyone get an incomplete on their transcripts for this quarter?
A: No. According to the university’s response to the strike: “Incomplete grades should only be assigned by the instructor of record when requested by the student, and when the student has completed work of passing quality, but the student’s work is not yet complete.” Your grades will simply remain blank until the strike ends.
Q: Will Student Athletes become ineligible to participate on athletic teams as a result of grades being withheld during the strike?
A: No, the Athletics department has been advised by legal counsel that this will not affect eligibility of student athletes.
Q: How will undocumented students be affected by the strike?
A: According to Undocumented Student Services, undocumented students’ legal status will not be affected by the strike.
Q: Why are graduate students striking?
A: Graduate students are striking because they do not get paid enough to live in Santa Cruz. Many UCSC graduate students are paying over 50% of their wages on rooms in shared houses and do not have enough money left over to pay for food and medical care. Others commute over an hour to work. Others live in their cars. Our living conditions affect our ability to teach and mentor our students effectively, degrading the quality of education at UCSC.
We have tried to address the Cost of Living through official channels such as union bargaining and the campaign for Measure M, but these attempts have been met with apathy and inaction by the university administration. Our only way forward is direct action.
Q: What is a wildcat strike?
A: A wildcat strike is “a work stoppage that occurs during the term of a collective bargaining agreement without the approval of union leadership and in violation of a no-strike clause. Individuals who participate in wildcat strikes are engaged in unprotected activity and may be subject to employer discipline.” As the UAW 2865 (UC Student-Workers’ Union) is not contractually able to strike, we are partaking in a wildcat strike. The recent West Virginia teachers’ strikes were wildcat strikes.
Q: What is a Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA?
A: A Cost of Living Adjustment is an additional monthly payment of $1,412 for every graduate student, regardless of residence, visa, documentation, employment or funding status, to bring them:
1. Out of rent burden
2. Without raising campus tuition or fees
3. And with a non-retaliation clause
Q: What is rent burden?
A: Rent burden is paying 30% of your wages in rent. “Extreme rent burden” is paying 50% of your wages in rent. Most of your TAs suffer extreme rent burden.
Q: Will a COLA cause my tuition to raise?
A: A COLA that causes tuition to raise is not one that graduate students would take. We stand in solidarity for fights for free tuition for undergraduates; we also stand with AFSCME’s fight to settle a decent contract, and AFT’s fights for better pay and benefits for lecturers. These fights are not in conflict. We will not let the university pit us against each other.
Q: Where will the money come from?
A: The university’s chancellor makes $450,000 a year. Administrators make six-figure sums while graduate students make poverty wages. The Thirty Meter Telescope costs the UC hundreds of millions of dollars. UCPD costs the UC hundreds of millions of dollars. The university is able to pay for things when it makes sense for it to.
Q: Why are graduate students striking NOW?
A: UCSC graduate student workers have been campaigning all quarter for a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to bring us to a living wage. We need a COLA. Too many of us spend more than 50% of our wages on rent alone. Faced with our campaign, the university has responded with dismissal, condescension, and inaction.
On Sunday, December 8, hundreds of UCSC grad student workers voted to withhold final grades in a wildcat strike action designed to disrupt the everyday functioning of the university. This grading strike is our escalation. We say: No COLA, No Grades!
Broadly: we are in a nationwide strikewave. Harvard graduate students are currently striking. Here, graduate student organizers have been working for a COLA campaign all this year. They are long overdue a cost of living adjustment. This week, graduate students in a mass email chain started calling for a strike. Drawing on the energy of the graduate student body, the union leadership all resigned to support grassroots action and call for a wildcat strike.
Q: How can I support graduate students?
A: First, if you are turning in a paper or bluebook, write “I support the strikers” somewhere visible. Second, email your professor and let them know you support graduate student strikers and that you are willing to forgo a grade until the conclusion of the strike. Third, spread the word! Talk to your classmates and friends! We need everyone!
Also, get to know people who support us – the Worker-Student Solidarity Coalition (WSSC) is a great place to start!
Q: Are there any other actions that will follow the strike?
A: If we do not receive a Cost of Living Adjustment by the beginning of the winter quarter, we will hold another strike in the winter quarter.
Q: How can I get more information about the strike?
A: The COLA campaign has an extensive online presence:
Instagram.com/PayUsMoreUCSC
PayUsMoreUCSC.com
Q: What’s a quick and easy way to determine if I need my TA to submit my grade?
A: Consider this handy flowchart!
