Email sent February 6, 2020, 5:13 PM
Fellow international striking graduate student employees (ASEs),
Following the recent letter of disciplinary warning that many of us received yesterday, we have been in touch with the International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) and immigration and labor lawyers working with us pro bono. We learned the following:
- Striking is within your rights as international ASEs. Participating in a labor strike is not unlawful, and we are looking to issue an attorney-signed statement that certifies your right to strike.
- Following the GSA presidents’ email on Feb 4, titled Response to “Written Warning for Withholding Undergraduate Student Grades”, Santa Cruz UAW chair, Veronica Hamilton, will be in touch with each of us individually to grieve this letter. We encourage everyone to initiate a grievance process when she gets back to you.
- Threats to losing one’s F1 status may occur if you participate in a risky action (like occupying a building) and are arrested. Accordingly, we recommend that you limit your strike actions to labor-related activities.
- The other threat to your F1 status may occur if you are no longer enrolled full-time. Under-enrollment could happen whether one is on strike or not. Every quarter, ISSS checks whether you are enrolled full-time, and if you are not, they notify and ask you to enroll accordingly. If, following multiple attempts to have you enrolled, and you are still not, ISSS would begin to investigate why you are under-enrolled, which ultimately may affect your F1 status.
- In an unlikely case that, as a retaliation to your strike activity, your future employment is revoked and your tuition and fees are not covered, you may not be able to enroll full-time. This may only occur after a series of escalations on the part of the admin – which UAW will grieve on your behalf. It is our recommendation that you strike hard and in great numbers to render the administration’s threats of escalation futile. Our strength is in our numbers!
- Finally, we are working with attorneys from the East and West coasts to support you, and will have pro bono representation for every one of you, should you ever need that.
In solidarity,
Striking International Graduate Students