The UC strike: A teaching moment
What to do tomorrow, then? I agree passionately with the demands behind the strike. My sister-in-law is a custodian at UC Riverside, a single mother of three. Close friends work as clerical staff or in food service. Anyone who makes less than $40,000 a year should be insulated from the cuts. The faculty, the students and all of us who "own" UC should know precisely how it is spending its money. The faculty should not be powerless, and the latest tuition increases — 50% by the time this academic year is over — only make it all worse. And yet, what is the right thing to do? …On Thursday, I’m going to meet my students and ask them to vote. I will not tell them whose side I’m on, except that I’m on their side. I will not vote. If they decide to march around the bell tower, that’s how class will unfold. If they want to write a letter to President Yudof, we will. If they want to ignore the strike, we will…
Read full article [here].
by Susan Straight, The Los Angeles Times.