Ethnic Studies Faculty in Support of COLA Actions

As faculty members in the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego, we unanimously support the rights of graduate student workers at UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC San Diego and at all other UC campuses, to take action to demand cost of living adjustments that make graduate study sustainable for all students, especially under-resourced students for whom graduate degrees would otherwise be inaccessible. We believe that realistic financial support for graduate student employees set according to soaring living expenses in California is the only way to maintain the quality of our research institutions, the teaching that takes place here, and the ideological and social diversity of the academy.

Faculty members in the Department of Ethnic Studies commit to the following in order to support graduate student workers in their efforts to obtain a cost of living adjustment, and invite faculty members in other departments to join us: 1) We will not retaliate in any way against student workers who take action for COLA; 2) We will not report whether or not any students are on strike to the administration; 3) If TAs in any of our courses choose to withhold grades, we will not submit any grades on their behalf; 4) We will inform undergraduate students about the struggle for COLA; 5) We will encourage contributions to the strike-fund.

As faculty members in Ethnic Studies, we urge all Divisions, Deans, and Chairs to support the needs and demands of graduate students, steer away from enacting punitive actions against them, and agree to negotiate new and binding terms for COLA and other adjustments to worker compensation that make graduate study possible.

In Solidarity,

The Faculty of the Ethnic Studies Department