It’s lunchtime at UC Santa Barbara and hungry students are lining up to get into the dining room on campus. But what’s for lunch isn’t on everyone’s mind, as a strike of University of California academic workers comes towards the end of a third week. For UCSB students, there’s growing uncertainty over how to handle projects and exams, and final papers, at the end of the fall term.
Student Carson, says it is "stressful" to try to get everything set before winter break, without the teaching assistants available.
History student Trinity said she was told by her professor that if her assignments aren't graded if the strike continues, the students would be given "NG for no grade," and fail the class. "I'm really worried. If I get an F for no reason, I don't think that's fair. "
First-quarter freshman Tallulah told KCLU that she's in support of the TA's. "This is our first experience at school and to me in feels really similar to COVID when everything got put on line," she said.
Freshman student Noah said he's been impacted by the strike, because there are "fewer sections," but said his professors had been doing "a really good job."
Ajay, another student waiting in line for lunch, is an undergraduate mathematics student. "Some classes are missing graders and some classes just aren't meeting at all," he told KCLU. "On the whole I sympathize with the strikers," he added.
"It makes me feel like I'm missing out on my education," said statistics and data science student Shubham Shroff.
The strike is the largest ever of higher-education academic workers - as graduate student workers call for better pay and benefits.
Some postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers have reached a tentative agreement with the university which includes a pay hike of up to 29% and increased family leave and childcare subsidies.
Graduate student teaching assistants, who are yet to reach an agreement – like Becky Martin - who uses they/them pronouns – are still on strike. They say they have every empathy for the students who have had classes disrupted by the walk-out.
"These students are entitled to resources by paying tuition and they are not getting those resources right now," they told KCLU.
Martin said, "I cannot emphasize enough - as a teacher - how much we love our students and we want to take care of them and it's been a very hard decision to make but I think this is the best one for the long term."
For many of the students, it’s a tough spot to be caught between trying to complete their work, and also support the graduate students who are on strike.
