UCSC cancels classes due to STILL striking grad students
The University of California Santa Cruz canceled classes on Thursday due to an ongoing strike by graduate student workers.
The striking students were recently fired from their positions for refusing to issue grades to undergraduates.
The University of California-Santa Cruz reportedly canceled classes Thursday due to an ongoing strike by graduate student workers who, despite having just been fired, are still striking to demand more pay.
“Faculty, students, and staff should not come to the residential campus, given that access is significantly impacted at this time, with both entrances of the residential campus remain blocked by unsanctioned strike activity,” the school wrote Thursday morning on its continually updated advisory situation.
[RELATED: 17 arrested as grad students block roadways, withhold grades in months-long strike]
Friday morning, the school announced that while there are currently still picketers at the main campus entrance, “traffic continues to flow freely onto and off of campus” at other entrances. The school also advised that on-campus transportation services are running, but that public transport busses are not making their regular on-campus stops.
The school reopened libraries, dining halls, and other campus services Friday after having been in near-complete shut-down mode Thursday.
The disruptions are the result of an ongoing strike by UCSC graduate student workers demanding an increase in pay in the form of a cost-of-living-adjustment. Participants began by refusing to issue final grades to undergraduate students.
In February, 17 students were arrested while participating in the strike for blocking the major entrance to campus.
In recent days, the university fired 54 students for failing to submit fall 2019 semester grades. At least 20 percent of undergraduate students still had not received their fall grades at the time.
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