Official Blog | UCGPC

On the third day of the multi-unit UAW strike, the UC Board of Regents convened on November 16-17, 2022 at UC San Francisco Mission Bay. The first day began with community members and stakeholders providing public comment. An outpour of support for the academic workers were made during public comment, made by in-person and phone call attendees.

On the second day of the meeting, Student Advocates to the Regents, or StARs, made compelling speeches to the Regents embodying the struggles and the importance of graduate students, especially if the University of California prioritizes the diversification of the professoriate–an agenda item in their Academic Affairs meeting. This Regents meeting, UCGPC council members selected Paulina Rojas at UC Davis and Victor Wang at UC San Diego.

Paulina Rojas spoke about family housing at UC Davis:

UC Davis is demolishing the only affordable student housing for families and letting us (the renters) without any protection or rights to choose where to live. In addition, the UCDavis is not respecting the 2013 relocation agreement, which established: a)the formation of a relocation committee 18 mo before the relocation; b) covering the cost of relocation; c) providing us two years or more with subsidized rent in a place of our choice. Solano Park is a family housing where most students are graduate families and undergrads (primarily single parents with kids). We are a diverse community from all regions of the world that came here to pursue higher education and promote the UC values in our countries. We are talented people, but we do not feel that the UC Davis Student Housing is listening to or considering us in this matter. We would like to have the opportunity to speak with the Regents about this issue, as we feel that no one is here to protect our human right to housing.

Paulina Rojas’ StAR application

Victor Wang is passionate about mentorship standards for graduate students:

Faculty bullying of graduate students is a persistent problem in which the UC as a whole is slowly taking steps to address. In this regard, the SRU contract negotiations have tentatively brought this issue into the upcoming contract. However, the tentative agreement tries to address the bullying by referring to the UCOP Abusive Conduct in the Workplace policy, which is currently in development. While the policy satisfactorily defines abusive conduct/bullying, its enforcement lies with current disciplinary structures that exist at each campus, which do not have a stellar record at providing solutions when it comes to faculty bullying. I wish to bring the spineless solution to the attention of the Regents and other UC admin who will be at the Regents meeting to develop better language in the Abusive Conduct policy that will protect students adequately.

Victor Wang’s StAR application

At the end of the public comment session, the presidents of UC student associations, Alex Niles at UCSA and Hayden Schill at UCGPC, delivered compelling statements, urging the Board of Regents and UC President Michael Drake to bargain with UAW 2865 in good-faith and to truly support graduate student workers, not just as workers but as valued assets to the university through livable wages and increased protections from workplace bullying.

Apply to be a StaR at the January 2023 Regents meeting at UCLA.