The University of California system – and UC Santa Cruz in particular – is not treating its graduate student workers fairly and is committing illegal, anti-labor actions, writes UCSC graduate student worker and labor union organizer Rebecca Gross. Student workers across the 10 UC campuses are being punished, she writes, for the spring labor and Palestinian solidarity strikes that upended campus life. The student workers say they are seeing their pay docked and that they have received warning notices about their spring strike activities. Gross says UCSC has illegally attempted to fire four graduate student workers because of strike activities. The state Public Employment Relations Board is set to rule on the legality of the strike this fall.
Education
Posted inEducation
Judge: UC Santa Cruz failed to gauge impact of enrollment growth
A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge published a decision Monday in favor of the City of Santa Cruz in a lawsuit filed against UC Santa Cruz and the University of California Board of Regents. City of Santa Cruz attorney Anthony Condotti told Lookout the judge agreed with the city’s argument that the university’s environmental analysis of its enrollment growth was insufficient.
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Whitney Cohen to lead Life Lab garden nonprofit following layoffs
Garden-based Santa Cruz learning nonprofit Life Lab reduced its staff of 36 down to eight this summer after expected funding didn’t come through. Last week, the organization announced new leadership and is refocusing its programming.
Posted inEducation
Santa Cruz County school districts will ask voters to borrow millions for repairs, workforce housing
On this November’s ballot, five school bond measures, totaling $525 million, propose making infrastructure repairs to roofs and athletic fields, modernizing classrooms, and in some cases, building rental apartments for staff and teachers. District leaders talked to Lookout about some of the major projects the bond measures, if approved, would fund.
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UCSC chancellor says budget deficit larger than expected, layoffs underway
In a Tuesday statement, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive said the 2024 fiscal year deficit was larger than officials initially projected. University officials said the campus will have to move forward with staff reductions but they didn’t provide details on how many or when.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Taxpayers cover tuition at California’s for-profit schools. The results? Low-wage, high-turnover jobs
California officials have warned for years that for-profit schools can make misleading career claims — leaving students with “a mountain of debt” but no job. Still, many for-profit schools remain on the state’s list of recommended job training programs.
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After phishing test gone wrong, UC Santa Cruz apologizes for false alert about Ebola case
UC Santa Cruz officials apologized this week for an email sent by the Information Security division Sunday that they say was meant to serve as training to help employees recognize scam emails, or phishing emails. The email appeared to be an alert from campus about an Ebola case at UCSC, but was not real.
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More California schools are banning smartphones, but kids keep bringing them
California schools that banned phones a few years ago have advice for other districts as Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for a crackdown.
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Mold, asthma and a rent increase vex UCSC Family Student Housing tenants
Residents of an aging student family housing complex at UC Santa Cruz are fighting a $65-a-month rent increase while demanding that something be done about mold problems and other issues they claim are contributing to asthma and other health problems. The issues come more than a year away from the opening of an under-construction replacement for the complex and the demolition of existing apartments to make way for 2,700 new dorm-style units for undergraduate housing.
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A like-new Pajaro Middle School reopens after March 2023 levee breach flooded its campus
An extensively renovated Pajaro Middle School reopens Wednesday to students, who were placed temporarily in other schools for a year and a half following devastating flooding that hit the community and damaged the campus when the Pajaro River levee breached in March 2023.
