Letters to the Editor: How UC has exploited the student academic workers on strike
Thursday
Jan 17, 2014 at 6:03 AMJan 17, 2014 at 6:04 AM
By John Buhl
I would like to draw the attention of both faculty and staff at UC Berkeley’s administration, faculty and staff at the University of California to what happened yesterday.
The strike by the Academic Apprentices, a campus group formed for the purpose of holding Berkeley, UC Merced, UC Riverside and UC Merced in solidarity with these students who are striking in solidarity with them, has been a real struggle, and we have been fortunate to have the students from the San Jose Free Speech Movement, the Young Republicans, and other left-wing groups who joined in the struggle to join the strike.
The strike began with a protest outside the administration building yesterday morning, where, after being contacted by the leaders of the Academic Apprentices, members of the Academic Apprentices showed up in solidarity with the strike. In the afternoon, the Academic Apprentices organized a protest march to the administration building.
At the campus administration building, the Academic Apprentices occupied the building, occupying the offices of the president of the campus-wide student body, the vice chancellor of student affairs, the provost of student affairs, the chancellor of the campus-wide student body, and the executive vice chancellor of student affairs. In addition, the Academic Apprentices occupied the administration building, occupying two of the floors, while the rest of the building was occupied by other groups.
There has been a very short history of cooperation between the administration and Academic Apprentices. Under Tom Bates, the administration was very reluctant to allow students to take part in a strike that would potentially disrupt campus life. There were many times when I said to the administration, “It is not worth the risk,” and that they should do something that would get students to protest. So, with Bates’s resignation, I said, “Let the students decide, and let’s give them a say