[GSAUCR] Information about events on 9/24

[President GSAUCR]

Graduate Student Community,

Many of you may have heard about a Walk-Out being planned by faculty
for the first day of classes (9/24). I have heard some confusion about
this so I wanted to pass on some information.

In brief, these faculty are concerned that the University of
California is at its breaking point: the UC system has taken a massive
budget and the more immediate results have been large fee increases
with more on the way, there have been pay cuts and furloughs for
faculty and staff, as well as cuts in various campus services. This
group of faculty is deeply concerned about the future because the
longer term outcome of these actions is likely to be a UC where large
numbers of eligible students are turned away, or take longer to finish
their degrees.

There are a number of web links below for those of you who want to
educate yourself on these issues. Perhaps most relevant however is an
open letter to graduate students written by the organizers of this
system-wide campaign http://www.gradstudentstoppage.com/

GSA has not taken any stance on this, although the system-wide student
association (UCSA) has officially supported the walk out.

Those of you who are TAing may want to communicate (through ilearn)
with students in sections that are scheduled for that day about how
they may be affected. Note that this is not a strike by the union that
represents TAs, but you if you do choose to support this you could use
class time to talk about these issues.

I encourage each of you to think for yourself about these issues and
how they might affect you and those you work with.

Take care,

Gary Coyne

President
Graduate Student Association
University of California Riverside

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For more information on the issues at stake for public higher education, see

Understanding the Crisis at UC:
http://keepcaliforniaspromise.org/?p=230

UCSA resolution:
http://www.ucsa.org/board/resolutions/UC%20Walk%20Out%20Resolution%20Final.pdf

Open Letter to UC Graduate Students:
http://www.gradstudentstoppage.com/

UPTE Strike:
http://www.upte.org/publication-mm/2009-08-31.html

UC Faculty Walkout:
http://ucfacultywalkout.com/