Don't get me wrong, I eat organic, I wear birkenstock's, and I live in a commune, but certain things that hippies do piss me off beyond belief. The biggest one at Santa Cruz is their criticism of the UC. Now, I don't like writing checks to the Regents any more than the next guy. I don't think they're great people. I don't even think they have good intentions per se. All I'm saying is that hippie liberalist ideas about the UC are off-base in well... let me count the ways:
Hippie/liberal myths and why they're wrong:
1. The UC mistreats its workers:
Employers that mistreat workers have high turnover rates. Have you seen any new bus drivers? Don't those dining hall workers look eerily familiar? Now, I can't cite statistics, because quite frankly, I don't know the turnover rate. But I hear a lot about people who have been around for a long time and I don't hear a lot about worker shortages. If wages weren't in alignment with going wages, people would leave to other jobs. Further, if the UC workers were skilled enough to do good work at a place that paid better, they would. And if the UC wanted to keep its skilled workforce, it would be forced to raise wages. Basic economics.
2. The UC gives outlandish bonuses while cutting pay to workers and raising tuition:
Usually this is backed up by some sort of statistic. But remember, if that statistic was put out by the University, it wouldn't be trusted, so why trust statistics from people who can't even pass their community studies classes? You should give these statistics at least as much if not vastly more scrutiny. And further, you should understand that statistics when cited (as opposed to reported) are inherently biased as they are cited in the context of an argument. Statistics come in all shapes and sizes, some will show how good UC workers have it in one category, another will show how bad they have it. Hippie liberals will always cite the bad, because they always want to show how bad everyone else is. They want to fight something because they are frustrated and marginalized. Unfortunately for them, they are marginalized because they keep fighting. If only they would stop pacing and look around, they'd find that there isn't any cage holding them in except the ones they create for themselves.
The issue is comparison. How much are UC executives paid compared to others? Not compared to educationless dish-washers. Compared to people who have skills that are in demand, rather than those who inundate our employment system in droves.
3. Students and workers are/can/should be allies:
Worker wages are paid by student fees. An increase in worker wages WILL be paid for by rising student fees. Regardless of what one thinks *could* be used to pay them, for those of us writing the checks, it's really a question of what will be used (our money). While at the strike last year, I asked one of the student "leaders", "Don't you think the student-worker coalition is a little one-sided? I mean, do you really think that workers are gonna show up to a student protest when the regents raise our fees?" He thought they would. And I didn't go, but... not many students did either. I doubt more than 5 staff did. But, I could be wrong.
To add further insult, the "strike" seemed a lot more like a day-off for workers and another opportunity for scenesters to protest. How many staff did you see out there? I didn't see many. Maybe at peak about 100. Even if there were 200, Do you know how many that means didn't show up? Do you know how vastly they were outnumbered by scenesters?
4. We could have money to pay for "all these things" if we didn't give executives bonuses and we cut all "the fat":
If we didn't give executives bonuses, they'd leave. That's what bonuses are for, to motivate employees for good performance and to stay. All other employers do it, why should the UC be exempt from basic principles of economics?
As far as the fat, well Mr Community Studies C- average, what do you recommend? After years of experience blazing, what pipe dreams did you come up with?
"How about cutting nuclear programs?"
Guess what genius, UCSC doesn't have a nuclear physics program. Try finding it. I bet it's on Science hill right? Well, unless uranium is found in keyboards or econ textbooks, you won't find it on science hill. (Try doing a search on the UCSC webpage for "Nuclear" see if you find anything). Besides, expenditures on nuclear programs are not paid for by student fees, nor are they done by staff. If you read news ("The Project" and FRL don't count), you'd know that the UC recently won a bid (in cooperation with lockheed martin) to run the atomic labs. The key word is "won". The UC desperately wanted that *funding*. Nuclear research is *funded* by grant money. It's written in the California constitution that our fees can't go to anything besides paying for costs directly incurred to the university as a result of our enrollment and participation.
"Well, how about all those new buildings they're building, they must have money!"
Well, a) of course they have money, it's the most prestigious public university in the united states; b) Big one-time expenditures are often funded with loans, so they probably didn't pay cash. For example, college eight is still paying off their mortgage. c) Those new buildings are made to house more students, which dilutes our education to make it relatively cheaper. Of course, we won't see tuition cuts ever, but our tuition will rise less quickly because of expanding enrollment.
"I heard Denise Denton spent $30,000 for a place to walk her dog"
She probably did. Who cares? $30,000 does not even register on UCSC's finances.
"Blah blah blah blah blah"
Yep, that's what you sound like.
See, the UC system is run by people who were hired because of their *experience*. In time, you will gain experience. In time, (hopefully) you will see the mistakes in your logic and the assumptions that skewed it. In time you will find, that, being angry and miserable about things you can't change and won't ever change, just sucks. It sucks out your life energy to do things that would actually benefit something, like planting a garden, restoring habitat, investing in yourself, etc.
So, in closing, yes, the UC system is flawed. Academia has a bad reputation for not raising wages in line with everybody else and infation, and it may change over time. But getting angry and going to protests won't help you or anyone else. You'll just lose the chance to do all sorts of things, like graduate.
