UCLA Strike – You May Need Therapy

It has not been a good few weeks for UCLA.

While the students at their crosstown sister school – California State University, Los Angeles – have kept on working, taking classes, getting degrees – you know, college stuff –  a large chunk of the UCLA kids seems to have been focused on something entirely different and very most likely to be purely tangential to their existence.

Unless the pro-Palestinian protestors were getting paid – then it becomes a bit more understandable.

And the chaos will apparently continue Tuesday as the members of UAW local 4811 – for some reason the union that represents post-doctoral scholars, academic researchers, academic student employees, and graduate student researchers – will go on strike May 28.

The union – which reps disdainful graduate teaching assistants throughout the UC system – filed an unfair labor practice complaint against UCLA after the April 30 scuffle between pro-Hamas “encampers” and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

In the complaint, the union alleges that its members were “forcibly arrested and deprived of their very liberty for participating in a non-violent political protest on campus.”

The complaint continues, claiming UCLA administrators not only failed to protect them and their fellow protesters but also assisted the counter-protestors who descended upon the Royce Quad encampment and eventually arrested people for exercising their right to free speech when the encampment was rather strenuously shuttered shortly thereafter.

“The University requested this forceful police intervention against peaceful employee protesters one day after it shamefully allowed and condoned a violent attack against the same peaceful protesters by a large mob of anti-Palestinian attackers, waiting over two hours after the attack began before requesting police intervention,” the complaint states. “This disparate, content-based favoritism of anti-Palestine conduct over pro-Palestine speech is an affront to the rights of employees to engage in peaceful protest.”

You can read the entire compliant here. 

The strike, in part, is also based on the contention that it is in response to the “unfair labor practice” of disallowing protests because the goals of the protest were work-related:

“… (E)mployees were demanding numerous workplace-related changes. These included creating an employee personal conscious right to opt out of participation in military- funded research as part of employment; opposing the discrimination and hostile work environment directed towards Palestinian, Muslim, and pro-Palestine Jewish employees and students; and requesting the disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.”

In response – because the tactic has worked so well in recent weeks – the administration sent out an email memo to the “Bruin Community” explaining why the strike is not justified.

“The UAW states that this strike can take place due to alleged unfair labor practices connected to ongoing campus protests,” stated the memo.  “The UC’s position is that it would be an unlawful strike that would violate the terms of the collective bargaining agreements between the two parties, which include no-strike provisions.”

The memo then goes on to detail how and where strikers can gather and picket – they have to let people pass – and how the school is working to maintain academic continuity.

Not a big deal that a bunch of people who spend their day fractionating rat brains or deconstructing Proust go on strike, you say?

You are correct, but just in case some members of the “Bruin Community” can’t handle the stress and/or get the willies, the final paragraph of the announcement lists a half dozen resources troubled kids can take advantage if it has all finally gotten to be too much.

“Given the challenging events of these past few weeks, we encourage you to take advantage of UCLA’s resources for mental health and well-being through Counseling & Psychological Services, the RISE Center, the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Please also visit the Be Well Bruin website for additional services to support you.”

For example, the RISE Center “helps students adjust to the changes and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic. Among its resources are guided meditations, and a virtual library on mindfulness and well-being.”

The pandemic may be over but the bureaucracy-based services will never end, it seems.

You can sign up for a “case manager” at Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, or you can get a shrink at the counseling services office, or at Be Well Bruin you can take a quiz to figure out how mental you are and exactly what kind of help you need in order to make sure you are “Taking Care of the Whole U.”

Or you could just grow up.