Carlos Cruz, a first-generation Ph.D. student of color and COLA4ALL organizer at UCSC, was not only targeted and surveilled by police at the picket lines but the university also filed student conduct charges against him for, among other things, appearing “aggressive” or “intimidating”. Called upon to explain his actions to the student conduct board, Carlos writes:
“I participated in a peaceful labor action as graduate students at UCSC went out on a teaching strike. My relationship to this nonviolent labor picket is one that stems from a working-class immigrant struggle. I understand the impor- tance of civic engagement and see the COLA movement as an extension of a fight against poverty. As a first generation Ph.D. student, I saw the importance of having my voice be heard at the picket line, but I did not imagine that our discontent would have been answered with violence by the police. I come from an immigrant community and was raised in a single parent household, so I experienced the realities of poverty. I spent most of my life hearing that higher education is the solution for one to come out of poverty and become successful. As I came to UCSC to chase a dream of becoming a college professor, I soon realized that my economic condition as a graduate student was substandard as I returned to live in poverty-like conditions where the only way out was through massive student loans.”
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