Graduate student organizers in the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare began a tuition strike Jan. 19 in response to “grave concerns” about recent layoffs of two union-protected lecturers in the program.
The lecturers, Patti Park and Eveline Chang, were named in a letter that students sent to leadership at Berkeley Social Welfare.
Campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said campus could not comment on confidential personnel matters.
In the letter, students said their tuition strike is also in protest of further grievances regarding department budget cuts and tuition increases. Students expressed that they felt there were “troubling patterns that have severely degraded the quality and integrity of our program”and announced that a collective tuition strike would “begin immediately.”
The letter also details a list of demands, including the reversal of Chang and Park’s layoffs, restoration of practicum support, financial transparency and tuition freezes, reduction of required practicum hours and student representation in administrative decision-making.
Along with the dismissal of Park and Chang, the letter cites the “systematic dismantling” of student support systems, “experimental” curriculum implementation lacking adequate support and “financial exploitation.”
The letter also said students have been in dialogue with leaders in the department for several months — including writing open letters, meeting with Berkeley Social Welfare Dean Susan Stone, writing articles and engaging in peaceful demonstrations. According to the letter, the tuition strike is a “last resort.”
Gilmore said campus would not speculate about the impacts of a tuition strike, but that campus policies around nonpayment would apply.
According to the campus Student Billing website, if a student has unpaid fees of $100 or more over 60 days past due, Billing and Payment Services is authorized “to place a hold on a student’s registration and diploma until the financial obligation is satisfied.”
Students pursuing a master’s in social welfare are required to complete on-site practicum education.Last summer, two other practicum consultants,Claudette Mestayer and Robert Watts, were terminated. The letter claimed this has caused an “immediate crisis in the practicum program.”
Matthew Bridges, a first year MSW student, said the cuts to practicum staff have reduced support for both students and practicum cites, which he claims have been overstretched already.
He also worries that a lack of practicum support staff disproportionately impacts students with higher needs, such as those with Disabled Students’ Program accommodations and international students.
Jeb Purucker, a field representative for the University Council — American Federation of Teachers, said he has been working on multiple grievances in Berkeley Social Welfare and that the union is looking into Park and Chang’s layoffs.
“We see all of these cuts that are happening as part of a single process of restructuring the school in a way that is … bad for a bunch of people’s jobs,” Purucker said. “And I think it ultimately is going to be really detrimental to the quality of instruction that the school is able to offer for its students.”
Gilmore said Berkeley Social Welfare is on track to hire new senate faculty members.
Anya Kushwaha, a second-year student at Berkeley Social Welfare, has worked with Park, Chang and Mestayer, and said they have been “transformational” and “phenomenal.” She also shared that outside of the classroom they have been support systems in her life.
“School of Social Welfare officials have made clear their understanding of the difficulty that comes with making changes to a program, particularly when changes may negatively impact any of their wonderful faculty and staff,” Gilmore said in an email. “Their broader goal, of which they now remain on track to accomplish, is to restructure the program and strengthen the quality of the education provided to every student.”