In this ~special~ episode of Dear Grad Student, Elana speaks with her DGS team members, Aubrey Tingler and William Ota, about the University of California strike, the conditions which drive grad students to strike, & their views on the topic. If you’re a grad student, you've probably been told you're a student when it comes to pay and benefits, & an employee when you try to access student services. This means graduate students are vulnerable to exploitation by universities. On top of the emotional and financial costs of pursuing graduate education, working conditions have not kept up with inflation, rising class sizes, or cost of living, which makes it hard to survive for anyone, let alone the many marginalized groups in academia. In California, this resulted in three unions represented graduate student educators (TAs), graduate student researchers (GSRs), and post-docs in the University of California system to go on strike. Listen for the DGS team talk to learn more. SUPPORT THE SHOW: - Patreon - Buy me a Coffee Without our Patrons & supporters, this podcast would not be possible PODCAST SWAG: https://www.redbubble.com/people/deargradstudent/shop https://deargradstudent.com TikTok: @deargradstudent Twitter: @DearGradStudent Instagram: @DearGradStudentPod Elana on Twitter: @elana_gloger Connect with the Team: - Aubrey Tingler - William Ota Speaker Resources: - https://www.fairucnow.org/ - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TJQlgzAcwbMpRUfArUjNx?si=3c2d6e79d70d46dd  Music provided by: Open Those Bright Eyes by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4171-open-those-bright-eyes License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ [Episode edited by Coral Arroyo; Team Credit and Episode Made Possible by Aubrey Tingler and William Ota] Support the show