Support UC workers

By Olivia McHaney, Berkeley | 11/7/2022

Regarding “Thousands of UC workers set to strike” (Bay Area & Business, Nov. 4): Student workers are the backbone of the UC system. As a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley, I’ve worked closely with almost 30 graduate student instructors during my time as a student and, frankly, the work they put in is the only reason I’ve been academically successful.

In classes where I feel immensely disconnected from the professors (more than I’d care to admit), being able to connect with GSIs has given me the ability to connect with the material and actually engage with the course. 

Even where professors are notoriously charismatic and engaging — take the famous wealth and poverty class with Robert Reich — essentially all of my learning came from my amazing GSI, Katie Cannady, who facilitated critical discussion beyond anything the professor was willing to dig into.

GSIs and other student-faculty put in time and work far beyond what the university pays them for. They deserve fair and equitable compensation — get out and support the strike.