Spent today on the picket lines and oh hell yes did it ever feel good. Our friendly neighborhood university-industrial complex is trying to fix its financial woes by taking away our tuition waivers, which is utter madness. 90% of graduate students could not afford to attend the university without those waivers. We grads teach most of the classes for ludicrously low pay, and contribute countless unpaid hours on cutting-edge research projects (my own workweek is never less than 80 hours, and sometimes more).
Slashing tuition waivers to save money makes as much sense as a weight loss program which involves chopping off both your legs.
It's incredible how every single institution in this entire country has become clinically suicidal, from the biggest Wall Street vampire squid to the most out-of-the-way school district. Meanwhile, this failed Empire's twin failed wars devour an inconceivable $1 trillion a year, while Wall Street pays itself record bonuses thanks to a $14.1 trillion bailout.
Highlight of the day: an irate passerby upset with our picket line told us we were going to Hell. Ever courteous, we refrained from informing this person that, on our salaries, we already live there.
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