On Friday, UC Santa Barbara students gathered in front of Cheadle Hall to rally in solidarity with UC Santa Cruz graduate students, who are striking indefinitely until the university agrees to a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of an additional $1,412 a month.

The rally was organized by UCSB’s Graduate Student Association, which called upon UCSC to “immediately pay the Cost of Living Adjustment” in a Facebook event for the UCSB rally.

“Many of us at UC Santa Barbara share the experience of being paid poverty wages for our academic labor in the face of exorbitant, ever-skyrocketing rent, and thus also struggle to make ends meet,” the description of the Facebook event stated.

Dozens of UCSB students also signed a petition in support of the UCSC strike. The petition calls on the UCSC administration to pay the COLA and condemns “all attempts by the administration to intimidate striking student workers.”

A Twitter account run by the strikers, with the description “Pay us enough to live here,” has been posting nearly every hour about the strike; a thread posted about the strike explained that organizers have been calling for a COLA since Sept. 2019.

UCSC released a statement in response to the strike on Dec. 9, stating “Lack of affordable housing in Santa Cruz presents challenges for our students and for our community as a whole.”

“We are actively working on short- and long-term solutions to address our students’ housing needs,” the statement says.

Photos of the UCSB rally can be viewed below:

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A cool team of photographers who preserves the visual memory of UCSB and Isla Vista. The photo editor can be reached at photo@dailynexus.com.