#grad students

[pratchettquotes]

"Excuse me," said Big Mad Adrian, his voice cargoed with suspicion. "I don't want to cause any trouble, right, but is this Death or not? I've seen pictures, and they didn't look like her."

"We did the Rite stuff," said Ridcully. "And this is what we got."

[...] "She's just some girl messing about," said Skazz.

Susan stared at them.

"She hasn't even got a scythe," said Tez.

Susan concentrated. The scythe appeared in her hands, its blue-edged blade making a noise like a finger dragged around the rim of a glass.

The students straightened up.

"But I've always thought it was time for a change," said Tez.

"Right. It's about time girls got a chance in the professions," said Skazz.

"Don't you dare patronize me!"

"That's right," said Ponder. "There's no reason why Death has to be male. A woman could be almost as good as a man in the job."

"You're doing it very well," said Ridcully.

He gave Susan an encouraging smile.

She rounded on him. I'm Death, she thought -- technically, anyway -- and this is a fat old man who has no right to give me any kind of orders. I'll glare at him, and he'll soon realize the gravity of the situation. She glared.

"Young lady," said Ridcully. "Would you care for breakfast?"

Terry Pratchett, Soul Music

[tarvek-sturmvoraus]

i love classes in grad school, where "it's debatable whether-" is code for "it absolutely does not and i will physically fight you about it"

[jensorensen]

Why We Need Grad Student Worker Unionization

One of several unionization efforts in the US right now is the movement to organize graduate student workers at universities. These laborers, who teach college classes and perform research that lends prestige to their institutions, tend to be paid appallingly low wages. The poverty-level paychecks are all the more unethical when you consider how university endowments have ballooned with the stock market in recent years, with many worth billions. Meanwhile, housing prices in college towns have surged, leaving student workers in a terrible predicament. This recent Guardian article provides further details.

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[thenib]

Jen Sorensen.

[inthenight-inthedark]

Just FYI: 48,000 grad students, post-doctoral fellows, and academic researchers across the 10 UC campuses are currently on strike for fair bargaining practices, marking the largest academic strike in history.

This strike is incredibly important for setting a precedent. I have seen first hand how overworked and underfunded my colleagues are; they are the backbone of the university and the academic system as a whole. They deserve better, and I am in full support of their efforts

Images caption: UCSF grad students take to the literal streets, hang banners from buildings, at the Mission Bay Campus

Image source: Personal images (I am supporting my colleagues by maintaining experiments in the lab)

Images caption: Berkeley students rush the Chancellor’s office and president’s office in Oakland during week three of the UAW strike

Image source: my partner, unnamed for privacy, on strike at UC Berkeley

Spread the word, and be sure to donate to the cause if you can

[unsympatheticchemprof]

[shitacademicswrite]

My writing partner and I were writing a thing last night, and my writing partner did this, unprompted.

[Scene: our witch characters need to go to Arizona, so they’re going to travel through a magic wormhole that will come out in a lab in the University of Sedona.]

Roo straightened up to announce, "Got it! There might be people in the lab, so try not to be... uh... too conspicuous?" 

 Evie glanced around at their motley crew of six. Yes, six random people suddenly appearing in a lab in the middle of a class would be easy to pass off as normal. 

 With a chagrined smile, Roo shrugged and went through first. After a moment, Evie followed. Chris and the rest were hard on their heels; fortunately the lab only held a single grad student who merely raised his eyebrows and went back to his research.