UC San Diego grad students could be disciplined over May 5 protest

Sixty-seven UC San Diego graduate students will face disciplinary hearings — with expulsion as a potential consequence — after staging a demonstration May 5 at an alumni awards ceremony, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A video of the protest shows students streaming onto the stage at the outdoor ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to accuse the university of failing to honor significant wage increases included in the United Auto Workers 2865 contract, according to the Times. Workers staged a five-week strike in late 2022 to fight for the contract.

The university, in its letters to graduate students notifying them of the disciplinary hearings, alleges that students violated student conduct procedures prohibiting assault and threatening conduct, union organizer Maya Gosztyla told the Times. Gosztyla said students are concerned about the allegations of assault, since there was no physical contact between students and the chancellor. Gosztyla called that allegation an “intimidation tactic.”