Since the news of the budget deficit was announced by UC Santa Cruz administrators last spring, members of the community have been questioning the sustainability of campus life.  

“[Administration is] also cutting what gives us joy as students,” said an attendee who wished to remain anonymous. “It doesn’t feel like the [university’s] money is going to places that we, as students, see.”

Multiple attendees echoed the sentiment at the “Worker/Ally Mixer” held by the UCSC chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) on May 5. 

YDSA, a socialist organization focused on the rights of students and workers, organized the event to screen a student-made documentary: “Swipe In, Speak Out.” The documentary and following discussion centered around working under the UCSC administration and where students felt they were being failed, both in personal life and professional settings. 

The documentary featured interviews from key dining hall administrators, including dining director William ‘Bill’ Prime and associate vice chancellor for Colleges, Housing and Educational Services Laura Arroyo. During their interviews, Prime and Arroyo discussed subjects like budget operations and how they feel about their careers at a UC.

These were intercut with other interviews featuring María Padilla Aguilera and Teresa Valenzuela Lopez, unionized full-time dining workers. They offered their own perspectives and experiences on similar topics.

“Oftentimes the story of budgeting is telling the students that certain things can’t be improved … because that will have a toll on the workers,” emphasized Addie Wolstenholm, the chair of UCSC’s YDSA. “And the story that is told to the workers is that they can’t be paid more and their working conditions can’t be made better because that will have a toll on the students.”  

After an initial screening of the twenty-minute film, attendees were broken up into three breakout groups. Standing in circles on the grass outside of Humanities 202, attendees shared their anxieties about campus life. 

“Every single day I would bring a ton of food to school and hope that it was enough,” said a participant who lived off-campus. “I just remember how stressed I would be when I didn’t pack enough food. ‘I’m super hungry. Am I going to pay like $12 to go into a dining hall or what?’” 

In the 2023-24 school year, dining hall prices jumped roughly 50 percent, from $8.28 to $12.23. In the documentary, Arroyo stated that the cost increase was the result of a miscalculation when the previous $8.28 price was decided; to make up for funds lost, the increase was necessary. 

Participants exchanged stories of frustration at TAPS, housing and the lack of community spaces. Heads nodded and fingers snapped as people heard experiences they resonated with and responded with ordeals of their own. 

The event offered students a chance to learn more about their coworkers, and other staff they might have less contact with. 

“I think it’s important for people to understand what the people around them are going through,” expressed a dining hall employee. “People need to work together … and empower each other.”

Currently, the UCSC YDSA is working on a Slug Point Reform, which would allow dining hall points to roll over quarter to quarter until graduation. All other UC campuses have implemented rollover plans except UC Santa Barbara.

In the documentary, Arroyo painted the lack of rollover as a benefit to the students. Because students are not always continuing school the next quarter, or might want to change meal plans in between quarters, this system provides them with more flexibility. 

Wolstenholm explained that this doesn’t seem to be the student experience. Flexibility isn’t the issue — it’s price.

“[Students are] losing [points] at the end of the quarter in droves, which is costing them hundreds and hundreds of dollars in value,” Wolstenholm said. 

As the event came to a close, people began to slowly trickle out of the room, taking leftover pizza boxes and cookies. The documentary was played again for those who missed it at the beginning of the mixer, and conversations petered out. At the end of the night, Wolstenholm stood firm about YDSA’s continuing role in supporting students. 

“[Students] know when they’re under-eating, undernourished and unable to focus on their academics — the thing that they’re here to do,” Wolstenholm said. “They know the effect it’s having on them. We just want to be able to give them the infrastructure to do something about it.”

The Slug Point Reform petition can be signed here.