COLA-fornia Dreaming Cola Cat

Every week this podcast will highlight some of the many voices behind the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) wildcat strike. Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, to lift themselves out of rent burden and address, with urgency, issues of housing and food precarity.

Each episode in this series features snippets from longer oral history interviews between myself and my fellow wildcat strikers as we discuss issues ranging from their relationship to high education to the context behind their decision to join the collective fight for a cost of living adjustment.

In this, the first official episode of our podcast, we begin with a conversation with Carlos Cruz, a second-year Ph.D. student in history at UCSC and one of the most visible COLA movement student leaders. Listen, as Carlos shares with our listeners his relationship to higher education, his reasons for striking, and the true meaning of a COLA for graduate students like himself.

Show your solidarity by liking, subscribing, sharing, and/or reviewing our podcast! You can also visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com to learn more.

If you would like to donate to our strike fund to help support striking and fired graduate students, please visit www.gofundme.com/f/support-fund-for-striking-workers-at-ucsc.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for updates and memes. And if you have any questions about this podcast or suggestions for content, please email us at colaforniadreaming@gmail.com

Special thanks to David Rovic for donating his song "Spread the Strike" for use in our podcast! Visit and subscribe to his Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvnHiMQWkL8E6382mrRx-g

Until next time, wildcats!

This is a sneak preview of a new podcast titled "COLA-fornia Dreaming," a show dedicated to the voices behind the graduate student wildcat strike at the University of California at Santa Cruz where students are actively fighting for a living wage. Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA—Yes, like the drink— to lift ourselves out of our rent burden and address larger issues of housing and food precarity. Episodes will feature portions of in-depth oral history interviews with wildcat strikers with topics ranging from views on higher education to individual decision to participate in collective action. Weekly mini-episodes will be dedicated to keeping our listeners informed of all COLA-related news.

Show your solidarity by keeping informed by liking and subscribing to our podcast. To learn more, visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for updates and memes!