A2 eZ re THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAy, MARCH 2 , 2020
HAPPenIng TodAyFor the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.All day | The American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference is
held through Tuesday in Washington, with Democratic and republican
leaders set to speak. For developments, visit washingtonpost.com/politics.
9:30 a.m. | The supreme Court issues orders and hears arguments in
Nasrallah v. Barr, a case involving deportation, and Department of Homeland
Security v. Thuraissigiam, a case regarding an asylum claim. Visit
washingtonpost.com/national for details.
10 a.m. | The Commerce department issues construction spending for
January, which is estimated at a 0.6 percent increase. For developments,
visit washingtonpost.com/business.
7 p.m. | President Trump holds a campaign rally in Charlotte. Visit
washingtonpost.com/politics for details.
THe WeeK AHeAdTuesdAy
President Trump addresses the National Association of Counties.
AIPAC holds a policy conference in Washington.
February motor vehicle sales are estimated at 16.8 million units on an
annual basis.
WednesdAy
A press event is held to preview the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
The Federal reserve releases its “beige book” on economic conditions.
THursdAy
Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 29 are estimated at 215,000.
Factory orders for January are expected to drop 0.3 percent.
FrIdAy
oPeC ministers meet in Vienna.
The unemployment rate for February is expected to be 3.6 percent.
The trade deficit for February is expected to total $47.2 billion.
BY DANIELLE
DOUGLAS-GABRIELThe University of California at
Santa C ruz fired 54 teaching assis-
tants Friday who refused to turn
in fall semester grades in an ongo-
ing strike for higher wages.
“It is extremely disappointing
to us that we have to take such a
drastic step, but we ultimately
cannot retain graduate students
as teaching assistants who will
not fulfill their responsibilities,”
Lori G. Kletzer, UC-Santa Cruz
executive vice chancellor, wrote in
an email to the campus Friday.
Graduate workers launched a
grade strike, withholding final
marks for undergraduate stu-
dents, in December in a bid to
force administrators to negotiate
a cost-of-living wage adjustment.
When that didn’t work, teaching
assistants went on a full strike in
February with daily protests that
led to arrests.
University administrators gave
graduate workers until Feb. 21 to
submit grades or lose their teach-
ing appointments for spring se-
mester. According to the universi-
ty, 96 percent of grades were sub-
mitted.
UC-Santa Cruz spokesman
Scott Hernandez-Jason said the
54 students will not face e xpulsion
and can continue their course-
work. Still, their tuition and fees
will no longer be covered as a partof their appointment. Strike orga-
nizers say it may be impossible for
many to remain in school.
“The financial implication is
totally devastating,” said Melissa
Cronin, an organizer a nd doctoral
candidate in the Department of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biolo-
gy. “For a lot of those people, this is
their only source of income. The
combination o f loss of income and
staggering tuition is disastrous.”
Cronin estimates that one-fifth
of the teaching assistants who
received notices are international
students who could lose their vi-
sas. She said people were willing
to risk their education because of
how dire living conditions have
become as graduate students are
priced out of the housing market.
“People are living in their cars.
They don’t make enough money
to buy food,” Cronin said. “For so
many people, this was the culmi-
nation of months or years of con-
tinuing to slide into poverty. And
something just broke.”
Graduate workers at UC-Santa
Cruz say a raise of $1,412 a month
would make it easier to afford
housing in one of the most expen-
sive rental markets in the c ountry.
But university administrators say
their hands are tied because of a
contract with the United Automo-
bile Workers, the union that rep-
resents graduate students at a ll 10
campuses of the U C system.
“While I’ve disagreed with thetactics the graduate students h ave
used to communicate their con-
cerns, I do not want to downplay
the gravity of those concerns,”
Kletzer wrote.
She noted that the university is
creating two temporary housing
programs and providing an annu-
al $2,500 housing supplement un-
til more campus housing becomes
available for graduate students.
Strikers say the measures are
insufficient and not a sustainable
solution.
Faculty and undergraduate stu-
dents have protested alongside
graduate workers, whose plight
has garnered the attention of S en.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a candidate
for the Democratic presidential
nomination. He tweeted out sup-
port for the students in February
and expressed disappointment
Friday in the university’s decision
to dismiss dozens of teaching as-
sistants.
“This is disgraceful,” Sanders
said of the d ismissals. “All workers
deserve the right to bargain and
strike for better wages and bene-
fits. To Janet Napolitano and
@UCSC: stop this outrageous
union-busting and negotiate in
good faith.”
The students have been waging
a wildcat strike, meaning there
was no sanctioned vote to take
action. Still, union leaders have
asked the university to consider
adding a provision in the existingcontract to address t he cost-of-liv-
ing increase. The UC system re-
jected that proposal.
Te nsions between UAW Local
2865 and the UC system erupted
this week when university l eaders
filed a labor grievance against the
union for not doing enough to
stop the strike. The union coun-
tered with its own filing accusing
the university of illegally negotiat-
ing with students.
“We’ve done quite a bit to com-
municate to workers that this is
not an authorized action,” said
Kavitha Iyengar, president of
UAW Local 2865. “We’re trying to
get the university to come to the
bargaining table with the union
because without doing that, we’re
going to see more of these illegal
actions.”
Iyengar said graduate workers
across the UC system are threat-
ening walkouts in solidarity with
the Santa Cruz teaching assis-
tants. Graduate workers at UC-
Santa Barbara went on strike
Thursday, w hile those at U C-Davis
have begun a grade strike de-
manding cost-of-living wage ad-
justments.
Strike organizers at UC-Santa
Cruz say 524 graduate students
have pledged not to accept posi-
tions vacated because of the dis-
missals. Many are considering
withholding winter grades in pro-
test.
[email protected]College teaching assistants fired in labor dispute
ham campaign, said via email Fri-
day.
The North Carolina Democrat-
ic Party, which has not endorsed a
candidate, has issued at least two
news releases denouncing the
ads.
The DSCC, in a news release
last week, slammed McConnell’s
“allies” for waging a “panicked
effort to save weak incumbent
Senator Thom Tillis from facing
decorated veteran Cal Cunning-
ham.”
“It’s deeply disrespectful to
Democratic voters and the candi-
dates that Mitch McConnell and
his allies are trying to influence
the Democratic primary to boost
Thom Tillis, whose policies hurt
working families across the state,”
DSCC spokeswoman Lauren Pas-
salacqua said in an emailed state-
ment.
The relationship between
Smith and party leaders has been
frosty since the DSCC formally
endorsed Cunningham, who had
spent the first half of 2019 as a
candidate for lieutenant gover-
nor. He switched to the Senate
race in June. In a statement an-
nouncing the endorsement at the
end of October, Sen. Catherine
Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), chairman
of the campaign committee, noted
that he had the endorsement of
140 political figures, community
leaders and liberal groups. On
Wednesday, he picked up the en-
dorsement of former U.S. attorney
general Eric H. Holder Jr.
Party leaders also pointed to
Cunningham’s ability to raise
money. H is most recent campaign
finance report shows he has
raised more than $ 4.7 million a nd
has $1.4 million cash on hand. He
also has contributions from sever-
al members of the Senate, labor
organizations and large PACs, in-
cluding VoteVets. Outside groups
have spent at least $9 million in
support of Cunningham’s candi-
dacy, according to Open Secrets.
Smith had hoped the Senate
campaign committee would stay
out of the race and not influence
donors and supporters. Her cam-
paign finance report shows she
has raised $238,000, and her web-
site lists endorsements from a
dozen former and current elected
officials and several political orga-
nizations i n North Carolina. Some
national groups focused on in-
creasing the number of black
elected officials a lso stepped up to
help Smith and criticized party
leaders.
“It’s unfortunate that a quali-
fied black woman wasn’t given the
same kind of consideration that a
white [male candidate], but that’s
what our politics a re in the Demo-
cratic Party,” said Quentin James,
co-founder of Collective PAC. He
criticized Democrats for using
“lazy polling to support a white
man over a black woman in a state
as diverse as North Carolina.”
Black people make up more
than 21 percent of the state’s near-
ly 7 million voters, and they are
nearly half t he state’s registered
Democrats.
Glynda Carr, co-founder of
Higher Heights, which encourag-
es black women to run for elected
office, has endorsed Smith. The
group is helping raise money and
awareness of Smith’s campaign
among black women.
“One of the biggest barriers for
black women running for office is
people putting out a narrative
about electability,” Carr said.
[email protected]and digital ads. All of the group’s
money has come from the Senate
Leadership Fund, a super PAC run
by Steven Law, a former chief of
staff to Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Law ac-
knowledged that the ads were
meant to force Democrats into an
expensive primary fight and
boasted that the move had been
“more successful than we could
have imagined.”
Smith and her supporters say
she has been mistreated by both
Republicans a nd Democrats, rais-
ing questions about race and
electability against the backdrop
of GOP mischief in a Democratic
primary.
Jessica Byrd, a liberal activist
and consultant who has been ad-
vising Smith’s campaign, said
Democratic leaders should have
defended Smith. “They should
say, ‘Black women are not pawns
in a game of chess and Republi-
cans are demonstrating that they
don’t take a valuable voice in our
party seriously.’ Instead, they
piled on her to exploit that mo-
ment for their own benefit.”
State and national party lead-
ers, along with Cunningham, have
said they’ve made clear that they
blame t he GOP and McConnell f or
the ad campaign, not Smith. But
their statements have stopped
short of giving Smith the absolu-
tion she is seeking.
“Cal condemned the Republi-
can meddling immediately as did
voters and leaders across North
Carolina who don’t want Mitch
McConnell i nterfering in a Demo-
cratic primary,” Rachel Petri, a
spokeswoman for the Cunning-for our experience and credibility,
not because of a GOP super PAC
that tells them to,” said Smith,
who argued that she has always
worked to elect Democratic can-
didates and support the party’s
agenda in the legislature.
Cunningham, 46, is favored to
win Tuesday’s Democratic prima-
ry, which also includes two lesser-
known candidates, and face Re-
publican Sen. Thom Tillis in No-
vember. The seat is receiving spe-
cial attention from national party
leaders in their bid to retake the
Senate.
The Faith and Power PAC, cre-
ated in January, has spent nearly
$3 million to boost Smith’s candi-
dacy, mostly running broadcastCunningham because they didn’t
think she could win.
“It’s an attack, using dark mon-
ey on the dark woman candidate
in this race,” Smith said in an
interview. She denounced the ads
and said she looked into whether
she could legally force the PAC to
stop running the spots. Smith is
unhappy that party leaders have
decried the ads as a smear against
Cunningham but have made no
public statements defending her
as a loyal Democrat who was also
targeted by Republicans. She is
concerned that the silence of the
Democratic leaders could leave
the impression that she was work-
ing with the GOP.
“We want people to vote for usBY VANESSA WILLIAMSDemocrat Erica Smith, a two-
term North Carolina state sena-
tor, was so inspired by women
who beat the odds and won seats
in Congress in 2018 that she de-
cided to run in this year’s U.S.
Senate race.
The party establishment chose
another candidate.
The Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee endorsed
Cal Cunningham, a former state
lawmaker and an Army veteran of
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
who had run unsuccessfully for
the Senate a decade ago. Smith
was disappointed but didn’t bow
out, despite struggling to raise
money and snare endorsements.
Then, a few weeks ago, Smith
got an unexpected and unwel-
come benefactor: a Republican-
affiliated political action commit-
tee that started running ads tout-
ing Smith as the “true progres-
sive,” while suggesting
Cunningham does not support
addressing climate change and
LGBTQ rights.
Smith, 50, who is African Amer-
ican, says she feels she has been
disrespected by both political par-
ties: Republicans who are using
her to damage the perceived
front-runner in the primary and
Democratic leaders w ho endorsedDemocratic candidate frustrated with both parties in N.C. race
Gerry Broome/ASSoCIATeD PreSS
A GOP-tied PAC has run ads touting Democrat Erica Smith, hoping
she’ll damage p erceived front-runner Cal Cunningham’s chances.Establishment backs
rival; G OP meddles in
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