Biggest Ever Strike of Higher Education Resolved

Quote of the Week:

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” --Albert Einstein

Fact of the Week:

The well-known John Harvard statue at Harvard University doesn’t actually depict John Harvard. All portraits of Harvard burned in a fire in 1764, which meant that there was no way to create an accurate depiction of him when Daniel French went to create the statue in 1884. Therefore, French ended up modeling the statue after the likeness of Sherman Hoar, class of 1882, who was a relative of Leonard Hoar, the university’s fourth president.

The statue states that Harvard University was founded in 1638 (it was actually founded in 1636) and claims John Harvard was a founder, which is also untrue. The school was actually founded by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in order to train clergy. It was originally called New College, and gained its name in 1639 when Harvard (who never even attended the school) became the first major benefactor, donating half of his estate and his library, which consisted of over 400 books.

The statue is nicknamed “the statue of three lies,” and it's common for students today to rub Harvard’s left shoe for luck, which has led that area to turn a bright gold color.

Harvard contributed to this article.

News Update:

Via The Guardian; Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

The largest strike to ever hit higher education is over, as the nine colleges part of the University of California reached an agreement to raise wages for academic workers. Nearly 48,000 teaching assistants, researchers, tutors, and other graduate student instructors had been on strike for six weeks, disrupting daily life at the schools, which include UC Berkeley and UCLA.

As reported by The Guardian, “The agreement would provide wage increases of up to 66% over the two-and-a-half-year life of the contract, according to leaders of the two UAW [United Auto Workers] union locals representing the 36,000 graduate students covered by the deal.”

Previously, the base salary for part-time employees began at $24,000 a year, but by the fall of 2024, the minimum nine-month salary for teaching assistants is set to rise to $36,500 at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and UCLA, and to $34,000 at the other six campuses. According to The Guardian, “Graduate student researchers will make at least $40,000, according to union representatives, and workers can get childcare subsidies of more than $2,000 a semester.”

The Guardian contributed to this article.

Sports Update:

Via ESPN

Normally, the Liberty Bowl between two 6-6 teams wouldn’t cause even the more avid college football fans to bat an eye, but the battle between Kansas and Arkansas on Wednesday ended up being one of the games of the season.

Kansas, given an over/under of 2.5 wins in preseason, started off the year 5-0 and was ranked 19 in the country before a slew of defeats. They limped to the bowl game and appeared to be finishing on a downward spiral when they found themselves behind 38-13 in the third quarter. However, with 2:38 left in the fourth quarter, Kansas had clawed back to 38-23 and had the ball after forcing a fumble. They then scored a touchdown in seven plays, recovered an onside kick, scored another touchdown in 24 seconds, and then converted the two-point attempt to tie the game and send it to overtime.

In the first overtime, Kansas scored a touchdown, which Arkansas then matched. In the second overtime, Arkansas scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion, which Kansas then matched. It wasn’t until the third overtime, in which teams only attempt a two-point conversion, that Arkansas finally succeeded and Kansas was unable to answer, coming up short in what would have been an all-time comeback.

The final score finished 55-53, with Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels throwing for 544 yards, 5 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

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