If It's Saturday, It's Protest March Time...

[Lord Jim]

Thousands brave weather to protest climate policies on Trump's 100th day

Thousands of people across the U.S. marched in rain, snow and sweltering heat Saturday to demand action on climate change — mass protests that coincided with President Donald Trump's 100th day in office and took aim at his agenda for rolling back environmental protections.

At the marquee event, the Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of demonstrators made their way down Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to encircle the White House as temperatures soared into the 90s.

Organizers said about 300 sister marches or rallies were being held around the country, including in Seattle, Boston and San Francisco. A wet spring snow fell in Denver, where several hundred activists posed in the shape of a giant thermometer for a photograph and a dozen people rode stationary bikes to power the loudspeakers. In Chicago, a rain-soaked crowd of thousands headed from the city's federal plaza to Trump Tower.

"We are here because there is no Planet B," the Rev. Mariama White-Hammond of Bethel AME Church told a rally in Boston.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... story.html


Econo, were you out at the Chicago march, or are you just a sunshine protestor?

ETA:

Here are a couple of links to some of the signs ...(Nothing that competes with "Science Gives Me A Hadron", but a few good ones)

http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2 ... ive-stream




http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... march.html

[Econoline]

As a matter of fact, yes, I was there...and even leaving aside the rain (yeah, I was soaked), it was much more like the kind of protest march that turned me off of protest marches years ago. It was supposed to be a "people's CLIMATE march" but people there seemed to be demanding everything from the impeachment of Donald Trump to universal health care to immigrants' rights to the violent death of capitalism. (Jeez, stay focused, people!)

And there were a lot of drums being beaten and people with bullhorns leading the same old worn-out chants: "HEY HEY, HO HO, [ __fill in the blank__] HAS GOT TO GO!" and "WHAT DO WE WANT?!? [__blah blah blah__]!!! WHEN DO WE WANT IT?!? NOW!!!!!

So why was I even there? Well, first of all it was, after all, for a cause I actually do believe in. Second, my wife was going to go whether or not I went too, and she wanted me to go. (She--like her mother before her--has always been an enthusiastic get-out-in-the-streets-and-march type, ever since she marched for civil rights as a teenager in the '60s.) Third, (as with the previous two Saturday mornings) I was going to be in downtown Chicago anyway (for work) so I thought I might as well meet up with my wife, walk with her, go out to lunch, and give her a ride home. And fourth, the Women's March in January and the Tax Day March and the Science March the last two weeks were actually more pleasant and less noisy/annoying--not to mention more sunny and less wet!--than this one.

I don't regret going, but I'm getting old and grumpy and tired and achy and... Oh well, I guess it beats staying home and yelling at kids to get off the lawn.

[Lord Jim]

Well, it's good exercise, fresh air...

[Gob]

Why not go on hunger strike instead...

A group of Yale University graduate students announced Tuesday evening that they would be undertaking a hunger strike to pressure the administration into granting them better union benefits. The strike is taking place in front of University President Peter Salovey’s home. "Yale wants to make us wait and wait and wait … until we give up and go away," the eight members of the graduate student union Local 33 announced. "We have committed ourselves to waiting without eating."

Yale doctoral students currently earn a stipend $30,000 a year, receive free health care, and have their $40,000 tuition paid in full, according to Yale News. The university administration said in a statement that they understood the students concerns, but "strongly [urge] that students not put their health at risk or encourage others to do so."

As it turns out, the hunger strike might not put anyone's health in peril. According to a pamphlet posted on Twitter by a former Yale student, the hunger strike is "symbolic" and protesters can leave and get food when they can no longer go on.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/28/ya ... ungry.html

[oldr_n_wsr]

Poor babies, let 'em starve (at least for a few hours).
From the Yale website:

Yale University works hard to support graduate students throughout their Ph.D. programs. With very few exceptions[1], Yale offers a full funding package for all incoming Ph.D. students for a minimum of five years, with many students newly eligible for a sixth year of funding in FAS programs. The package includes a full tuition and generous annual stipend. In 2016-2017, Yale's minimum stipend is $29,650. The stipend has increased by more than 158% since the 2000-2001 academic year, when full funding was provided for all doctoral students, and the minimum stipend was $11,500. Throughout the unique program of study crafted by a graduate student and his or her faculty advisers, the University’s goal is to provide support that allows students to focus on their scholarship, successfully complete their education, and find rewarding careers.


All admitted Ph.D. students receive a full tuition fellowship, 12 month living stipends, & health care coverage.

of course the devil is in the details, but on the surface it seems a pretty good deal.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Wow. Five years to complete a PhD and $30k a year to do it with. I wish I'd had that deal when I was a grad student.

Edited to correct a typo.

[Big RR]

Of course, my guess would be most students have significant teaching responsibilities for that stipend, and given Yale's tuition, the scholl is making a great deal on their work. For example, a lab course is usually one credit and has around 20 students each paying about $2000 plus lab fees for it. That translates to $40,000 per course, and when I was in grad school most students carried at least two courses a semester, for a billing of $80,000. Double this for the fall and spring semester, and each student generates at least around $160,000 in revenue (more if there is summer semester teaching responsibilities). As for their tuition, many Ph.D. students take few courses, and just do their research (at least after the first year), so there is very little cost for them. It's a far better deal for Yale.

[oldr_n_wsr]

It's always a better deal for the employer, but what they are getting is not chicken feed. I think it's a pretty nice deal. They come away with a Phd and get paid for getting it.

It's many times better than a "play sports for us" deal.

[BoSoxGal]

When I was a grad student we got @ $700/mo. stipend on top of free tuition and student insurance - in exchange for teaching responsibilities which made it difficult to balance grad courseload and research.

I lived in subsidized housing and collected food stamps while in graduate school. I'd have killed for $30k/yr.

There are loads of adjunct faculty all over the country, with PhD in hand, who aren't making that much despite much heavier teaching loads - and no benefits.

Let the Yale grad students feel some hunger pangs - although it appears the hunger strike involves breaks to eat when hungry!

With regard to teaching load, when I was in grad school 1995-1997, a movement was afoot nationwide to address teaching loads for TAs vis a vis IRS tax regulation and federal employment laws. The end result was that most universities now restrict teaching load to the equivalent of no more than 20 hours/week, which is usually 1-2 preps or courses per term.

Again, I'd be thrilled for the opportunity to work so little for so much. As much as I loved most of my academic experience, it's very clear to me in retrospect that most folks in academia really do operate in a bubble disconnected from most everything that resembles real world problems. I'd have much more sympathy for adjunct faculty teaching 4-5 preps per term for the same or less and getting no healthcare or other benefits in addition.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Actually it's not all that great, on second thoughts. When I was a grad student in 1971 to 1974 I had a grant (thank you BP Chemicals - and in their defense they did not attempt to stop me publishing data which was at least embarrassing to them) of GBP 1500 per year, plus fees which they also paid. We were paid GBP 0.50 for teaching responsibilities, although that was mainly in the labs and field (I was an oceanographer) making sure that the undergrads did not kill themselves or each other. If I multiply up for cost of living and convert to $ it is less than the Yalies, but on the same page.