Opinion: You lost. Pay up. Now.
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The fight between the University of California and grad students enrolled in 2003 looks like a warped version of the typical underdog story — you know, the one where the little guy keeps getting beat down but bounces back to go for the win? Except, in this case, the little guy (students fighting to recover fees that UC improperly raised) won, but the university (which owes 35,000 graduate students about $40,000,000) just won’t give up.
In 2003, UC graduate and professional school students saw their fees shoot through the roof, even though UC documents promised that they would not rise for continuing students. In July, some of the affected students filed suit, and the situation has been tied up in court ever since.
When the appeals court decision came down in November, I figured UC would throw in the towel and exit the ring as gracefully as possible. I was wrong. According to the San Jose Mercury News:
Every month that passes adds more than $300,000 in interest to the award, said an attorney for the plaintiffs. But a UC lawyer said the university believes it can still win the case. ‘You have to make a judgment whether accumulation of interest outweighs the legal strengths of the case,’ said the UC attorney, Chris Patti. ‘We decided that it did not. ‘It’s going to be a big ticket, whether we have to pay now or in the future.’
Translation: We’re screwed either way, so why not spend a few million more, especially when we can take it out of student pockets?
It’s kind of like writer’s strike syndrome: There’s no reason not to settle the whole thing and move on, so that I can get my weekly dose of NBC’s Chuck — but the two parties are so embittered that they’re going to see the other side buried.
The problem with that attitude? They each dig their own holes, and they both still get covered in crap.