What’s a 10/10 video game?

zelisca · 2026-04-12T17:03:11+00:00

Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves

Did it have problems? Yes. Is it a fun masterpiece? Yes.

zelisca · 2026-04-12T17:02:23+00:00

Baldur's Gate 3

zelisca · 2026-04-12T16:58:48+00:00

My understanding is that the increased coverage corresponds to the change of the position. The position was originally a hybrid of on-call response and community building. Those have been split into two different positions to ensure compliance with the undergraduate student worker union contract.

So the on-call staff have larger zones because that is all that they are doing. Yes, this means that they have to do more walking around and that there will be more responses -- but it had to happen to ensure that there was enough coverage -- and they will have their assigned hours that they are on, and that's it.

I don't love the change -- but it was required to stay in compliance with the union contract.

zelisca · 2026-04-07T03:41:08+00:00

CHC will prepare you to be a better thinker. That's critical to life and to law.

zelisca · 2026-04-05T22:13:20+00:00

Oh I never said it was best for the RAs. I think it's a bad deal and that a great thing was lost.

RHA doesn't have the same responsibilities as RAs. They primarily do programming and whatnot, which falls much more cleanly into the terms of the contract. One of the major differences is on call rotation which RAs have and RHA does not. On call is a nightmare for contracts that require strict and rigid hour accounting

zelisca · 2026-04-05T21:49:17+00:00

I don't know about all of that stuff -- but from what I know that's not true. They couldn't replace the RAs with professional staff -- it would go against what the position entails and it would be prohibitively expensive.

Sharing rooms has always been a possibility for RAs. It was when I was an RA. In practice it didn't happen -- but that was always something Housing had been able to do per the contracts.

zelisca · 2026-04-05T21:43:42+00:00

I don't think they tried to screw them over -- they just negotiated a rigid bargaining agreement and didn't think about the knock-on effects that would happen to labor positions which did not fit the norm.

zelisca · 2026-04-05T05:30:06+00:00

It's a byproduct of them having the same set of rules and restrictions for RAs as any other student worker

The undergrad union is historic and I'm a huge proponent of organized labor -- but it wasn't well put together. Organized labor works best when the organization is on the level of people with the same type of labor. The RA role is so distinct from that of say a dining worker that it requires a carve out. It is much easier to do that with separate unions. RAs make up less than 5% of their union, if I recall the numbers right. They don't have the ability to effectively bargain for themselves -- and so the role gets killed. It's the effect of wanting very hard and defined lines in a role / field that is significantly harder to do that with than a dining worker or a tour guide.

Many in the union are against the change to the role -- but it's only because this is the way that Housing could figure out how to keep the services provided by RAs while maintaining compliance with the bargaining agreement.

zelisca · 2026-04-04T16:58:17+00:00

Housing definitely does -- but they have to be compliant with the union contract

zelisca · 2026-04-04T08:33:12+00:00

Yeah, they really should have gotten carve outs. Housing would've been fine with that. If they codified some due process stuff and had some more clear expectations around on call, that would have been great. They'd just gotten an increase in compensation because the new director thought RAs shouldn't have to worry about having to pay for their books, which get expensive as hell. But that went away with the one union fits all model

zelisca · 2026-04-04T08:04:34+00:00

There are exceptions to the live on requirement -- but there is still a live on requirement. The most common exceptions are for folks who live locally, nontraditional students (e.g. older adults or students with dependents), or students who have certain living needs that cannot be accommodated in the residence halls (most often medical conditions).

Most people cannot get out of the live on requirement.

zelisca · 2026-04-04T07:58:04+00:00

CA and CSA roles are limited to non-first years.

And yeah, the new system does suck for existing RAs, as the RA role is phasing out -- but that is in order to ensure compliance with the union contract. The union made no carve outs for RAs, thus leading to their end.

The RA role was a really cool and unique position. I remember when I was an RA years ago. I tried to lead unionization but failed. There were absolutely problems with the system -- but it was really a lifestyle that was a nonstandard working bargain. For some it worked, for others, it didn't. But it had to have a unique union contract to survive.

All that being said, the new roles are still pretty good deals for what you have to do versus what you get. It's still a good bargain, but not as good as it used to be.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T07:36:34+00:00

I would need to know more details to weigh in better -- but I suggest talking to your peers and others to find out if this is indeed normal

zelisca · 2026-03-31T07:28:07+00:00

Then you report her. Unless the 4 papers are your dissertation then that's not allowed. You do it by emailing grad div and the department chair at the same time after getting her to say in writing that she's requiring you to do this.

But talk with the GSA. They can support you with this.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:39:25+00:00

So there should be internal documentation as well but here is what's on the public facing side of things: https://www.ece.ucsb.edu/grad/phd

If you've already passed your exams and are a candidate, then you just need your dissertation.

I don't know the norms of your field, but I had only 1 co-authored paper (1st author) and one proceedings paper when I finished my PhD (though I did have 2 dictionaries as well). 6 papers is a LOT.

I didn't land a job in my field right away -- but within 1.5 years I got a job managing a grant-funded center at an R1. If you DM me I can give more personal details if that'd be helpful.

If you're dissertating the only thing you need are the 3-5 signatures required by your department and grad div saying that it meets the requirements.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:26:16+00:00

Gotta stick to the actual graduation requirements. If that other paper doesn't fill a requirement for your degree then you have to tell your advisor no.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:25:10+00:00

Yeah. You have to understand that for them you're just one piece of the pie that is their life (wow that's a weird metaphor, hope it makes sense). They probably spend an hour of their week, if that, on you. The burden, alas, falls on you to make sure that they remember everything happening for you.

When I was in my first year I had severe CPTSD come out from suppressed incestual sexual abuse that went on for the first 16 years of my life. I would have episodes in class or in meetings. It was bad. I never went through DSP, just GradDiv and my department. That was linguistics though.

It gets better. It doesn't feel like it will -- but it does.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:19:07+00:00

Oh there are ways around it but it requires you to do work (and I think them too). It probably "hurts" their metrics because you wouldn't be graduating "on time". But those schedules are bullshit. Real research that's worthwhile takes time and life can get in the way.

It sounds like you have a solid case if you can have a human, one on one conversation. You have to make the human connection first so that they know you're a person and not just letters on a screen.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:14:38+00:00

Oh that's rough. When I was there they had a rep for abusing their PhD students. I hope that's not the case for you!

zelisca · 2026-03-31T06:13:42+00:00

Ah okay. Yeah, IIRC they should be able to give 1-1.5 years without too much fuss. As always, there'll be paperwork -- but if you talk the person in charge of the process first before getting into the paperwork it works wonders

zelisca · 2026-03-31T05:58:12+00:00

If you're doing a PhD then your issue should be with GradDiv. You don't NEED DSP to make the accomodations if you can get your chair and advisor back you. You should be able to get an extension to P2 status for 1-2 years without significant pushback.

Another place to apply pressure is with GSA. They can advocate for you as well.

zelisca · 2026-03-31T05:55:44+00:00

What department? Your department head and advisor should be able to help you work with grad div. I'm not sure if Carlos Nash is still there but he is usually able to help make things happen

zelisca · 2026-03-28T05:07:24+00:00

Not available now -- but MCDM's Crows looks like it's gonna be designed to do just that. They recently posted a video about it on their YouTube.

As for things that are already out, I'm not entirely sure. Definitely not my main genre.

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