Leaked negotiations reveal that the UC Regents offered to raise graduate student stipends to $54,000 per year, but hid the fact that they would be paid in Dining Dollars, a currency only redeemable in UCSD dining halls. Union bargainers asked to be paid in Triton Cash instead of Dining Dollars, and UC rejected the proposal, claiming that UWAC’s demand to be paid a living wage was part of a “Marxist, social justice” agenda.

UWAC also asked for COLA, a yearly cost of living adjustment, for worker salaries in order to keep up with rising costs due to inflation, but UC said that after buying Chancellor Khosla a summer property on the moon, they could only afford to give the union free soda from Coca-Cola and sister companies.

HDH Director Phil Thirich announced that Dining Dollars would now be accepted to pay for graduate student housing at the “low cost” of 100,000 Dining Dollars per month for a room in a shared apartment. When asked about how students are supposed to afford such high rent prices, Thirich sent the link to a UCSD-branded quadruple bunk bed, saying that students can share a room to save money.