Any other Monday morning, Josh Mesfin would have been in the lab, performing surgery on rats and devising new ways to help them heal from heart attacks — with the hope of one day using those same tools to help people.
But the fourth-year UC San Diego bioengineering graduate student spent the day chanting and marching alongside fellow academic workers who launched a strike at 10 University of California campuses on Monday, decrying low wages that Mesfin says make instant ramen a dietary staple for many and that leave students struggling to afford the region’s rising rent.