Day 22

Posted on fliers all over campus, including on the back of my stall door in the ladies room:

No New Student Fees!
No To Staff Layoffs!
Stop the Privatization of UC!
WALKOUT
SEPTEMBER 24th
Picket Lines All Day
Rally at Sproul Plaza
12:00 to 2:00 pm
Solidarity
Students Workers Faculty

(I am ashamed to admit that I tore one of these gems down to share the contents with you. But I can reassure you that there were two fliers next to each other, and I carefully removed the masking tape from my copy and stuck it to the other to ensure it wouldn't fall off the stair railing to which it was attached.)

Vice Chancellor Breslauer sent an email to campus this morning with links to the YouTube video of President Yudoff's remarks at the regents meeting. The vice chancellor encourages us to take the time to watch the video. He tells us that the President's comments are highly informative on UC's budget issues and on Yudoff's approach to the issues. But everyone SO already watched that, like, a week ago, George, so keep up!

My supervisor sent an email this morning with a link to a Berkeley News Center page that has excerpts from a few letters written by administrators on campus about the upcoming faculty walkout and UPTE strike this Thursday. She asks us to please read the information, and tells us that our office will be open as usual on September 24. Here are a few highlights from the letters:

Letter to faculty from Academic Senate chair Christopher Kutz: "We...neither endorse nor oppose a walkout, regarding participation in it as a matter of individual faculty conscience, and knowing that faculty will meet their obligations to their students."

Letter to deans and directors from Provost Breslauer and Chancellor Birgeneau: "Any instructor who does not plan to teach during the scheduled time or location [on September 24]  is urged to communicate with the chair in a timely manner and, as a courtesy, provide advance notice to the class of alternative arrangements."

Letter to staff from Jeannine Raymond, Human Resources: "...all employees are expected to report to work and meet their job obligations. Offices will be kept open, classes will be taught, and the campus will provide normal or equivalent services."

Please take an extra moment to reflect on the quite explicit and noteworthy difference in tone between the memos addressed to faculty, and the one addressed to staff. Faculty are politely encouraged to let someone know if courses won't be held as normal, while the staff are practically threatened if they do not do normal work during normal hours. This brings a lump to my throat and makes my hands shake just a little. I have a renewed appreciation for why faculty fight so hard to keep tenure in the academy, and why unions sometimes seem to go overboard with accusations and demands. I am also reminded of the great big line drawn with a wide-tip Sharpie between the place of faculty and that of staff in the university.

In an editorial in our campus student paper, two students outline the reasons they believe we are in this mess, the actions of our legislatures and university administrators that are at fault, and the reasons why the Associated Students of the University of California Berkeley (elected student government) and CALServe (a student activist group) are endorsing and participating in the September 24 walkout to protest the huge increases in student fees, and what they call the administration's "path toward privatization." The students concede that we are in a budget crisis, but warn that there is also a "crisis of priorities." In 1964, Berkeley students from all walks of life--jocks, nerds, beatniks, rich, poor, white, black, etc.--were inspired to join forces against the administration's rules that censored student speech. Because students from different backgrounds found strength in a common enemy, they were able to change this campus, and college campuses across the country. In 1964, just one action from the administration was the final catalyst that led to a minor revolution in the culture of students' freedom of speech. Perhaps, now in 2009, President Yudoff has handed the students, faculty, (and yes, even staff) that magic button of the "crisis of priorities" that we can all agree on, and stand together to save UC. OK, now is anyone around to give me a hand while I try to climb down off this damn soap box?


Well, my loyal readers, I am disappointed to remind you that you won't hear much from me in the next week or so. How was I to know when I booked these flights and hotel rooms months and months ago that one of the most interesting and important moments so far in my higher education career would happen during my vacation? But don't think I'm gone altogether; I'm too much of a nerd invested in California politics, the University of California, and higher education in America to ignore this for a whole week. So until next time...

(By the way, I am pleased to report that I have learned that I am not writing this daily account just for the amusement of my loyal and loving father. Thank you, Professor Dickson, for your words of encouragement. You understand my purpose perfectly, and I am humbled that you find my notes about the daily grind during this bizarre time interesting. I am embarrassed to admit, however, that I had to look up "quotidian" in the dictionary.)