Day 109

Today is my last day in the office until a few days before the university reopens from the holiday furlough. I will be at home trying not to spend money, and dreaming of the faraway tropical islands that will just have to endure the holidays without me. This has certainly been a tumultuous year for our campus, but what would a year be at Berkeley without a few wild moments, protests, and faculty outcries? I look forward to returning in a new decade when hopefully, after a bit of rest, the UC community will be renewed and refreshed to restart the good fight. But for now, happy holidays, safe travels, and much rest and relaxation!

Day 106

This afternoon, we've been talking about the fee hikes, and wondering how on earth we are going to fund our department's graduate students. Doctoral students typically enjoy what many institutions call a "tuition waiver," which we also provide here at Berkeley. Except the tuition isn't waived; the money is actually paid from a department account to the university. Parents in the UC system are not the only ones who are going to suffer financially from the increase in tuition and fees. The very departments that make up the university will also have to dig deep into the waiting area couch cushions to find extra change. When we can't find the change, we will have to enroll fewer students, which will have a negative impact on the undergraduate classroom, and we will lose many top students to competitor institutions, potentially diminishing the quality of our program and ultimately, the university. And the merry-go-round spins round and round and round...

Day 105

I was shocked to learn this morning that Chancellor Birgeneau's home was violently attacked Friday evening by a group of terrorists who called themselves protesters. They chanted "no justice, no peace" while throwing objects at the house, breaking windows, and trying to set the place on fire while Mr. Birgeneau and his wife were home. Occupying a campus classroom building is one thing. Threatening and endangering the life of the Chancellor is quite another. I truly wonder what good these people believe their actions could do. When similar attacks took place at UC Santa Cruz, the so called protestors were demonstrating against harmful testing on innocent animals. Was the group this past Friday demonstrating against harmful tuition-billing of the innocent middle class? I fail to see how tuition hikes and violent attacks go together. Although something about this sounds a little like the beginnings of the American Revolutionary War.

The unions have finally come to an agreement with the university on the temporary layoffs. CUE members will have the 4-6% pay reduction as outlined originally by the university through temporary layoff days timed with scheduled university closures, which are the scheduled furlough days for those of us not in the union. These employees will be temporarily laid off for those days. They have the option to spread their pay cuts over a twelve month period, and if they do that, their benefits will accrue as normal. Yes, you are correct: this is almost exactly the same as the furlough plan already in place, but with different vocabulary. Our department's unionized staff member basically rolled her eyes and shook her head that it took this long for those "bunch of idiots over there in the union" to come to the same conclusion the university worked out in August.

I've heard the word from the chairman's mouth: university administration has all but officially committed to ending the furlough on time, and practically promised that the furlough will not be extended into next year. While promises are of course light and easy compared to actual action, the chairman believes that it would be extremely damaging for the university to make such a claim only to go back on in 260 days from now, and he therefore believes them. Perhaps he is right. But federal stimulus money will disappear next fall, and the state shows no signs of giving back our funding, so the fact that 70% of the university's budget is in payroll indicates to me that while we may not see furloughs, we will likely continue to be in a hiring freeze and maybe see more layoffs.

A member of our staff has resigned to move on to bigger and better things away from UC and California. We are of course very sad to see her go. But our collective held-breath has let out just a little bit knowing that she will not be replaced, and her exit will therefore help to better secure all of our jobs, even if just ever so slightly. What a state of affairs when we are thankful that a hard-working, appreciated colleague is leaving her full-time workload on our shoulders so that we might all wake up to work another day.

Day 102

A graduate student just came into my office looking a little frazzled and frantic. He had a hard time spitting it out, but basically he was telling me that he needed a conference room or classroom right away for a review session he is holding for a final that will be held tomorrow. Apparently, his normal classroom is in Wheeler Hall, where students have once again decided to camp out. Well, they aren't camping there anymore since police calmly and politely went into the building, woke up the napping protesters, arrested them one by one, and removed them from the building. The place was still a zoo, and our student teacher couldn't get into the building to help his own desperate undergraduates prepare for their final. This protest, I'm afraid, has seemed to just fall flat compared to the chaos of the last one. Maybe the students are just too exhausted from studying to give it a real go.

In about an hour or so, the staff is going to caravan over to a nice restaurant for our annual staff Christmas lunch. Economy, budget, fiscal crisis all be damned. It's the holidays for crying out loud and we're going to have dessert and wine and everything.

Day 100

This morning, a co-worker and I were chatting about what is particularly un-fun about working for UC at the moment. Our state is a disaster, our higher education system is on the verge of collapse, and we feel trapped. She will soon reach her twenty year mark with the university and is looking forward to the benefits that come along with that, but she admits to being far less enthusiastic about them than she was twenty years ago. "The benefits were good when I started working here," she said. "But it's pathetic how little I am making now for how long I've been at this place." She has career ambitions to move onward and upward in the university, but has practically no opportunities to do so since the university isn't really hiring now, and probably won't be for a long time. She prophesied that as soon as the economy improves, everyone will leave to find better jobs elsewhere, which you know is exactly what I think, too. The strange thing about this whole conversation is that we weren't speaking with particular melancholy or ire, but more just as statements of fact for the sake of confirming our mutual feelings and understandings of the situation in front of us. We all know how lucky we are right now to have a job so no one really says that aloud anymore. Like I've said, no full time staff in my department have been laid off, but since we don't have many other options, we accept that we're just hanging around with our fingers crossed that layoffs won't happen in the future. Our occasional party atmosphere has picked up again in the office with potlucks instead of catering, and it's been just great. We trudge along and smile and laugh and get along exceptionally well with the bond of our common experience. It's almost like we are all stuffed down into a rickety bomb shelter while a small nuclear war is waging outside, and we've decided to keep going with our daily activities as if nothing has changed because what the hell else are we going to do? I hope other staff around campus and UC are as lucky as I am to have colleagues who keep smiling.

Day 98

So very many interesting things have come up in the past week including posters around campus that say "Quality Staff Deserve Quality Benefits," a headline investigation into unnecessary police force used on student protesters, a video released by Chancellor Birgeneau on the recent protests and budget issues, an agreement between the university and the union on the temporary layoff measures, and news of hearing that is being held today in Sacramento on the California Master Plan. However, last week I was working through lunch and staying late every day in preparation for our two week hiatus over the winter break furlough, so I barely had time to powder my nose, let alone ponder the daily trials of the California system of higher education or my colleagues' opinions on those issues. I certainly pondered, but only within my own mind rather than through my fingertips at the keyboard.

Speaking of my fingertips, I can barely feel them at the moment since Murphy's Law has taken over Berkeley campus, and on the coldest day of the year so far, half of campus is without heat and hot water. I am wearing a knee-length wool winter coat, winter boots, and a bulky scarf with a space heater at my feet that isn't even able to keep my ankles warm. My office mate went to a discount clothing store across the street and bought a pair of fingerless gloves to add to her arctic getup. Faculty are fleeing for their home-computers while the staff here in the office are blowing warm air into our fists like the pitchers at a frigid MLB playoff game in the northeast. At this moment, Bob Cratchit and I are kindred spirits.

Day 92

We received a fair-warning email this afternoon that in commemoration of the 1964 UC Berkeley Free Speech Movement, there will likely be campus-wide protests, which may include building occupations or sit-ins including in our own building. We are advised that if students march through our building, that we should "let them" and "try to carry on business as usual." Yeah, OK. Tomorrow is my biggest deadline of the year, so this should be exciting. I can't wait for the flood of students who will come to me and use the protests as an excuse as to why they didn't submit materials on time. I'll get extra compensation for the overtime it will take to deal with these issues, right?

The paycheck I received today is $14.17 less than last month due to the increase in California tax withholdings instituted in November. Anybody else want to take a piece of my paycheck? I'm taking numbers so get in line, my loyal readers!