Day 170

This morning, we received an email from the Changellor's office with the subject line, "Important information regarding upcoming marches on Sacramento." Long story short, the university is officially endorsing a student-organized set of meetings and rally in Sacramento in March 1, and is not condemning the union organized protests of March 4. The university's clever maneuver is to endorse active protests against the actions of the state while saying that they cannot endorse protests against raising student fees or layoffs, justifying these actions as necessary in response to state cuts. If you remember from my posts about last semester's protests, the campus website made it clear that while faculty and students were basically given the green light to skip class, staff were expected to show up to work on time or face potential consequences. How about this change-of-tone, solidarity-enforcing paragraph in the email?:

"Staff wishing to participate in these [rallies and other events] should arrange in advance with their supervisors for time off through furlough or vacation.  Supervisors are encouraged to grant such requests provided that the work needs of their unit can be met."

I just received a travel reimbursement allocation from central campus for some visiting students we'll be having at that event I mentioned yesterday. Our standard for reimbursements are up to $300 for students flying in from outside CA, and $100 for students flying from within the state; most students don't meet the maximums unless they are flying from outside the country, or a small city. The related campus offices wrote to inform me that they have agreed to only pay up to $250 for one student flying in from Washington, D.C. "after looking up the cost of flying from Washington D.C., with a Saturday night stayover." They recommend students use Travelocity or other similar sites to find deals. I felt only a little bit of a cad for rolling my eyes at both the $50 reduction, and at the suggestion that we need to instruct the country's top internationally-educated students of the Millenial generation on how to effectively navigate the internet.