author: ctran1023 category: Uncategorized, berkeley madness tags: date: February 16th, 2009
Ahh yes, the impending doom that is budget cuts. Clearly, it’s going to be a lot worse than most people anticipated seeing how crappy the economy is. However, instead of just being a Debbie Downer and leaving it at that, hb really wants you all to do something about it.
The API Education and Languages NOW! (APIEL!) org is putting on open forum to talk about how to strengthen language education at Berkeley, recession or not. I know that it’s not necessarily easy for the administration because they do have the tough job of finding ways to make ends meet but we need to let them know that what we really can’t afford is losing language education. Come to the event to voice your opinions and learn something!
They’re going to have amazing speakers like Prof. Ling-Chi Wang (activist since the Third World Liberation Front), Prof. Elaine Kim, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, and Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion Gibor Basri.
When: Thursday, February 19th, 2009 from 4:00-7:00 pm
Where: Heller Lounge, MLK Jr. Student Union
Got questions? Contact apielnow@gmail.com. Check out the fb event here.
author: ctran1023 category: berkeley madness tags: date: December 21st, 2008
FREE AT LAST. One month long winter break suckaaas. That said…
I know this is slightly out of date but I just wanted to comment on an email that Chancellor Birgeneau sent out last Tuesday. If you didn’t already know (meaning you live in a shoebox), California’s broke as heck and it just keeps getting worse. According to Birgeneau, the budget is going to be reduced by $30-40 million. While the email wasn’t particularly unusual (we will do our best to keep the quality of your education blah blah..) one tidbit caught my eye:
“We intend to avoid the practice of making cuts by simply allocating an across-the-board budget reduction of “x” percent to all vice chancellors, deans, and directors.”
Déjà vu, much? With the events of the EALC budget cuts last year in mind (read up on that here), I can’t help but hear the ominous organ music playing in the background. Reading between the lines, I predict that this means doing whatever necessary to protect the math and science departments while devastating the Ethnic Studies/Social Science departments that have been notoriously under-funded to begin with. Yes, we are in a massive recession and I wholeheartedly agree that cuts need to be made but it just seems that with cut allocations the administration begins deeming which types of knowledge are more valuable than others. Undoubtedly, the Berkeley’s sciences are renowned but Cal also boasts the best English and East Asian Language and Cultures departments on the West Coast.
So yes, nothing has been written in stone yet and I really hope my predictions are wrong but keep an eye out for future decisions. Also, the email said that our PG&E bill was 8 million last year??? I’m pretty sure we could bring that down a lot by being a bit more mindful of our energy usage.
peace|love|& christmas cheer.
author: elainechen category: berkeley madness tags: date: December 5th, 2008
Excuse the lack of posts. Currently, all of core is down and MIA. I can’t even get one of them to hang out with me. It’s project this or homework that. Sheesh. Needless to say, all of UC Berkeley is currently in…
FINALS WEEK(S). Or something close to it.
Yes. That means camping out in the library 24/7, drinking even the coffee grinds that remain sitting in the bottom of your coffee maker, and gluing your hands to your laptop: desperate attempts to get that satisfactory grade in your course that may mean nothing to you years from now.
BUT. I am not exempt from this either. I just wanted to update all our lovely readers about our whereabouts and promise a plethora of posts afterwards when we’re all relaxing at home during winter break, going crazy from hardboiled withdrawals and aching for something to do.
So be sure to come back in a few days! We promise new posts. Really. Don’t leave us. We promise we’ll be good again.