The Media Laboratory, an annex of the social sciences department, has lost two-thirds of its active staff this year. Now, with the rumor of further cuts at hand for the upcoming year, the lab prepares students for the worst.

UC Santa Cruz alumnus Gabe Zimmerman was one of the six people killed during the Tucson, Ariz. shooting earlier this month. Alumni are working to raise money for the Zimmerman scholarship, which will aid undergraduates in the social sciences.

Fewer classes, fewer teachers, fewer TAs. While paying the highest tuition in the history of the University of California, students are beginning to notice the dwindling resources on campus.

Community Studies is still here. Despite the fact that since last spring, the noise around the fact that cuts to the major has died down, Community Studies department and supporters are still trying to figure out what the future will look like.

Large-scale budget cuts now loom over UCSC’s Division of Social Sciences like a dark cloud of uncertainty. As it stands now, the division faces $1.3 million in cuts as the entire university confronts a $13 million state funding cut, adding to the $6 million in cuts left over from last year. “When it comes time to cut the budget, people always cut services, clubs, anything that isn’t the bare bones,” Sebastian said. “They cut the social sciences. When you do that, you cut what makes the UC different. You’re cutting away what makes this community different.” The budget cuts to the social sciences are the largest core budget reduction campuswide, and will affect every program within the division.

Classroom Unit I was filled to more than half of its capacity as students, administrators and faculty addressed concerns about the ongoing budget crisis and program cuts at the Student Union Assembly (SUA)’s town hall meeting last Wednesday.