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Towering like a concrete jungle, ongoing construction at Porter College’s A-building, which was scheduled to be completed by that start of fall quarter, is instead impeding on the lives of many residents. Photo by Rosario Serna.

Photo by Rosario Serna.

The Porter quad, once grassy and scattered with groups of students socializing and playing music, is now replaced with concrete and chain-link fences. A large plastic sheet veils the unfinished face of the empty A-building, while B-building is immersed in a layer of scaffolding composed of poles and ladders crawling with construction workers. The jarring cacophony of jackhammers and electric saws accompany the noises of the trucks rolling through the quad.

It’s a completely different atmosphere from the relaxed, free-spirited Porter that residents of previous years have known. The estimated $80 million project is intended to upgrade the dorms to withstand earthquakes as well as house more students.

“The buildings were old,” said Michael Yamauchi-Gleason, the Porter College administrative officer (CAO). “There was a need to provide more bed space without creating a new building.”

This has not gone as smoothly as predicted, however.

Over the course of last week’s rainstorms, water leaked into areas where B-building was uncovered. The resulting water damage necessitated the need for carpeting and drywall to be redone. A total of 13 rooms were damaged in the corners of the building and 19 students had to switch to empty rooms on their floor at Porter’s B-building.

For Stephanie Logan, a Porter fourth-year residential advisor living on the sixth floor, this was her second time having to move in one month.

“It’s unsettling to have your stuff in boxes,” Logan said. “It doesn’t really feel like I’m at home. It’s hard because I realize there’s human error and problems arise, but it’s frustrating to be told to wait and wait and wait. I’m pleased with how the building turned out, but at the same time, I don’t know.”

The repairs are estimated to take about two weeks, according to Yamauchi-Gleason. Students displaced by this incident have the option of permanently staying in the room they have been moved to or moving back when the repairs are finished. Logan plans on staying in her new room for the rest of the school year.

Deadlines have also been an issue throughout construction.

In the contract the construction of B-building, which began this past April, was supposed to have been finished by the beginning of fall quarter.

It is now predicted that B-building will be finished the first week of November. However, according to Project Superintendent Bob Colhour, the entire worksite surrounding B-building will not be complete until next summer, including the outdoor stage and landscaping.

Located adjacent to the Porter mailroom, the B-building dorm received an additional floor. However, measurements were miscalculated, which resulted in the sixth floor having to be re-done.

Due to the delay in the construction, residents of the sixth floor were not able to move in to their assigned rooms during the first week of school and were notified only a week in advance that their rooms were not ready. Eighty-six students were relocated to empty rooms on the first floor of the Porter B-building and 38 students to College Eight.

Although it’s now five weeks into the quarter, the B-building still smells of paint and dust and so far lacks proper covering in the corners of each hall to keep drafts from entering the building.

One student who saw residents entering and exiting B- building while passing through the quad, whispered to a friend, “Whoa, people actually live in there? That’s crazy.”

Clark Steward, a first-year Porter student who resides in one of the unfinished dorms, commented on the nature of living in a construction zone.

“I’m being woken up by nail guns at 7 a.m.,” Steward said. “At least they stopped jackhammering on the sixth floor.”

His solution: ear plugs.

“You just get used to it,” Steward said. “I don’t spend much time here, to be honest.”

The A-building dorms, which received two additional floors and are located on the opposite side of the quad across from B-building, are scheduled to be able to house students by fall 2010, though cosmetic updates will likely still be going on by then.

The Porter-Kresge dining hall, Hungry Slug Cafe and the art galleries that make up Building-C are scheduled to open Jan. 23, 2010 and are so far on track. Right now, it gives off the semblance of a barn lacking a floor and an interior, a mere shell of a building with its insides open to the outside elements.

Part of the delay was due to buildings not being fully designed and the unavailability of window shades and other construction materials.

“We are pretty pleased that we could deliver as much as we have,” Yamauchi-Gleason said. “On the whole, we’ve received very few complaints from both students and parents.”

Chelsea Holman, a Porter residential adviser and third-year student, feels like the Porter community has changed due to the construction.

“That’s what Porter was about: the quad,” Holman said.

She notes that community events have been moved to the alley and I-lounge, areas near the Porter apartments.

Generally, amidst all of the complications that the construction has posed, the students inhabiting this concrete jungle seem to have come to terms with the living conditions.

“It’s frustrating, but I like to believe that they did the best they could,” Logan said. “I love Porter. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

Illustration by Joe Lai.

The University of California’s Office of the President has shelved a potential plan to raise fees for undergraduates of certain majors. The plan, presented Sept. 15 to the UC Regents, intended to charge business and engineering majors an additional $900 starting at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. While regents will vote on two other fee increases for all students at the November Regent’s meeting, they will not take a vote on the differential fee plan.

“The University is not going forward with this fee action item,” Ricardo Vasquez, a UC spokesman, told City on a Hill Press. “The administration will take a further view and have an ongoing conversation to consider this plan’s impact on diversity, access and affordability.”

The fee action item, one of three ideas proposed to close the budget shortfall, was proposed by UC Regents anticipating a larger budget deficit next year than it is currently facing. At the beginning of the 2009-10 fiscal year, the University of California faced a one billion dollar budget gap. After implementing a plan of debt restructuring, faculty salary reduction and student fee increases, that gap will be lowered to $535 million.

According to the University of California Office of the President website, this fee increase would be in recognition of the higher costs associated with these programs.

“These disciplines were under consideration because they usually have higher costs, with expensive lab and equipment and higher paid faculty,” said Vasquez.

Student leaders and University officials showed concern about the idea’s fiscal impact and its effect on diversity at the UC.

Victor Sanchez, a fourth-year from Oakes and the external vice chair of the UCSC Student Union Assembly (SUA), called this plan “a backhanded attempt to tax students.”

“The impact of this plan is more than just the price — it’s the diversity and amount of students who may now be unwilling be in these majors,” Sanchez said.

Kalwis Lo, chair of the UCSC SUA, met with UC President Yudof on Oct. 15 to discuss the fiscal situation on the universities. Lo expressed a view similar to Sanchez’s. He said he was disappointed in the proposed plan for fee hikes and was “definitely satisfied,” that the idea to raise fees for specific majors was taken off the table.

“The SUA brought up this issue a lot and advocated against it for quite a while,” Lo said. “I do not believe that money is the root of the issues here. I simply believe that someone isn’t looking hard enough or willing to go the extra mile to come up with some solutions. If we truly are the best institution in the world, here is the opportunity to astound the world and show how impressive we can be.”

Regents will vote on two other fee proposals at their next meeting, taking place from Nov. 17th to 19th at UCLA. The first proposal is a mid-year tuition hike of $585 for undergraduates, to be implemented spring quarter. The second, to begin in the 2010-11 school year, is a $1,334 tuition increase for undergraduate students — together amounting to a 32 percent rise in current tuition for University of California undergraduates.

Residents commemorate the Loma Prieta earthquake, which shook California two decades ago. The epicenter was located at Nisene Marks State Park and rocked through downtown Santa Cruz. Photo by Rosario Serna.

Two decades ago, the Loma Prieta earthquake forced the citizens of Santa Cruz to come together and prove their resiliency and initiative.

“[Disasters] bring out either the best or the worst in people,” said City Manager Dick Wilson at the Earthquake Anniversary Commemoration last Saturday, adding that Loma Prieta definitely brought out the best.

Saturday, Oct. 17 marked the 20th anniversary of the infamous earthquake, which hit Santa Cruz with a lasting effect. Gathering in front of the downtown post office, hundreds of Santa Cruz residents came out in support of the commemoration, hosted by the City of Santa Cruz.

Leading this community event were public officials including Mayor Cynthia Matthews, Assemblyman Bill Monning, City Manager Dick Wilson and local businessman Larry Pearson. The hour-long celebration began at 4 p.m. and ended at 5:04 p.m., the exact minute the earthquake shook the town 20 years ago.

The epicenter of the 1989 tremor, which was recorded as a 6.9 on the Richter scale, was in Nisene Marks State Park and reverberated throughout Santa Cruz County. Although repercussions of the earthquake were also felt throughout the wider Bay Area, the disaster took an especially destructive toll upon the downtown Santa Cruz area.

“Twenty-nine buildings were destroyed in downtown alone,” said Mayor Matthews. “[The earthquake] certainly changed the course of the history of Santa Cruz.”

In an effort to record the personal stories of the disaster, there was a board on which crowd members could write their memories. People at the Saturday event were sincere and attentive, trying to handle the physical and symbolic meanings of the earthquake in Santa Cruz history.

“It is a somber moment,” Monning said at the event, as he remembered those who died and the destruction induced by the earthquake. “[But] we must also celebrate the achievement of the community coming together.”

The aftermath of the disaster was a challenging time in Santa Cruz. As the country was in the middle of a recession, city leaders at the time wanted to fast track every development project with the intention, as Wilson said, of “bringing in a new downtown.”

Through active engagement of a participatory citizenry and hundreds of public meetings, the redevelopment took its shape.

In commemoration of the leadership and decisive action taken by many public servants following Loma Prieta, including firefighters, police officers, elected officials and local citizens, the crowd showed undeniable gratitude at the anniversary gathering.

Dominic Gullo, a city employee who attended the commemoration, felt that holding the event in a public place showed an effort to create solidarity within the Santa Cruz community.

“We should educate people moving into Santa Cruz to not forget [the earthquake] … we need to eradicate people being oblivious to our city’s history,” Gullo said.

The Earthquake Anniversary Commemoration was designed to help local residents share a collective experience and an intergenerational memory and develop a relationship to place.

Monning called for attendants to rededicate themselves, saying that “we live in natural beauty and coming with this gift there will always be natural disaster.”

Before the commemoration was over, Mayor Matthews took to the podium for the second time and addressed the crowd.

“As 5:04 approaches remember the losses, and give thanks to those who responded, to appreciate the effort to rebuild — and to commit to creating the community we need,” Monning urged.

When 5:04 arrived, the clock tower’s bell chimed 20 times, representing the two decades since the quake. People in the crowd stood somberly still during this part of the ceremony, the sound of the bell resonating through downtown Santa Cruz.

Photo by Devika Agarwal.

Country Western artist Sherry Austin performs an on-air set as part of “Please Stand By,” a live radio show every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. hosted by DJ “Sleepy John Sandidge.” Photo by Morgan Grana.

“Warren T.” Sampson is at his best on air, picking songs one by one and taking requests. Photo by Devika Agarwal.

Real vinyl records. Buzzing acoustic guitars. And live DJs all day. This is KPIG Radio.

The station’s studio, affectionately named the “Sty,” sits behind a Chinese restaurant on Main St. in Watsonville. Inside, every inch of wall and ceiling is plastered with pictures of country music legends. The office is adorned with pig knickknacks, pig stickers and even pig Christmas lights.

Launched in 1988, KPIG Radio, found at 107.5 FM, is not your typical radio station. The station plays a large amount of local advertisements, local artists, fake commercials, song requests, live in-studio shows and features an always eclectic music collection, ranging from Tom Petty to Willie Nelson.

It is a typical Wednesday afternoon, and dic jockey Elsbeth Lansman, known on-air as “Ellie Mae,” is sitting by the telephone and microphone, taking requests as part of KPIG’s “All Request Out to Lunch Hour.”

“We are friends playing music for friends, and we don’t talk down to people on the air like most DJs,” Lansman said. “It’s more a personal relationship. You can call me. How many radio stations can you call and get the DJ who’s actually choosing the music?”

KPIG is one of very few commercial, privately-owned radio stations that still uses live DJs to hand-pick songs. In 1995, broadcast companies were not permitted to own more than 40 radio stations nationwide. After Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, however, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relaxed the restrictions on how many radio stations a company could own, quickly altering the broadcasting environment. By early 2003, just four companies controlled approximately 70 percent of radio stations nationwide, with mega-companies Viacom and Clear Channel Communications at the masthead of 42 percent of those stations. These large companies cut costs, fired DJs, implemented new rules and standardized station playlists.

KPIG DJ Warren Sampson, known on-air as “Warren T.,” thinks Santa Cruz is the perfect place for a local radio station to survive amidst a sea of standardization.

“That basic idea, that basic profitability, is so much of what Americans hate today, so much of that mass-packaged, large-scale distributing,” Sampson said. “And doing that strips away personality — especially in a market like Santa Cruz which is increasingly hungry for local stuff, local stores, local foods, local whatever.”

Focusing on and involving the local community is an important part of KPIG’s mission. Every two hours the station plays “hog calls,” during which community members can call in and report a missing pet, promote an upcoming event or hock wares. They also host “KPIG Happy Hour” at Cilantros Mexican Restaurant, located down the street from the studio.

The number one radio station for adults 25 to 54 in the local market, KPIG pulls in 50,000 listeners a month in the Santa Cruz County and Monterey Counties, and gets 315,000 hits a month on its Web site. The DJs say it’s not uncommon for people to call in from other parts of the country — and even other continents — to request songs.

Sampson is a 23-year-old UC Santa Cruz graduate who was hired to work for KPIG three years ago by the late Laura Ellen Hopper, radio icon and former musical and programming director. Sampson says that KPIG — which plays a unique blend of country, Americana, blues and rock music — has a distinct spirit about it that defies the normal musical boundaries characteristic of most other major radio outlets.

“KPIG’s a funny station because it’s not a classic rock station. It’s not a defined station,” Sampson said. “Laura defined it herself, so everybody that listens to it has their own sort of idea of what KPIG is. And that’s special.”

Why Live?

Since 1996, profits have become the bottom line for most radio stations. Many companies plan playlists in advance, often from a headquarters thousands of miles away from where the music actually streams. Lansman said that KPIG has essentially refused to let that happen based on a belief that live radio is truly something different and special.

“It’s good company. Here I am alone in this room, but I’m in the same moment with all these listeners, people who are listening and we’re all keeping each other company,” Lansman said as “Truckin’” by the Grateful Dead played on-air in the background. “All the listeners are listening to the same thing, and here I am choosing the songs one song at a time instead of choosing the songs the day before or 20 minutes before even.”

Michael Keith, a radio culture expert and historian from Columbia University, said that radio stations once operated with the public good in mind. They tried to serve their communities in their news reporting, traffic and weather updates and even in their song choices. Though times have drastically changed, Keith says he is impressed by KPIG’s commitment to maintaining a live, local and community-focused enterprise.

“I think that’s when radio’s at its absolute best: when it’s spontaneous, when it’s live, when it’s genuine, when it’s not pitching,” Keith said. “It’s admirable.”

Though stations like KPIG remain the minority industry-wide, Keith said tides may soon turn. While broadcast companies may not view it as cost-effective in the short-term, Keith believes stations will ultimately have to return to live formats in an effort to develop niches that better serve local communities and win listener support. When stations can develop loyal fan bases and establish themselves as genuinely valuable to the cities they serve, profitability often follows, Keith said.

“For a long time, I’ve thought radio needs to get back to its stitching, needs to remember what it used to be and emulate that,” Keith said. “You know it’s gonna be Darwinian. It’s going to result in [the] strongest surviving. And [the] most creative, original and local will still continue to have constituency out there.”

KPIG station manager Frank Caprista said it can take a while for a radio station to build a meaningful relationship with its community.

Caprista, who said it took seven years for KPIG to financially break even, believes KPIG’s unique approach has become part of the station’s success.

“I think people can identify with it in a lot of ways, but I think it’s unique and it’s different, and we try to be entertaining, and we try not to be boring,” Caprista said. “The whole trick is they don’t know what’s coming next. So they’re listening to hear what’s coming next.”

Chuck McCabe is a local singer and songwriter from Los Gatos, and his song “I’d Rather Be in Redding” has received significant airplay on KPIG. McCabe says that he — and other local and small-scale artists like him — appreciate KPIG’s creativity and willingness to promote lesser-known acts.

“We get a lot of support from KPIG, and I hate to say it [but] if it weren’t for an off-the-wall station like that, where would we get air play?” McCabe said. “Having a live DJ — it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a personality.”

In addition to building a rapport with the local community, radio that features live DJs also has other less-obvious benefits.

In Keith’s book “The Quieted Voice”, he talks about the public-service holes that are created when radio is outsourced to locations many miles away from the cities where they are broadcast. Keith notes that in 2002 a train derailment occurred near Minot, North Dakota and sent a poisonous cloud of toxic fumes through the town. Because the most listened-to stations in the area broadcast from more than 1600 miles away in San Antonio, however, nobody at the studios could be reached to warn the community of the danger.

In today’s world, despite the fact that Americans have a greater variety of news sources than ever, radio is in a unique position since it can be accessed practically any time, any where, even in the midst of a disaster.

“Here comes a tsunami. Who’s gonna warn you?” McCabe asked, pausing briefly to drive the point home. “KPIG.”

Two Worlds: Local and Corporate

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Mapleton Communications owns KPIG Radio along with approximately 40 other stations in California, Oregon and Washington. While the company maintains a professional relationship with KPIG, it also keeps its distance from the stations, according to DJ John “Sleepy” Sandidge.

“The relationship is: they own us; they tell us what to do,” Sandidge said. “But they know enough about business to keep their hands off of us because they don’t know how to program it, they don’t understand it and they don’t live here.”

Adam Nathanson, Mapleton CEO and president, called KPIG “One of the great radio stations in the United States,” noting that the company is proud to be associated with KPIG radio.

“The people who have been working at KPIG have been there a long time and clearly know what they’re doing,” Nathanson said. “So we see our job as to let the KPIG DJs and Frank [Caprista] and the people who work there keep doing what they’re doing and support them.”

DJ Lansman, whose parents started the station 21 years ago, prefers not to give the headquarters much consideration.

“I like to pretend that I’m not a part of anyone or anything. I’m in this little room, doing what KPIG is supposed to do. I don’t want to think about pleasing some people who don’t ever show up here,” Lansman said, a hint of frustration in her voice. “They don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know where the nearest 7-Eleven is. They don’t know the people who listen. They don’t hang out at Cilantros for KPIG Happy Hour.”

Nathanson concedes that part of KPIG’s success comes from their individualism and comprehensive knowledge of what local listeners want to hear. Nonetheless, the Mapleton company was forced in 2006 to cut KPIG’s live DJs between 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. and, last spring, the company cut the 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. live slot as well.

“It was a financial move, they say; it didn’t make much sense. If you cut out four hours, how much money is that? Is it worth it?” Sandidge wondered. “They seem to think it is. They’re a business. They’re in it to make money, and that’s not why most of us are in radio. We know we’re not gonna get rich, but we love what we’re doin’.”

With its large vinyl collection and seemingly tireless commitment to live radio, KPIG functions somewhat like a time capsule. But it was also the first radio station to go online in the summer of 1995, and over the past 14 years it has developed a following that spans the globe.

In an era of radio consolidation and an overall decline in radio listenership, McCabe admires the station’s demonstrated capacity for sustained success.

“I wish the whole country was KPIG. Maybe it will get there. But you know if someone puts the money behind them, they’re gonna want to start calling the shots and ruining the whole vibe,” McCabe said. “We’ve just gotta keep the PIG small and wonderful.”

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

How can 13 people sign a document four meters under water? That very thought struck me as I watched Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, Vice-President Mohammed Waheed Hassan, and 11 cabinet members don scuba gear and dive into a turquoise lagoon for the world’s first underwater meeting on October 19.

Despite the lighthearted, and even humorous approach, the subject matter was stone serious.

The morbid reality of the Republic of Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean, is that within 100 years the entire nation will likely be gone. More than 80 percent of the islands are less than one meter (about 3.3 feet) above sea level, and with rising water levels the islands’ nearly 300,000 locals are being pressed into smaller and smaller living spaces.

The underwater meeting involved the signing of a document calling for an international collaboration in the effort to prevent global warming. The document will be presented at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in early December.

While the effort is commendable and attention-grabbing, it is most unfortunate that it takes the threat of geographic elimination to expose the dark reality behind the world’s apathy toward the global warming plight.

America’s population exceeds 300 million people — about 1,000 times that of the Maldives — and yet we stand unaccomplished in the fight against global climate change.

According to a report released in 2006 by the advocacy group Environmental Defense, The U.S. contributes 45 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas most responsible for global warming, yet we represent a mere 5 percent of the world’s population.

With so many committees and organizations dedicated to protecting the environment, it’s a wonder we haven’t taken congressional action. Sure, we’ll save a rare and unheard of species of fish, but when it comes to preventing the looming destruction of humanity, we fall short.

We have a pendulous cloud lingering overhead, creeping down toward us with a vengeance. Mother nature is pissed. Humanity has spit pollution and poison in her face, and she’s not fond of toxic saliva.

Global warming isn’t going to drown us all within a week, but we cannot merely write it off as something future generations will have to deal with. We are being given more time to prevent our own destruction, much like the “one-and-three-quarters” we sometimes give ourselves when counting down from ten.

President Nasheed’s stunt not only drew worldwide attention to his country, but to the harshness of the future. The first democratically elected president of the Maldives, Nasheed has been a key force behind the global movement for climate change. In March 2009, he pledged to make the Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade.

If this small nation is taking such a strong stance on climate change, there is no excuse for the United States — the country that seems to want to “help” everyone — to have yet to sign onto any sort of comprehensive climate change plan.

If we are so forward-thinking, we will show it. Recent efforts have been made in Congress and by the Obama administration to work with other countries that produce major emissions and find a happy medium as far as pollutant levels go, but we have to question the delayed action. These moves to save us from our own demise should have been made years ago.

We need to stop musing about solutions and start implementing them. We have the reason, the resources and the capacity. All we lack is the drive.

The underwater meeting was a starting point. It ignited the Maldivian nation, and, with luck, the world. Now we wait to see if support and inspiration follow.

While I may never solve the great mystery of underwater paper-signing, at least I know that someone out there is fighting for humanity’s survival. America, it’s our turn.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The UC Santa Cruz Academic Senate held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to determine when UCSC faculty can take furlough days. The meeting was called to discuss many of the concerns that prompted the UC-wide walkout of Sept. 24, such as furloughs, budgetary transparency and the ultimate direction of the University of California.

Progress was made in discussing both sides of the issue, but a vote will not take place until the next Academic Senate meeting on Oct. 28.

The most recent meeting came in the wake of controversy about whether faculty’s furlough days, or unpaid days off, should be taken on instructional days. If furlough days were to be taken on instructional days, the education of students may be jeopardized while the prices of tuition and fees continue to increase.

Some faculty argued that taking instructional days off is important to make budget cuts visible, and thereby prompt solutions.

Ten Senate faculty members called the emergency meeting as a place to discuss the urgent issues facing UCSC, and the UCs in general.

Sociology Professor Craig Reinarman, who serves on the Graduate Council — one of multiple faculty committees included in the Academic Senate — initiated the emergency meeting.

“Our request was prompted by the crisis, but also many of us had mixed feelings about the walkout on the first day,” Reinarman said. “We weren’t so sure that the best results would be achieved without any discussion or planning.”

Reinarman hoped that the meeting would be a place for faculty to share their thoughts and organize their positions on the changes at UC.

Environmental Studies Professor Brent Haddad serves as chair of the Planning and Budget Committee. He had yet to solidify his opinions about when furloughs should be taken at the beginning of the meeting.

“I still want to hear the arguments,” Haddad said.

The UCSC Academic Council is a legislative body of faculty that shares governance with the administration and usually meets once a month. Following the regents’ announcement in July of a furlough program, the Council unanimously voted that furloughs should affect instructional days, to show that budget cuts do have a negative impact on the University.

In August, Interim Provost and Executive Vice-President of Academic Affairs Lawrence H. Pitts countered in an open letter to faculty that furlough days should not fall on instructional days.

The walkout of Sept. 24 was in response to this issue, among others. Reinarman felt that because the walkout took place on a day that was already chaotic, many faculty had not yet had a chance to discuss the issues at hand.

Many who spoke at the Senate meeting felt that Pitts’ edict from the Office of the President violated the principle of shared governance. Under this principle, the Academic Senate usually oversees academic matters, and the administration governs finances and organization. Faculty members felt that since furloughs affect teaching and research, they should fall under the purview of the Senate.

In a student media interview on Oct. 19, UC President Mark Yudof said his biggest mistake during his term was not participating with faculty in discussions about when to take furlough days. He supported the Office of the President’s final decision, however, saying that taking days off instruction would hurt students.

After much debate and several amendments, the Senate passed the resolution on Wednesday, saying that they will determine when UCSC faculty can take furloughs. They also passed a resolution stating that UCSC faculty cannot be required to police or record when their colleagues take their furlough days, and cannot be required to use that information for any merit review.

Other issues brought up at the meeting included whether new and underpaid faculty and staff should be protected from cuts, whether the Senate should formally rebuke UC President Yudof, and whether certain furlough days should be designated as “reading days” for students.

Two additional resolutions were on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting but had to be put on hold. The first was a resolution asking for more fiscal transparency from the Office of the President. The second was a resolution that the UCSC administration should continue to bargain in good faith with the faculty union. They will be addressed at the next regular Senate meeting this coming Wednesday.

Alex De Arana-Lemich, who sits on the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid of the UCSC Student Academic Senate, had mixed views of when faculty should take days off.

“From an educational point of view, as a student, I disagree with [taking instructional days off], but from the staff’s point of view it’s understandable,” he said.

As far as the outcome of the resolutions, De Arana-Lemich was pensive.

“The meeting accomplished something,” he said. “But the effect of it remains to be seen.”

(from left to right)

“I’d play it off as a hoax.”
Rich Hawkinson
Oakes, fourth-year
Film and Digital Media

“I’d get on my cell phone then start calling my friends saying, ‘Look up here.’”
Lina Carpenter
College Nine, third-year
Art & Education

“Scream and take pictures.”
Nina Lopez
Crown, third-year
Molecular Cell Development Biology

“Well first of all, I’d wonder how I could get down. Then I’d be counting various landmarks and making a game out of it.”
Tom Bowles
Cakes, fourth-year
History

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Compiled by Molly Carter and Isaac Miller.

Illustration by Joe Lai.

The crowd chattering about their favorite digitally animated Pixar movies this week wasn’t the elementary-school crowd one might have expected — it was the college crowd of UC Santa Cruz.

Founders Day at UCSC annually honors individuals whose work supports the spirit of community and UCSC’s vision. At a dinner on Friday, Oct. 23. awards will be given to five individuals who meet these standards, with the Foundation Medal going to Pixar CEO Ed Catmull for his groundbreaking work as one of the founders and the current president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios.

Because of student interest — and the fact that Pixar’s studios are located just a few hours north of the school — UCSC decided to plan several days of events encompassing “Pixar Week,” which started on Monday. Community members and students alike were invited to partake in screenings and lectures in celebration of the award.

The week’s events have drifted off campus as well, as downtown’s Del Mar Theatre will screen the documentary, “The Pixar Story,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Caetlin Benson-Allott, a UCSC assistant professor of film and digital media, film historian and expert on digital effects, lectured at the event on Tuesday night.

“Since there are so many students who are interested in film history, [computer-generated imagery] and digital animation, we decided to put together a series of events with various people from the Pixar team and faculty and UCSC to create community,” Benson-Allott said.

Her lecture, entitled “Tales of Labor and Value: What Works in Pixar Films,” addressed how Pixar stories really differ from other animated films.

“Think of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ and the song ‘Whistle While You Work.’ Pixar has these happy workers but it’s a much more realistic scene of labor,” Benson-Allott said prior to her lecture. “‘Ratatouille’ looks at how the contemporary culinary industry operates.”

As expected, “Pixar Week” has been drawing students from not only film, but also game design, art and even business majors at UCSC.

Tom Wunsch, a second-year business major, was one of the many attendees of Benson-Allot’s lecture.

“[Benson-Allott] touched on the topic that ‘Monsters, Inc.’ came out during the time that California was having a major energy crisis,” Wunsch said. “It’s something I hadn’t thought about before and it makes sense. Relevancy sells.”

Benson-Allott also noted that a conference on the art of collaboration will be held on Thursday and Friday.

The conference, entitled “The Art of Collaboration,” will feature a speech by Ed Catmull and focus on the idea that collaboration is key in creative production.

The conference will be a set of three panels, each discussing different aspects of collaboration.

Amanda Kimball, a third-year UCSC student, plans to attend the “Modes of Production and Reception” panel.

“I’m interested in the topics of this panel because as a double major, in film and digital media and literature, I am interested in the question, ‘How can communications across disciplines be improved?’ that this panel will attempt to answer,” Kimball said. “I hope to learn more about the current collaborative practices between contemporary art activism and research.”

Benson-Allott said that one of the most remarkable aspects about this week of events is the many different angles from which Pixar — and digital art as a whole medium — is being examined.

“There are going to be talks on the technology behind digital animation, about film history, about labor practices,” Benson-Allott said. “I’m really impressed with how interdisciplinary this event has become. We’re really hoping to create more of a relationship between [UCSC] and Pixar in the future.”

{The End of the Week’s Events}

Thursday, October 22: Michael B. Johnson: “Making Movies is Hard Fun: Building Tools for Telling Stories.” 4 p.m. in Oakes Room 105.

Thursday October 22 & Friday October 23: “The Art of Collaboration” located in the Digital Arts Research Center.

Thursday, October 22: A screening of the documentary film “The Pixar Story.” 7 p.m. at the Del Mar Theatre. Tickets are $5.

Friday, October 23: Ed Catmull: “Creativity: What I Don’t Know and What I Know.” 3 p.m. at Music Recital Hall.

The Men’s Rugby team will welcome 14 teams to UCSC for the annual Slugfest tournament this coming Saturday, Oct. 24. Photo by Nita Evans.

Photo by Nita Evans.

Fourteen teams. Nine hours. One winner.

Bragging rights for the UC Santa Cruz men’s rugby team will be at stake as the team hosts its 12th annual Slugfest tournament — the biggest in years — this coming Saturday, Oct. 24.

UCSC alum and head coach Scott Carson has been with the team since 1997 and is excited that so many other teams are coming out to participate in the upcoming tournament.

“We have 14 teams this year, and there’s room for more,” Carson said. “We’re going to have University of San Francisco, San Jose State, UC Davis, Long Beach State — so many schools, and all great competition.”

The tournament is an all-day event going from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular games are 80 minutes long, but for Slugfest they will be 40 minutes long, with hopes that the shortened length of the games will be made up for by the number of matches being played.

“With 14 teams and 40 minute games, we really want to see what each of our players has within them,” said Carson. “Through the day each team is going to play four to five games apiece, so we’re going to see just how fit we are compared to our opponents.”

Vice-president of the club team, second-year Tyler Pritchard, is also excited to play against a variety of opponents, all of which will help the team get geared up before the regular season begins in January.

“Big rivalry games for us are definitely San Jose State and Santa Clara, both of whom we play against during the season, so this gives us a great early look at the teams,” Pritchard said. “It’s also an important event for our team to get adapted to one another and get all the kinks out.”

The rugby team is also experiencing a lot of changes from within. Players recently adopted a more focused infrastructure that includes having a club president and vice-president, and they hope that this new leadership structure will allow the team to become even more focused on their endeavors and various goals.

“The fact that we now have a structure and a title makes the team look and feel more legit,” Pritchard said.

Fourth-year Eric Cowell is the newly-named club president. He agreed with Pritchard about the importance of solidifying the structure of the club and noted that the decision was made in conjunction with coaches.

“A lot of credit goes to our coaches, Jeremy, Skippy and Scott; they really want us to feel like this is our club, and how well we do is dependent upon how much hard work we’re willing to put in.”

Pritchard also emphasized that, despite many recent changes, the club doesn’t plan to use that as an excuse for poor play.

“Even though we have all this new stuff going on within the clubs it’s not a transition year,” Pritchard said. “We want to put this structure in place and improve upon our performance and play last year.”

Cowell believes that the experience of the team will help them do well this year.

“We have a lot of guys coming back this year which is great because it brings experience to the team,” Cowell said. “This year everyone who is starting has at least two years of rugby experience.”

Ultimately, Pritchard hopes that this year’s large-scale Slugfest will get people excited about the upcoming UCSC rugby season and encourage them to come out and support the team.

“It’s the only tournament that we put on so it’s a definite big deal. We want people to know that rugby is around and here to stay.”

Photo credit, Jose Pantoja; Copyright 2009 UC Regents.

Students are justifiably angry over my recent proposal to raise their fees by nearly a third over the next two years. I’m angry too. As an educator who has dedicated my career to the incredible promise of public education, it pains me to see this uniquely American institution under assault. This country’s land grant institutions – of which UC is the finest– represent a contract between the states and their namesake universities to educate outstanding students, regardless of their ability to pay, so that they may go on to serve the public and advance society’s interests.

We at the University of California have upheld our end of the deal: giving students of all backgrounds a world-class education, generating life-changing knowledge (we earned our 56th and 57th Nobel prizes this month), providing medical care and contributing to our state’s cultural, scientific and economic life. Meanwhile, our partner, the state, has been systematically divesting from the University. In 1990, we received the equivalent of $15,860 in today’s dollars from the state per student: that figure is now $7730. In other words, we have half as much in state funds to spend per student as we did twenty years ago.

This long-term trend, on top of current fiscal crisis, leaves us with a poor set of options. The one thing I am not willing to allow is for this great University to slide into mediocrity and devalue the degrees you work so hard to earn. For that reason, as painful as it is, I have asked all members of the UC community to share the burden brought on by our state’s crisis. It’s only the only fair way out. You, regrettably, are being asked to shoulder part of the load through increased fees. Our faculty and most staff are enduring salary cuts, increased workloads and for too many, the loss of their jobs through layoffs and restructuring.

I have a plan to get us out of this mess and to put our University on the road to recovery.

We start with a commitment not only preserve, but to enhance our financial aid program. At least a third of the revenue generated from the proposed fee increases will be set aside to ease the impact on students with financial need. Next month, I will ask the Regents to expand the number of students who qualify for our Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, which covers all system wide fees for students with family incomes under $60,000.

For families with incomes under $180,000, the federal stimulus package provides for each student tax credits of up to $2,500 for four years. Nearly three-quarters of all undergraduates whose parents are in this income category will be able to cover the total 2009-10 fee increase, including the proposed mid-year hike, through increases in UC grants, Cal Grants, federal Pell grants, and federal tuition tax credits.

We will also dramatically increase the amount of money available for scholarships and I’ll have more to say about that very soon. UC serves more low-income and first-generation students than any research university in the country, and I intend to keep it that way.

There are other steps as well. In the coming months, we will aggressively lobby our lawmakers in Sacramento to have nearly a billion dollars of our funding restored. We will press increasingly on the federal government to take an enhanced role in supporting higher education. We will continue to cut costs wherever and whenever we can do so without harming excellence.

And, through our UC Commission on the Future, we will tap the best minds in the UC system and beyond to imagine what the 21st century university should look like, yet another way we can save costs and promote quality.

You can help. I hope to be able to count on your passion, intelligence and energy so that together we can work to bring to safe harbor this University we all love. In the coming months, I want to assemble an army of a million UC advocates who will fight with us for our fair share of the pie. There are more than 1.5 million of us who are connected to each other through the University of California – students, faculty, staff and alumni. What a mighty force we will be if we can only stick together. Anybody game for a march on Sacramento?

Men’s Soccer
10/11 at La Sierra University (away) 2-1 (win)

Women’s Soccer
10/16 vs. Chapman (home) 2-1 (loss)
10/18 at Cal Lutheran (away) 3-1 (loss)

Women’s Volleyball
10/16 vs. Cal Lutheran (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/16 vs. Pomona Pitzer Colleges (away) 5-3 (loss)
10/17 vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (away) 3-0 (loss)
10/17 vs. University of Redlands (away) 3-0 (loss)

{Upcoming Athletics}

Men’s Soccer
10/24 at Austin College (away) at 1 p.m.
10/25 at University of Dallas (away) at 12 p.m.

Women’s Soccer
10/23 vs. Academy of Arts (home) at 4 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball
10/23 vs. Colorado College (away) at 3 p.m.
10/23 vs. Chapman (away) at 5 p.m.
10/24 vs. Millikin (away) at 1 p.m.

Illustration by Joe Lai.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to controversy; in fact, one might call it his lifeblood. He is a notorious presence on the airwaves for his outlandish comments, devised, at least in part, to keep his name in the headlines while pulling in more listeners.

This past week Limbaugh managed to make news in both the sports and political worlds when he was dropped from a group of bidders — spearheaded by sports executive Dave Checketts — who want to purchase the lowly St. Louis Rams, a football team whose days as the “Greatest Show on Turf” are long behind them.

This news was met with many sighs of relief from football players and fans alike, as everyone from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell to Reverend Al Sharpton spoke out against the possibility of Limbaugh becoming a partial owner of a professional football team.

But the question that still remains is this: why did Checketts’s group even present Limbaugh with this opportunity to begin with? Besides the fact that he has no previous experience with football whatsoever (other than the fact that he likes to talk about it), Rush Limbaugh has proven time and time again that he is, to put it mildly, racially insensitive. It’s really no surprise that his reputation wouldn’t sit well with many people in involved in professional football — a sport with a player base of more than 75 percent African-Americans.

Case in point: on the 2003 set of the television show “ESPN Countdown,” Limbaugh commented that “the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is little hope invested in [Donovan] McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve.” After a significant amount of public backlash, Limbaugh resigned from his position at ESPN.

Blatant, negative and racially-fueled commentary hasn’t ceased flowing from Limbaugh’s mouth in the past several years since that incident, eliciting continuous anger from the public and the creation of Web pages like “Top 10 Rush Limbaugh Racist Quotes.” This is a man who once said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) should “have riot rehearsal … and practice robberies,” and who two years ago likened the NFL to “a game between the Bloods and Crips, without weapons.”

That someone as unabashedly loose with racial commentary as Rush Limbaugh would want to become involved in an organization with a predominantly African-American contingency seems terribly incongruous.

Fortunately, Checketts had the sense to publically expel him from the group of bidders after it quickly became obvious how unpopular he was in NFL circles. Checketts realized that very few team owners would vote in favor of his group of bidders with Limbaugh as a member, and that it would be extremely difficult to find players who would want to come to St. Louis and play for a team that listed Limbaugh as an associate in any capacity.

New York Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka summed up the sentiments of many fellow athletes on this issue when he told the New York Daily News, “[Limbaugh] can do whatever he wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play.”

The NFL should be commended for taking swift action and expressing their misgivings on the possibility of Limbaugh becoming an owner. They moved quickly to try and nip this controversy in the bud, as they realized they couldn’t afford any more bad publicity after just starting to rid themselves of the Michael Vick dogfighting case. The league realized that having an owner with a reputation like Limbaugh’s would be detrimental to the NFL as a whole and would go against its standards for racial equality and inclusion — standards that have existed since the 1940s when, ironically enough, the then-Los Angeles Rams became the first football team to integrate.

And in case you’re wondering — it should come as no surprise — Limbaugh did have a response to being let go from the bidding group. He claimed what happened to him was the result of “blind hatred” of him by the media and “Obama’s America on full display.”

Limbaugh’s lame attempt to use the media as a scapegoat fails to acknowledge that he is implicit in the blind hatred perpetuated by the media every time he opens his mouth — and promptly inserts his foot.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

On Oct. 13, Shakespeare Santa Cruz (SSC) announced that the company will be returning to produce another season. Students and organizers are relieved, but the long-term fiscal health of the program remains undetermined and a few aspects of the program have already become extinct.

“In reality, we have got the green light to go forward but haven’t worked out the details,” said Marco Barricelli, artistic director of SCC. “I’m not even sure what the budget is going to be for next year.”

With an unknown path to the future, SSC is doing its best to stay afloat. This means placing an even greater emphasis on the importance of the performing arts.

SCC had to raise $300,000 in under two weeks last December — and raise they did. After about 10 days of non-stop fundraising, the theater company gathered over $400,000.

While fundraising was able to save SSC for this coming season, similar emergency fundraising tactics will not be an option in the future.

“We were in a very, very desperate situation,” Barricelli said. “There was an imminent threat of closure of this theater.”

The program now hopes to place greater focus on sustaining the interest of students and community to ensure its continued success.

“I’m constantly looking for ways to integrate [SSC] ideas with the [UCSC] Theater Arts Department,” Barricelli said.

Although there have been reductions to a few student-based aspects of the company, the representatives of SSC regard their work with students as essential.

“We are absolutely committed to working with Theater Arts,” said Sara Wilbourne, the administrative and education coordinator for SSC.

Barricelli stressed the advantages of the opportunities offered to students by SSC.

“There aren’t a lot of UC’s with professional theaters under their auspices,” said Barricelli of UCSC’s unique feature. “It’s attractive to potential [UCSC] students.”

SSC also goes to great lengths to involve faculty, as well as bringing in outside talent for their productions.

“Students have an opportunity to see their teachers in action,” Barricelli said.

In addition, each summer the company takes on over 30 student interns. The opportunities range from acting, to stage managing to costume design and more.

“In a normal season we have roughly 12 [acting] interns, one-third from UCSC,” Barricelli said. “This past year it was actually more than one-third.”

Boris Volkov, a third-year theater arts student, was a 2009 summer intern.

“The [professional] actors treated us so well,” Volkov said. “[They] knew how hard the interns were working. I would absolutely do [SSC] again.”

Barricelli said by working with professionals, students can gain a better understanding of the business on a scale they would not in an academic setting.

“Watching their process every day, watching [the professional actors] fail and succeed every day, they are standing side by side on a stage,” Barricelli said. “You will never get that knowledge in a classroom.”

Although the company itself survived the financial threat, many well-known attributes of SSC did not. SSC’s annual holiday show has been cut due to the decrease in the University’s budget. While SSC is able to bring in enough funds to pay its employees, the university can no longer afford to make up the deficit the company has been incurring each year.

“In order for the University to be comfortable, we needed not to have a holiday show,” Wilbourne said. “Although the show pays for itself, it does not pay for the staff.”

Currently many SSC employees, including Wilbourne, are working reduced hours. Wilbourne said that she does not know whether or not the holiday show will return in coming years.

Stage readings were cut as well, disappointing Barricelli and many theater arts students.

“We are UC students who pay exorbitant sums of money to receive not just education and a diploma, but also to have access to…performance opportunities,” said fourth-year theater arts student Guy Zachary Gardner.

The staged readings, which began in early 2009, were a way for students and faculty to join forces with SSC and produce shows without spending the money necessary for a full production. These readings were designed so that the program could accrue revenue without dedicating the immense amounts of time a full-scale play requires. The readings were rehearsed a few times and then shown on stage without costumes or sets — just actors with scripts.

Although these programs have been cut, SSC will continue its community outreach and student programs for now. Wilbourne calls for community members, including students, to continue to pay attention to theater arts and to support the company so the Santa Cruz community does not lose this resource.

“Be an ambassador for the performing arts,” Wilbourne said. “If you think theater is something important to people, try to get people to take a chance — go see something live.”

CAMPUS

{A CHP Recap of Recent Occupation Events}
by Sarah Naugle
City on a Hill Press Reporter

The occupation actions continued last Thursday when approximately 10 students occupied the Humanities 2 building and remained barricaded on the third floor from about 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

This action followed the weeklong occupation of the Graduate Student Commons (GSC) that ended two weeks earlier. However, the students who initiated this latest occupation were different from those who initiated the occupation of the GSC.

Participants barricaded entrances to the building with dumpsters and tables. During this process three students who were carrying a table for this purpose were maced. First-year undergraduate student Brian Glasscock was subsequently arrested, and released at 3 a.m. the next morning.

In his statement on a blog for Occupy California, Glasscock described the use of pepper spray as unwarranted.

“Without warning a police officer sprayed me with OC spray (similar to pepper spray) and then arrested me,” Glasscock wrote. “I was not told to stop, was never told I was being put under arrest.”

In an exchange caught on film by fourth-year student Kenji Tomari, a Santa Cruz police officer addressed the three students mentioned above saying “Hey folks, this is vandalism.”

The administrative response to the occupation and arrest was generated promptly. Executive Vice Chancellor David Kliger sent an e-mail to the campus community the following day.

Kliger’s statement, which was based on an account from the police officer, did not match up with Tomari and Glasscock’s accounts.

He stated that Glasscock “cursed at an officer and defied multiple requests to stop,” and that “pepper spray was used to subdue them.”

In a statement from the University, spokesman Jim Burns stated that the use of pepper spray was warranted given the situation.

“Clearly they were participating in an act of vandalism, which led to a building being denied to people who have a right to be in the building,” Burns said. “They were asked not to participate in that act, one student cursed at an officer and now they are complaining that they were mistreated.”

Illustration by Kenny Srivijittakar.

When they took over the Graduate Student Commons (GSC) on Sept. 24, it was a characteristic UCSC welcome: a hearty protest on the first day of instruction to rile up idle students and once again force officials into that familiar position at the edge of their seats. They threw dance parties and shouted into megaphones to bring attention to budget cuts, furloughs, layoffs and climbing tuition. They spoke passionately about calling the student body to action, to join them in fighting the good fight.

But who are they? And more importantly, what exactly is it they want us to do?

Unfortunately, we’re not really sure how to answer either of these questions just yet.

Since the first day of fall quarter, ignoring these actions has been near impossible. From class walkouts and altered campus bus schedules, to a simple lunch break at Joe’s, very little of the average student’s day has gone untouched by this matter. On Sept. 24, an alliance of students organized a walkout, a traffic-stopping rally at the foot of campus and a weeklong sit-in at the GSC in Quarry Plaza. They have since launched two dance parties and protested the cost of textbooks outside Bay Tree Bookstore. These initial actions have been described as “demandless” and “peaceful,” designed simply to shine a light on the University’s recent actions and rally supporters for future action.

It’s a good theory, but it appears the future arrived before these newfound troupes could be briefed on a plan of action.

Last Thursday, a group of students influenced by the initial GSC occupants picked up the revolutionary torch and ran with it, crashing head-first into a mess of noise complaints, graffiti and even a night in jail for one student. Similar to their GSC predecessors, these students also occupied a campus building — this time Humanities 2. However, their actions necessitated police involvement and pepper spray, consequences that the initial occupants never dealt with.

Whether or not this occurrence was an intended outcome of the first occupation is debatable. The point is, this is getting serious, and we’re very confused about what lies ahead and how it involves us.

Communication between protestors and the student body at large has gotten fuzzy. Most recently, students received a set of dueling e-mails concerning the Humanities occupation and it’s aftermath. The first came from Executive Vice Chancellor Dave Kliger; the second was a feisty response from a mysterious “Occupy UCSC” sender.

Following Kliger’s e-mailed account of the vandalism and “tens of thousands of dollars” going towards repairs, “Occupy UCSC” denounced many of Kliger’s points and once again called students to action. But the call was vague and alienating, urging students who disagreed with radical tactics to “join a wider struggle and pursue their own ways of fighting.”

It is this sort of mentality that could break down a potentially strong cause. If the students involved in the previous occupations hope to continue fighting and gaining support, communication and transparency are needed. It is also important that supporters at all levels of involvement are acknowledged and given opportunities. Clearly, not all students — especially those who have just arrived at UCSC in the last five weeks — are inclined to spend Thursday nights getting maced and arrested.

In addition, a sense of unity within the cause presents a better front to those who oppose it. The higher-ups are more likely to pay attention and take this seriously if they see a solid, productive alliance versus random destruction.

While it’s fair to say that the majority of UCSC students oppose the idea of paying more to attend school, we simply can’t organize behind an elusive cause that lacks organization. It’s likely that many would-be supporters are waiting in the wings with feet edging towards the action, but are unclear about where to go or what to do. It’s important that all students who want to be involved are given a clear avenue to do so, and that those who don’t are at least in the loop. We understand that radical action can be a vital part of initiating change, but without clarity, it’s just seems like chaos.

“We must all fight back against this situation,” said “Occupy UCSC” in the recent e-mail. “This cannot be the work of few. This is a collective and urgent task.”

We agree. But we can’t help out without a nudge in the right direction. And while there’s been lots of dancing, if there’s no clarity in your revolution, we’re not coming.

{Related Links}

My Plan for UC’s Future [Guest Op-Ed]

In wake of the University of California’s dire financial situation, student media from UCSC, UC Berkeley and UC Merced met with UC President Mark Yudof to discuss various issues confronting the university. The Project, TWANAS, KZSC, and City on a Hill Press were among UCSC organizations given the chance to question the president.

~~~~~

City on a Hill Press (CHP): What do you make of the UC’s current state in view of thousands of university employee layoffs, a furlough program and the overall budget shortfall?

It’s a terrible body blow. And we could talk about the reasons for it, but it basically has to do with the current economic melt and what I would call the dysfunctional state government of California.

Now, you’re going to say, “Why don’t you go up to Sacramento and rant and rave?” Well, I went up and I ranted and I raved. We now have a group of advocates. We have 200,000 people on [an email] list now. And in the last six weeks, we have sent 25,000 letters to [the state of California] … So we tried to put on a lot of heat, but in fact, Sacramento had largely shut down.

Daily Californian (DC): Do you think letter-writing is the way to get out of this? How does the UC Regent system interact with the state legislature?

I don’t think it’s enough. So let me answer that. I think we need to continue doing it. We now have 200,000 advocates on our e-list that we can contact and say, “The University has a financial problem in Sacramento. We have an issue with this or that. Can you help us out by contacting?”

I think we need an education campaign. We have to get the bigger message out there that it isn’t just if you have a family member at the university and it isn’t just if you work there, but that we’re enormously important to the quality of your life, and we’re enormously important to the success of the economy of California. Great research universities are a magnet for talented people. And if they come here and they stay, it benefits our population and it ultimately leads to more jobs and so forth.

The Project: You’ve talked about the hybrid model: part public, part private. But the increasing trend toward privatization, or the increasing dependency on private funding for education to function, at the UC seems like it’s been really fast.

I’m opposed to privatization, if by privatization you mean we want to turn this into a private university setting its own agenda, charging the students the full freight, I’m opposed.

What we have is a mixed model where the state gave us $15,000 per student in 1990 in today’s dollars, and gives us $7,800 today. The question is how do you maintain quality, and one of the ways you do it is you raise prices.

The Project: Do you specifically, or does the Board of Regents, have any sort of protection plan for programs or majors that do not get as much private funding? For example, the engineering department at Santa Cruz versus the community studies major, which is being phased out because it doesn’t get private money.

If you’re dean of engineering or law or medicine, you’re more likely to get gifts than if you are in the humanities or the social sciences. So there’s this sort of unevenness. They’re pulling the state money out of the schools that can be self-supporting, primarily, business and law schools. The money that’s being pulled out can then be deployed in liberal arts and so forth. So that’s one part of the plan.

Another part of the plan is I am going to Sacramento. I’m going to ask them for $900 million. We really need $2 billion but I’m going to ask them for $900 million. I keep plugging away, because the primary support for majors like you comes from the state appropriations.

And the third thing is, I did a white paper on what I think would be an appropriate federal role, which is somewhat different than it is now. That’s another source. Finally, things like scholarship drives, particularly if we don’t have too many limitations on what the scholarships are for, can be a ready source of help for students who are in the humanities, communications, and all the rest of that. It’s a battle and it’s a tough problem, and I don’t have a silver bullet for you. I wish I did.

CHP: Is the state of California unreliable or is it the economy that’s unreliable?

The state’s unreliable, in my opinion. If it had just been this economy, and I admit it’s tough, terrible, the foreclosures and everything’s gone wrong. But we’ve been losing ground since 1990. You have $1,500 spent on students in 1990 and $7,800 today. That means even in relatively good times, the money is going elsewhere. This is the most salient thing that’s happened. It’s the biggest dip. But it’s really the exclamation point on a long paragraph of declining support from the state of California.

DC: Can we fix higher education funding without fixing the state government system? Do you see higher education funding stabilizing with the current system we have?

My goal is to have a reset and to stabilize it in 2010-11 with the budget stop the bleeding, the furloughs. Put more money in the scholarships to ameliorate what’s happening there. And then as I say, go off to Sacramento with that reset to try to get more money. If over five to 10 years it doesn’t stabilize, we’ll be faced with some very difficult choices.

{Related Links}

UC President Discusses Systemwide Financial Crisis [Daily Californian]
My Plan for UC’s Future [Guest Op-Ed]

(from left to right)

“I’m getting information from both sides through e-mails, but I can’t believe either side.”
Doug Anderson
Fourth-year, Cowell
Biology

“I don’t feel informed at all. I’m only getting information from the e-mails, which give you one side and the retaliation. One of my professors was really in favor of it, but I don’t have a clear understanding.”
Irene Vazquez
Fourth-year, Oakes
Psychology

“I feel completely uninformed, I haven’t heard anything about it since the occupation of the Graduate Student Commons. It doesn’t seem to be productive.”
Benny Blackwell
Fourth-year, College Ten
Neuroscience

Got something to add? Chime in with your comment below!
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Compiled by Sarah Naugle and Rosario Serna.

Eager participants at the Immigration and Citizenship Seminar, held at Lady Star of the Sea Church last Sunday, had the opportunity to learn about the citizenship process from legal professionals. Photo by Morgan Grana.

With microphone in hand, City Councilmember Tony Madrigal welcomed crowd members in exuberant Spanish, high-fiving people in the front row and smiling at the small children who roamed the parish hall while their parents sat, waiting expectantly.

The occasion was the 7th annual Free Immigration and Citizenship Forum, held at the Lady Star of the Sea Church last Sunday, Oct. 18, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Madrigal and the Community Information Center for Migrant Assistance (CIMA) organized the event. A multitude of people gathered in the small parish hall, sacrificing their Sunday to find out more about the few ways they can become a legal citizen of America more quickly.

Despite the grave circumstances, everyone seemed to be smiling, gossiping and talking with one another as if they were one very large family.

In the back of the hall, a panel of 12 lawyers sat at individual booths, prepared to spend three hours offering guidance counseling, hoping to lead their clients in the right direction towards citizenship.

“It’s something the community has grown to expect now and I get asked about it every year,” Madrigal said. “‘When’s it coming? When’s it coming?’ People get excited about it.”

The event began with a short PowerPoint presentation given by one of the lawyers on the panel for free consultation, Guerrero Vilma.

“We present it in order to dispel rumors,” Vilma said. “One of the main misconceptions is that people think it’s a lot easier to gain residency than it actually is. They say, ‘I’ve waited 10 years and still haven’t gotten my papers, there must be something wrong.’ But we know that 10 years is normal, and that it might be fifteen.”

Madrigal agreed.

“A lot of people think it’s just an easy process, but the steps are really complicated and not everybody knows where to turn to, and if we’re able to line up a dozen lawyers to steer them in the right direction, that’s a good first step.”

Vilma pointed out that many people who are not connected with the issue of immigration do not realize or appreciate how long and hard the process is to become a citizen in the United States. She said many immigrants have little to no idea about the nature of the operation.

“Education is key. People need to know where they stand, what they do or do not qualify for,” she said.

After Vilma’s speech ended, people began taking numbers and standing in line to speak with a lawyer. Tony Madrigal stood up front with the microphone again and asked, “¿Están listos para la consulta?” — “Are you ready for consultation?” Which was met with an enthusiastic “Si!”

Overall, the mood in the parish hall was one of lending a hand and helping people in need. Unfortuantely, though, some of those who attended the forum said a helpful spirit can be hard to find for immigrants, with fraudulent lawyers known to give misleading counsel.

“People get a lot of bad advice,” Vilma said. “It’s important they get the right information so that they can assess their situation and make an informed decision.”

For Madrigal, this was one of the main reasons he started the free legal forum in the first place.

“There are certain immigration consultants that are out to scam,” he said. “People need to be aware of that. I mean, they don’t know what they’re doing, and the lawyers are feeding them false hopes.”