After 33 years of employment at UC Berkeley, ASUC Auxiliary Director Nadesan Permaul retired Wednesday, just days before the auxiliary undergoes a major realignment.
During his time on campus, Permaul has held positions in the Department of Recreational Sports, the Physical Plant, UCPD, Parking and Transportation and the ASUC Auxiliary. He has also taught in the campus departments of rhetoric, political science and sociology and attended UC Berkeley as both an undergraduate and graduate student.
Effective July 1, the auxiliary will report to the campus Division of Student Affairs rather than the Department of Administration and Finance, as it currently does.
After retirement, Permaul will continue to work on projects for the ASUC until Sept. 1 and will continue in his teaching role, according to a campuswide email sent Tuesday.
In an email sent to the ASUC Tuesday, Permaul said his decision to retire came after discussions with his family and campus administrators.
When he began working at the auxiliary in 2006, Permaul had goals of strengthening the relationship between students and senior administrators and restoring the commercial viability of the ASUC on campus, among other goals, he said in the email.
“I can say that all of these goals to various degrees have been achieved, and most importantly, the future of the ASUC as the principle student organization on the Berkeley campus is assured for decades to come,” he said in the email.
Though his retirement may have come earlier than expected, ASUC President Vishalli Loomba and Graduate Assembly President-elect Bahar Navab each said they had previously heard of the possibility of Permaul’s eventual retirement.
“It is unexpected to all of us,” Loomba said. “But I don’t think it’s surprising — I have been told there have been talks within the ASUC of Nad’s retirement for a couple of years now.”
Though surprised by the promptness of Permaul’s departure, Navab said she believed Permaul did what he thinks is in the best interest of students.
However, Navab said the expedited date of Permaul’s retirement is not the timeline that was communicated to student leaders.
“Our understanding is this sped up timeline is related to restructuring,” she said.
In regard to the structure of the auxiliary, Navab said students still have concerns about the process, including a perceived conflict of interest that may arise due to the role of the student affairs office in matters of student discipline and student conduct.
“I’ve heard from my constituents that this realignment is not necessarily the best thing for students and not necessarily the best thing for the ASUC,” Loomba said.
J.D. Morris is an assistant news editor.
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Worked with Nad aka ASUC Auxiliary Director Nadesan Permaul for a year back when I was a senator in the ASUC. All-around class act and consumate professional. He definitely stood out among the many bureaucrats I had to deal with in the university that didn’t give two sh*ts about the students. I also worked for Cal’s administration during one school year, and I can tell you, rare is the official that puts in the extra effort for the students. So double props to Professor Permaul.