Category Archives: Editorials

Editorials

Affordable access

HIGHER EDUCATION: Online access fees should not be passed on to students at community colleges to protect openness and access.

Accessibility and affordability are essential for public education to fulfill its purpose of creating a better functioning society. Community colleges in California remain the most open forms of higher education in the state’s three-tiered public system, and the state should work to preserve that accessibility. Budget cuts have been detrimental Read More…

Editorials

Store of plenty

CITY AFFAIRS: The expansion of Safeway on College avenue is a net positive for students, residents and the city of Oakland.

The proposed expansion of the Safeway at the intersection of College and Claremont avenues has a passionate base of support and an equally passionate opposition. Though opponents raise valid concerns, the specific details of the expansion show that the benefits outweigh the costs to the neighborhood and city. One of Read More…

Editorials

Bitter compromise

HIGHER EDUCATION: The preservation of the federally funded Pell Grant is welcomed, but the cost was high for graduate students.

There were no clear winners in the federal debt ceiling deal reached last Tuesday. Everything was on the table for cuts — including education. National legislators eliminated the interest subsidy for a government-subsidized loan program for graduate and professional students. But in a bittersweet compromise, the cut allowed the maximum Read More…

Editorials

A clean slate

UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS: We are happy that the state audit of the university showed no waste but wish efforts were directed toward funding.

In the face of record budget deficits and regular tuition hikes, transparency is absolutely necessary to ensure accountability and confidence — especially at a major public institution like the University of California. A lack of adequate transparency stokes concerns over contentious issues like administrative pay and inspires misplaced displays of Read More…

Editorials

A DREAM come true

STATE ISSUES: The passage of AB 130 is a victory for public education advocates and shows that California is still a national leader.

California’s government has at times proven unfriendly to students, with drastic cuts to public education resulting in continuously rising student fees at all of California’s public universities. But on July 25, public education advocates and state officials alike were victorious in their efforts to make higher education more accessible when Read More…

Editorials

A legislative distraction

STATE ISSUES: Leland Yee’s bill on UC executive pay incorrectly shifts the focus of student anger from the state to the regents.

Across the University of California, students are being asked to tighten their belts and share in financial sacrifice. California’s budgetary crisis has taken its toll, leaving the UC Board of Regents with a shrinking pool of resources. While executive pay is a contentious point, there are times when raises are Read More…

Editorials

Fixing politics

CITY AFFAIRS: A student supermajority district would recreate the same type of disenfranchisement that its proponents decry.

Though a majority of UC Berkeley students live in the areas surrounding the campus, there is currently no student super-majority city council district. While many have called for such a district — most notably ASUC External Affairs Vice President Joey Freeman — its creation would simply be gerrymandering. Creating a Read More…

Editorials

Attaining diversity

STATE ISSUES: Race and gender should not be considered during the admissions process for the University of California.

The debate over campus diversity — particularly what qualifies as a diverse campus — is emotionally charged and difficult to navigate. At the same time, it is hard to deny that campus diversity, by any measure, enriches the college experience while providing education unattainable in the classroom. In the past Read More…

Editorials

A call to action

UNIVERSITY ISSUES: The ASUC must lead students in opposition to state leaders’ continual disinvestment in higher education.

On Thursday, state disinvestment forced another fee increase for students of the University of California. Though discussion of further fee increases has been temporarily tabled, students are not in the clear. The regents’ decision to postpone consideration of the “trigger mechanism” that would enact additional fee increases is only a Read More…

Editorials

Take back the ASUC

CAMPUS AFFAIRS: We stand with the ASUC in condemning the way in which the ASUC Auxiliary realignment has occurred.

The ASUC has faced many significant issues and challenges over the past few decades, some of the most important of which pertain to the student government’s autonomy. While different groups have each had their fair share of fault, rarely have we seen such a baffling and outrageous change carried out Read More…