Chancellor Robert Birgeneau: Your recent “Message to Campus Community” avows solidarity with students regarding their anger about the steady public “disinvestment in public higher education.” Nevertheless, you explain that you have necessarily enacted a “no encampment” policy. Students neglected to ask permission and failed to abide by your rules of Read More…
On Nov. 9, an outdoor encampment, modeled after the encampments in New York, Oakland, and other cities worldwide, will be established at UC Berkeley in order to protest the privatization of public education. We write to express our support for the project of Occupy Cal, and to state publicly that Read More…
The Daily Californian’s Nov. 1 editorial, “Finding Fault,” left an inaccurate impression about campus efforts to prepare for earthquakes and educate the campus community about valuable resources that will help them plan for such an event. For example, since the launch of the SAFER program in 1997, the campus has Read More…
Written in response to The Daily Californian’s Oct. 18 editorial about Berkeley’s Nuclear Free Act: On Aug. 6, 2005, I joined then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and 55,000 others at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, site of the atomic bombing 60 years before. That devastating bomb was a tiny fraction of Read More…
Fight to ban the bag As a member of CALPIRG fighting to ban single-use plastic bags here in Berkeley, it excites me immensely to see that the City Council is taking a stand against the state Department of Education’s decision to promote plastic bags in our environmental curriculum. Few of Read More…
Legislator discusses taxes, state funding and solutions I appreciate the thoughtful Sept. 20 editorial regarding the deep harm budget cuts and fee increases have caused to students individually and to the UC system collectively. As California continues to struggle through the recession, reduced state revenues remain a threat to our Read More…
Lessons from a bake sale We’ve all heard of the ‘bake sale outrage’ that has spread throughout the campus, and I believe that we could all use this to learn a little something about ourselves. I don’t speak for any particular student group or nationality; I don’t even speak as Read More…
Sustainable butcher shop article omits important factors The article on sustainable meat leaves out critical information. While “sustainably raised” meat is better than factory farmed meat, it is hardly a “win-win-win.” Beef is the worst product for the environment, sustainably raised or not, because cows produce so much methane. The Read More…
Compromise to cut debt Brit Moller comments on the possible political strategy Republicans may be taking: “desperate times call for desperate measures.” But I still see great opportunities for reasonable compromise. Cutting government spending does not have to hurt our dear social security. Farm subsidies, for example, are in dire Read More…
Regarding Barbara Gilbert’s outrageous article, “Contract approval with SEIU Local 1021 was a bad decision” (July 20): Actually, the city got a remarkably good deal: a labor contract that (1) does not include a cost of living increase for the workers; (2) provides a two-tier retirement system and (3) generates Read More…