I come from a family of refugees. My mother was younger than I am now when she was forced to flee for her life from the Islamic Revolution of Iran. My mother recalls being forced to sit in the back of her classroom along with a group of young Jewish Read More…
What does the marginalization of a large and diverse coalition of students look like? It looks something like Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s statement that was recently released in response to SB 160, the ASUC bill that calls for targeted divestment from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and illegal settlement. Birgeneau explained Read More…
With the passage of SB 160 on April 18, the UC Berkeley campus has been packed with people pointing fingers at their peers for the controversial decision. Even the Daily Cal has been going crazy about the vote, talking about how so-and-so was harassed by so-and-so and is now pointing Read More…
Last summer, Intercollegiate Athletics presented to the campus Capital Projects Committee a proposal for a new donor-financed aquatics center. After completing their standard review process, the faculty and administrators on the committee approved construction on the parking lot adjacent to the Tang Center. The reasons for approval were clear cut: Read More…
This Friday marks about two weeks since the end of one of the most historic ASUC elections in our time at Cal. Finally, our student government leaders are back in class, political opponents are hanging out together at Taco Tuesday and exhausted candidates (including myself) have been rejuvenated by that Read More…
What drives us to stay up at unreasonable hours at night, drinking our nth cup of coffee? Grades and social expectations all can be answers for occasional sleep deprivation. But what keeps people moving in that trajectory, to be unyielding at their momentum and not doubt themselves when times get Read More…
As Students For Justice in Palestine activists and a Berkeley attorney working with the SJP and Cal alumni, we feel compelled to respond to the chancellor’s criticism of the recent ASUC vote to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine. The chancellor’s concern about the Read More…
With only a few days of instruction remaining, the spring 2013 semester is drawing to a close. The end of the semester brings with it a swarm of endless work, many sleepless nights, and interminable regrets about not mastering course material sooner. The end of the semester also brings with Read More…
On Sunday, April 7, 2013, The Daily Californian ran a story with the headline “Campus announces plans to construct new aquatics center.” It’s unclear from the story just when this announcement might be said to have taken place, since a public hearing on the proposal was held in Berkeley on Read More…
Wouldn’t it be great if you could go to the beach in the winter? What if it meant you could never eat almonds again? Or potatoes? Or cherries? Sure, it’s nice that it’s sunny and warm in the winter now, but global climate change is negatively affecting agriculture around the Read More…
