mugshot.CONNOR

The promise of online education

The Critic Who Counts

Let’s get this straight: online education will never completely replace in-person instruction or totally eclipse the most fundamental tenets of the traditional university. At least, it shouldn’t. Nevertheless, California State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, introduced a bill in late February that would require the 50 most impacted Read More…

sarah.web

Vignettes from election season

Critical Musings

Being on campus during ASUC elections season can be annoying; that’s well-documented, irrefutable. It can be overeager, glossy-faced candidates in your ears at 8 a.m. pontificating about impossible platforms; unbiased announcements in class encouraging you to vote by voices who just so happen to belong to candidates; acquaintances met at Read More…

Lynn_online

You should participate

Council Watch

April is the cruelest month. Study for midterms. Curse your Facebook newsfeed. Vow to avoid Sproul. Regardless of whether your friends are running or not, cast a disinterested air and pretend to hate it all. Make fun of candidates and their idiocy for choosing to participate in student government. Laugh Read More…

Elisabeth-Bahadori_online

Nude aesthetics

Sex on Tuesday

The semester is almost drawing to a close. Finals loom in the distance, and so does the thought that I have a year left before I’m done with college. Rather than worrying about post-graduation plans, I’m freaking out over Berkeley memories I haven’t yet made. The one in my thoughts Read More…

Jason.Willick

The politics of hookups

The Devil's Advocate

In her provocatively titled new book “The End of Sex,” noted religion and sexuality scholar Donna Freitas does something rather unusual — she attacks the notorious college “hookup culture” from the feminist left. Commentators sometimes nostalgically lament the supposed collapse of courtship among young people. But as of late, feminists Read More…

sarah.web

Ninety percent chance of rain

Critical Musings

Summer is coming. In the mostly temperate Berkeley, its approach can be subtle. There are fewer jackets in the morning, more nakedness on Memorial Glade in the afternoon. There are landlords happily waiting outside of their May-to-May lease properties for their fifth showing today, residents inside those apartments wondering when Read More…

Lynn_online

Southside story

Council Watch

Berkeley City Council has approved a zoning amendment that will allow businesses on Telegraph between Bancroft and the north side of Dwight to stay open 24/7. Those between south Dwight and Parker can operate between 7 a.m. and midnight seven days a week. There are, of course, restrictions — establishments Read More…

Elisabeth-Bahadori_online

Asking for it

Sex on Tuesday

A beautiful woman walks down Shattuck at night in a skintight red dress and black jacket. Her high heels click against the pavement when, out of nowhere, she is attacked by a rapist. Was she asking for it? A 16-year-old high school girl from Steubenville, Ohio, drinks at a party. She Read More…

mugshot.CONNOR

College sports at a crossroads

The Critic Who Counts

If impulsive California legislators and the money-hungry National College Players Association have their way, UC Berkeley athletes may soon be going pro. The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that California State Assembly Bill 475, currently being considered in committee, would require UC Berkeley and UCLA to pay student athletes an annual Read More…

sarah.web

Home for spring break

Critical Musings

Berkeley will empty out over the next few days. There will be no flyer-wielders on Sproul, no packed-to-capacity 51Bs at 5 p.m.; I might finally get a table at People’s Cafe. Spring break will mean the en masse student migration from here to varying degrees of Elsewhere. There will be Read More…