Kore Chan/File

An ASUC Senate bill introduced Wednesday criticizes the UC Berkeley administration’s decision to hold the majority of classes on Oct. 1 after an explosion left most of campus without power the previous evening.

The bill, authored by Independent Campaign for Common Sense Senator Solomon Nwoche, calls on administrators to promptly inform students of class cancellations after emergencies. The bill will be discussed at an ASUC Senate committee meeting Monday night.

After an explosion near California Hall on the evening of Sept. 30, electrical crews worked through the night to bring power back to campus buildings.

At 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 1, campus officials notified students, faculty and staff that power had been restored to all but 11 buildings, including Dwinelle Hall.

Classes took place as normal in all buildings except those 11, to the dismay of many students who felt they had been inconvenienced by power outages in several campus residence halls the night before.

“Even best-case scenario, let’s say your assignment didn’t have any technology component — you were stuck reading in the dark,” Nwoche said regarding students living in the residence halls.

The bill, SB 27, lambastes the campus’s choice to hold most classes as usual, calling it an “irrational decision,” but also lauds Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ acknowledgement that there was a lack of communication from campus administrators after the incident.

The bill’s text suggests implementing a campus policy whereby administrators inform students of class cancellations before 1 a.m. after an emergency. Nwoche said he would like the bill’s language to be amended to request that the announcement come within a seven- to eight-hour window after an emergency, with classes being automatically canceled after that time.

Claire Holmes, associate vice chancellor for public affairs, explained the challenges of pinning down parameters for campus emergency response.

“It is hard to dictate emergency situations because they are unpredictable and constantly evolving,” she said. Holmes does, however, agree that students and staff ought to be given as much notice as possible of class cancellations.

Both Student Action Senator Sahil Pandya and SQUELCH! Senator Grant Fineman support having a discussion about the campus’s response after the incident, but said they remain uncertain about the text of the bill itself.

“The bill comes from a very good place,” Fineman said. “It’s important in a big disaster to get information out to students quickly and efficiently, but I do understand that the administration was dealing with a lot of moving parts.”

CalSERVE Senator Briana Mullen said she would not vote for the current iteration of the bill.

“We need to be smart about when we use bills,” Mullen said. “If we don’t make policy in tandem with administrators, they are not going to respect it.”

ASUC President DeeJay Pepito said she plans to work with students and administrators to review campus outreach during emergency situations.

“The process is ongoing and continuously improving,” Pepito said in a text message forwarded from her chief of staff, Austin Pritzkat.

Contact Kimberly Veklerov at kveklerov@dailycal.org.

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The move comes after a string of failures in the negotiation process between the university and the workers’ labor union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299. The university and union entered negotiations in October. The union’s service workers — which include custodians, food-service workers and gardeners employed by the university — have worked without a contract since February. Having exhausted the option of bargaining, the university is legally allowed to move forward with this plan, according to a UC press release.

Service workers from AFSCME 3299 will now be subject to a two-tiered pension plan. Employees previously contributed 5 percent of their pay toward their pension, but those hired prior to July 1 must now contribute 6.5 percent. Those hired on or after July 1 must give 7 percent. The university will also contribute 12 percent of employee pay to workers’ pensions — an increase of 2 percent.

“Really, we prefer to solve these things at the table with our unions,” said UC spokesperson Shelly Meron. ”(Increasing employee contributions) is something that we have to do to make sure that our pension program is healthy in the long term. We couldn’t just sit by and do nothing. We had to make some changes.”

But AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger, who works as a gardener at UC Berkeley, said the university’s offer exacerbates everyday challenges and essentially equates to a pay cut for her and other workers.

“What this imposition does is it cuts at least $50 to $70 from low-wage workers’ paychecks every single month,” Lybarger said. “That equals a tank of gas to get to work, cost of parking at work, putting money away for our kids’ Christmas presents, and it’s the cost of a prescription.”

In July, the university imposed these pension reforms on more than 12,000 patient-care employees, who were also members of AFSCME 3299. Lybarger said the union has asked to meet with incoming UC President Janet Napolitano but did not say whether the union planned to strike.

Paul Roose, a state-appointed mediator brought in during the collective bargaining process, supported the two-tiered pension plan in a report issued in August. He called the bargaining process between the parties “dysfunctional.”

ASUC Senator Briana Mullen said the university’s decision threatens students’ rights to negotiate with the university and said she plans to write an ASUC bill asking the university reconsider its options.

“It’s really atrocious to think that the university can move forward without compromising,” Mullen said. “Students themselves have a stake in this game. They are affected by the way UC is sidestepping organized labor on campus.”

Contact Libby Rainey and Jessie Lau at newsdesk@dailycal.org.

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Maliq Nixon left no student group untouched.

A UC Berkeley sophomore and a political activist, Nixon was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at Stebbins Hall, a Northside co-op on Ridge Road where he was living. He was 19.

The cause of death is unknown, according to the Berkeley Police Department.

Since Saturday, there has been an outpouring of condolences on social media and from Nixon’s friends as they recall his infectious spirit.

A history major who friends say was known for his strong convictions and tireless energy, Nixon was active in campus politics. Last year, he volunteered for Cal Berkeley Democrats, interned at the Gender Equity Resource Center and worked on multiple campaigns for the campus political party CalSERVE. This year, he was already hard at work volunteering for CalSERVE Senator Briana Mullen.

“If you were to ask someone if they knew Maliq Nixon, they would know Maliq Nixon,” said CalDems President Sofie Karasek. “He was one of those people who you could bond over knowing. He brought people together just by virtue of being himself.”

Despite having a packed schedule, Nixon made time to enjoy a number of outside interests, according to close friend Ross Cunningham. He was always listening to rap group OFWGKTA, and he loved La Burrita horchatas. He also used to carry a purse — a habit Karasek remembered fondly.

“Even if he wasn’t happy, he’d make sure that other people were,” said UC Berkeley junior Marcel Jones, who knew Nixon through CalSERVE.

Many friends remember Nixon as a captivating orator. His voice would rise in volume as he became more and more engrossed in a debate.

Caitlin Quinn, a CalSERVE senator, said she first took notice of Nixon’s civic engagement before he arrived at UC Berkeley. The incoming freshman was an avid poster on the Class of 2016 Facebook page, where he often engaged in debates. While most freshmen were just settling into the residence halls, Nixon helped Quinn register incoming students to vote.

Cunningham, a UC Berkeley sophomore, also connected with Nixon early in their freshman year. The pair met during Welcome Week and quickly developed a close friendship.

“He lived in his head, often quiet and withdrawn, but he was always willing to talk with you when you’re feeling upset,” Cunningham said in a Facebook message. “He gave so much and expected nothing in return.”

At the time of his death, Nixon was working for Mullen, advocating greater access to mental health services on campus. Mullen said Nixon felt the university “wasn’t doing enough.”

Mullen and others recall Nixon advocating the inclusion of Northside co-ops in the ASUC-sponsored Berkeley redistricting map at a recent ASUC Senate meeting — another issue about which he was vocal.

“He was at every senate, every committee meeting,” Mullen said. “You couldn’t pay most Cal students to sit through those.”

Interim Dean of Students David Surratt said the campus has reached out to Nixon’s family since the death was announced. Plans for a memorial service are pending, Quinn said.

“He was very passionate and very radical, but he would be really really respectful of people that wouldn’t always agree with him,” Quinn said. “And that’s rare. I was really looking forward to seeing where he was going to go.”

Contact Libby Rainey and Savannah Luschei at newsdesk@dailycal.org

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Maliq Nixon was a prospective history major. In fact, he was a declared history major.

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The senate meeting, which continued past midnight, concluded with a vote of 11-9 against the bill, SB 3. Many senators cited concerns about the haste with which the map was drawn.

Student Action Senator Quinn Shen said he strongly felt the development of the redrawn map was a “rushed process” that needed more time for evaluation.

The new plan, the United Student District Amendment, was proposed to the City Council in July and would include the student residences that were excluded from the original redistricting proposal. SB 3 would have expressed formal support for the USDA map.

The senate’s failure to pass the bill reflects the ASUC’s decision to continue its support for the original plan, the Berkeley Student District Campaign. The map laid out in the BSDC plan, which the ASUC Office of the External Affairs Vice President has supported since 2011, does not include International House, Northside cooperatives and three campus residence halls.

The bill’s failure could be attributed to a number of factors. Some senators brought up concerns about whether proposing an entirely new map would hinder the progress of creating a student-majority district. Others noted redistricting is not just about the interests of students but also about what is best for residents.

“It’s important to recognize that this is also a city issue,” said Noah Efron, the ASUC redistricting director, who spoke in opposition to SB 3. “Therefore, it’s also important to consider what neighborhoods get split.”

Additionally, some senators expressed concerns about whether either map would fully represent the UC Berkeley student population. Approximately 86 percent of the student-majority district proposed by the BSDC plan would be students, while the district created by the USDA proposal would be 90.3 percent students.

Although the bill failed, many expressed a desire to continue fighting for the proposal.

“I truly cannot understand why anyone would not support including more students, especially students who have been marginalized in the last redistricting process and barely got into the district we’re in now,” said CalSERVE Senator Caitlin Quinn.

Other students echoed her disappointment.

“Tonight showed that students are conflicted on what exactly it means to have an inclusive student district,” said James Chang, vice president of external affairs for the Berkeley Student Cooperative and a co-author of the bill.

The senate spent a large part of the meeting making amendments to the bill in hopes of reaching an agreement. Even after hours of discussion and numerous comments from the public in support of SB 3, however, the bill failed to garner enough votes to pass.

CalSERVE Senator Briana Mullen said she was disappointed by how the senate handled discussion of the bill.

“I think the 20 of us should put forth the best public policy for students, and I don’t think that happened tonight,” Mullen said.

Jennie Yoon is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at jyoon@dailycal.org.

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Sureya Melkonian/Staff

Construction of the new Eshleman Hall will begin later this week as part of a plan to make Lower Sproul a hub of student life and activity.

A renovated Lower Sproul Plaza and rebuilt northwest stairway also are expected to reopen at the end of September, according to Christine Shaff, communications director for Facilities Services. The Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project remains on schedule to be completed by fall 2015 and is projected to cost $223 million.

According to Shaff, workers are excavating the Eshleman site, rebuilding the top surface of the plaza, retrofitting lighting in the Cesar Chavez Student Center and engaging in a focused demolition inside the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

Because of the project, student organizations that were based in Eshleman Hall were relocated to Hearst Gym in August 2012.

“Now it’s a lot more organized and cleaner,” said Khanh Nguyen, co-operations chair of Southeast Asian Student Coalition. ”Eshleman was kind of falling apart. The transition wasn’t that difficult. They gave us a reasonable timeline and enough space.”

According to Briana Mullen, the ASUC’s Lower Sproul communications coordinator, the completed plaza will have student-group spaces and vendor spaces as well as restaurants, coffee shops and a meditation space. There will also be an open space for students who are not part of student organizations to enjoy the area.

Although some student groups already have been allocated future Lower Sproul spaces due to specific needs, the majority of student organizations have not been placed. The Office of ASUC Executive Vice President Nolan Pack will be responsible for selecting which student organizations will be able to move into the new Lower Sproul. Final decisions will not be made until next year.

Revenue for the ASUC has also been affected because vendors in the student union that usually pay rent to the ASUC are closed during the construction, Mullen said. However, part of the redevelopment project budget goes toward “revenue replacement.”

“$1.5 million a year is set aside for ASUC and ASUC Auxiliary,” Mullen said. “We are exploring other activities to increase services and new revenue options.”

Shaff and Mullen both said the demolition of Eshleman was one of the highlights of the project and was an important sign of progress.

“It was the first time students actually saw something happening,” Mullen said.

The B.E.A.R.S. Initiative, passed by the student body in spring 2010, was “the first huge milestone” in the project, Mullen said. The initiative instituted an escalating student fee, currently set at $35, to provide most of the project’s funding. The fee will continue until the 2046-47 academic year.

Somin Park covers academics and administration. Contact her at sominpark@dailycal.org.

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CalSERVE/Courtesy

CalSERVE announced one of its largest ASUC Senate slates in recent history, with 16 candidates vying for 20 senate seats.

The party has traditionally represented underrepresented groups, including the Chicano and LGBTQ communities.

Recently, the party has begun to represent other groups, such as transfer and re-entry students and student parents. The party is also looking to emphasize environmental and women’s issues.

“The progressive movement at Cal is much broader than what CalSERVE traditionally represents — we’d like to represent more of that movement,” said CalSERVE Elections Coordinator Anais LaVoie. “We are the only progressive movement on this campus.”

According to CalSERVE chair and Party Signatory Salih Muhammed, the party is running more senators to represent an even wider selection of communities.

“This election is not a matter of votes … it’s a choice for a new and fresh and alternative vision that includes participatory democracy where every student is represented,” Muhammed said.

This year’s candidates are Beatriz Barron, Brett Bruhanski, Briana Mullen, Caitlin Quinn, Destiny Iwuoma, Doug Taylor, Jenny Lu, Justin Kong, Laura Li, Monica Ruiz, Sean Tan, Sevly Snguon, Stefan Elgstrand, Taylor Fugere, Wendy Pacheco and Vy Hoang.

LaVoie said the nominees were chosen to represent CalSERVE because they share the party’s broader values of creating a diverse campus, promoting a tuition-free university and providing more resources for victims of hate crimes and sexual assault.

“We only pick candidates that all of our communities say ‘yes, they can run,’” LaVoie said. “(But) we don’t all have to agree on every issue. There is diversity.”

Bruhanski said he chose to run for senate with CalSERVE because of its history of supporting less visible communities, particularly transfer students.

“As a transfer student from Long Beach City College, coming to Cal was a very marginalizing experience,” Bruhanski said in an email. “Our school could do so much more to bolster the needs of its transfer, re-entry, student parent, and student veteran populations.”

The party’s candidates’ platforms range from increasing mental health awareness to initiating a bicycle-lending program.

One of Bruhanski’s biggest platforms is raising awareness of student-worker rights by launching a “know your rights” campaign.

“Having students that do not know when they are entitled to a break, how long that break is allowed to be, or how to file a grievance is a serious ethical problem that needs to be addressed,” Bruhanski said.

In addition to having a wide variety of platforms, the party’s candidates represent a large sample of the student body, with nominees ranging in age from 19 to 32.

“I am a unique Senate candidate, as I believe that I am the only student that identifies as a Re-Entry Transfer, in their 30’s, married, and a commuter,” Taylor, one of CalSERVE’s nominees, said in an email. “Each of these attributes makes me a rare candidate; in combination, it makes me something of a unicorn.”

CalSERVE ran 11 senate candidates last election season and secured six seats. The party has not held a senate majority since the late 1980s.

“Its important to remember that CalSERVE doesn’t see elections as a primary goal,” LaVoie said. “First and foremost, we want to make sure that our values are represented.”

ASUC elections will be held in early April.

Ally Rondoni is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at arondoni@dailycal.org.

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Tony Zhou/Staff

While most of UC Berkeley was quiet over winter break, one area of campus, Lower Sproul Plaza, was bustling with activity.

As part of a $223 million redevelopment project of Lower Sproul, two buildings, the Cesar Chavez Student Center and Anthony Hall, underwent construction throughout the span of the break.

In the spring of 2010, students approved the B.E.A.R.S. Initiative Referendum, which included a student fee to pay for the project along with funding from the chancellor. It is scheduled to be completed in fall of 2015.

“It’s going to be frustrating to students right now, but the new buildings will provide such amazing places for students to collaborate and hang out,” said ASUC President Connor Landgraf. “It’s completely worth it to me.”

Construction of both Anthony Hall and the Cesar Chavez Student Center began last fall, continued throughout the break and will persist into the spring semester. Over the break, remodeling of bathrooms in Cesar Chavez took place along with the addition of new flooring and paint in classrooms.

Workers are currently removing asbestos and window glass from Anthony Hall and installing new flooring and landscaping. There are also plans for significant construction in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

“Now’s the time when the real construction begins,” Landgraf said.

In preparation for this construction, the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union closed Pauley Ballroom, Tilden Room and restaurants in the building, according to an email from Landgraf. The Cal Student Store will be open until mid-February, when it will then be relocated next to Ned’s Berkeley Bookstore across the street. Alumnae Hall, located within the Anna Head complex between Crossroads Dining and Martinez Commons, will stand in as the venue for MLK Jr.

The next significant change will be to Eshleman Hall, Landgraf said.

Eshleman, which is also closed, will continue to be cleaned out until the end of January and is the only building that will be completely demolished this summer in order to meet earthquake retrofitting standards.

“The final review of the designs for Eshleman are happening,” said Christine Shaff, communications director for facility services. “It’s really again honing in on the details … We’re anticipating that next summer is going to be really busy.”

In addition to Eshleman’s demolition, Zellerbach Auditorium will be closed for the summer. Other changes include the new Career Center on Bancroft Way, closed sidewalks from Telegraph Avenue to Dana Street and the relocation of a bus stop on Bancroft near Eshleman to a block upward in front of Sproul Hall for routes F, 49, 51B and 52.

Briana Mullen, Lower Sproul communications coordinator, said she hopes the new buildings will reinvigorate student life and the more than 800 student organizations that use Lower Sproul.

“Students need space to organize,” Mullen said. “Whatever the purpose of the student group, they need this space in order to organize for their organization, whether it be social, service or academic.”

Gladys Rosario covers Academics and Administration. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org.

Clarification(s):
A previous version of this article did not mention that the demolition of Eshleman Hall is scheduled to start in early April and will be completed in the summer.

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Michael Tao/Staff

Last week, campus organizations finished settling into their temporary quarters after months of moving out of Eshleman Hall, marking another step toward planned renovation of Lower Sproul Plaza.

Student groups began moving to Hearst Gymnasium in the spring — a transition that has left many student groups with substantially less space than they had before. The limitation required considerable adjustments in inventory as well as a fine-tuning of personal bubbles, student group members said.

“It’s a big change, and change is difficult,” said ASUC Student Action Senator Emily Chen. “The beginning of the year was really hectic, but now people are getting used to working alongside each other in the tight space.”

According to Briana Mullen, ASUC chief deputy of facilities and space management, the ASUC Senate is only one of 300 groups residing in the gym. Mullen said that space priority was given to groups based on certain factors, including their range of services and confidentiality requirements.

“The biggest problem is the lack of space for student groups,” said Jason Bellet, an ASUC SQUELCH! senator. “As outdated and seismically unsafe as Eshleman Hall was, it had space.”

Jessica Hamel, coordinator of the Student to Student Peer Health Counseling group, said the move forced the group to organize its inventory and throw away material that hadn’t been used for years.

“We’ve been in Eshleman since the ’80s, so our stuff is pretty old,” Hamel said. “This is a chance to revamp everything.”

However, some organizations have raised concerns that moving so quickly to a more confined space will affect the ability of organizations to store their resources.

To address this, the transition team allotted storage units to some groups to store materials for tabling and fliering, according to ASUC Executive Vice President Justin Sayarath. The ASUC also implemented a new tabling program, which allows groups to rent tables easily.

Yet, Sayarath said, the team is still struggling to ensure the safety of the building  while student groups acclimate to the new floor plan.

“In Eshleman Hall, it was very straightforward,” Sayarath said. “There was one door. Now there are a lot of safety issues because there are multiple doors. Nobody knows what these doors mean but me.”

After groups have settled into their new spaces, Sayarath, Mullen and others in the transition team will analyze whether all the available space has been accounted for. If a surplus is found, the team will redistribute space through a new application process. The ASUC will hold a town hall meeting in mid-October to discuss how groups are assimilating.

Contact Virgie Hoban at Vhoban@dailycal.org

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According to ASUC Student Spaces Deputy Briana Mullen, 200 student groups will be able to move into the storage spaces beginning Thursday and lasting until next Tuesday.

The move was originally postponed from its original dates of Aug. 9 to Aug. 10 due to building code issues that involved checking the fire sprinkler system in Hearst Gym. According to Mullen, the move was delayed a week.

“We are on a tight schedule right now, especially for our orientation that will happen on Monday,” Mullen said.

ASUC Executive Vice President Justin Sayarath said the student groups will be moving based on their floor location in Eshleman. According to Mullen, the ASUC offices will be moved Thursday, and the Center for Student Leadership and other offices on Eshleman’s fourth floor will move to the gym on Friday.

The rest of the groups will be moved on Saturday, except for those moving into Room 18. Groups to be located in Room 18 will move into their spaces on Tuesday, when construction on the final storage room is scheduled to be completed.

“We were delayed a couple of days, but the move is still happening,” Sayarath said. “It was later than planned, but we’re preparing the locks and clocks in the brand new spaces and checking the inventory.”

Christopher Yee is an assistant news editor.

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Joe Wright/File

Due to building code issues with the new facility at the campus Hearst Gym, the Aug. 9 to 10 move-out dates for the ASUC offices and campus student groups that are currently housed in Eshleman Hall have been postponed.

The Hearst Gym location is currently dealing with code issues — which involve a necessary check of the gym’s fire sprinkler system by campus Fire Marshal Tony Yuen, who is currently out sick — that could set the move back an extra week.

ASUC Executive Vice President Justin Sayarath, who is in charge of the move, said he is currently waiting for a new move-out date from his project manager.

“(The delay) is cutting our deadline really close,” Sayarath said. “We really hope it won’t impact when students can be in the space — we recognize the need for students to get into their spaces.”

Open Computing Facility General Manager Dara Adib said in an email that the ASUC has had a difficult job having to move in all the student groups, especially with the delay.

“Surprises are no surprise when you have to quickly move many diverse student groups right before fall semester begins,” Adib said in the email.
The ASUC still plans to hold a space and orientation meeting for the student groups on Aug. 20 to give the groups information about access to their spaces at Hearst Gym.

ASUC officials facilitated a stakeholder process in the spring semester during which members from student groups — approximately 200 of which will have to be relocated — communicated their space needs. Space was then assigned after an application process.

Along with considering factors involved in the move, Sayarath said his team still has to take into account lock and combination distribution for cages, signage to signify locations for groups and telephone checks.

According to Sayarath, the original plan was for student groups to move their items over the course of the past week, which would give time for Sayarath and ASUC Student Spaces Deputy Briana Mullen to reinventory student groups’ boxes.

Mullen said she and Sayarath have had tribulations with the *large-scale* move but are looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labor. She also said an upside of the move for students is that they can evaluate how they have been using their space and how they can grow with the transition into a downsized, shared space facility.

“We’re hoping everyone can be flexible,” she said. “The change in environment will reinvigorate students’ (primary group) mission.”

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