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DeCal Co-Director Jennifer Ng said this is the first time the program is putting on this type of event — which will take place on Aug. 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. — so the board members are putting up flyers in main campus buildings, residence halls and campus dining commons.

“We are hoping to attract 2,000 to 3,000 students,” Ng said in an email.

Instead of students having to attend the first day of each class they are interested in, Ng said this event will allow students to meet with the facilitator of a DeCal course and ask the facilitator questions to decide whether or not that course is right for them.

“The whole purpose of DeCal is to give students power,” said CalSERVE Senator-elect Deejay Pepito. “It gives them the ability to teach themselves.”

According to the DeCal website, the program was inspired by the ideas of the Free Speech Movement that took place on campus in the 1960s. The program was then created in 1965 by campus philosophy professor Joseph Tussman.

Controversy arose over the material of the student-initiated classes, and between the years of 1970 and 1980, the program stopped offering the classes because there was no one to manage the Board of Educational Development and the Division of Experimental Courses, which gave official approval of the courses’ credit and courses themselves, respectively.

The program was revitalized in 1985 by campus education professor John Hurst, and the number of student-initiated classes has risen from 10 since it first began to 200 this year.

Ng said the DeCal board has been in touch with student representatives from other universities who would like to create similar student-taught education programs.

According to Ng, 100 DeCals, such as the Feminine Sexuality, Archery and Learn to Solve a Rubik’s Cube/Speed Cubing — the most popular courses in the program — will be showcased at the expo.

UC Berkeley sophomore Alice Han said she will be attending the expo to learn more about the courses and to see whether or not she wants to take them this fall.

“I like the fact that they are doing this event because it allows (us) to ask questions of the facilitators directly in a convenient place,” Han said.

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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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