Editorials

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau

CAMPUS ISSUES: As UC Berkeley prepares to welcome a new chancellor, students should respect the legacy that Chancellor Birgeneau leaves behind.

Birgeneau Press Conference
Derek Remsburg/Senior Staff

During Robert Birgeneau’s nearly nine years as the chancellor of UC Berkeley, he led the campus as it weathered an unprecedented challenge. While the state slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from the University of California’s budget, he fought to maintain the quality of education at this institution against all Read More…

Editorials

The divestment dilemma

CAMPUS ISSUES: The controversial divestment bill passed by the ASUC Senate this week should have been crafted in a more inclusive manner.

On Wednesday night, members of the UC Berkeley community continued a proud campus tradition of speaking out against injustice. People with diverse opinions about an ASUC Senate bill that calls for divestment from companies tied to human rights violations in Israel agreed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs resolution. Yet, in Read More…

Op-Eds

Shot.jacobwilson

He was not just another statistic

In media, boy is trapped by his circumstances

It hurt my heart to learn about the shooting death of another young man in Oakland. It hurt even more when I realized I knew him: Tyler Jamison. The Feb. 12 Daily Cal article about a “Berkeley teenager shot in Oakland identified by police” deepened the pain. Instead of learning Read More…

Op-Eds

Every student should feel safe on campus

Campuswide surveys from 2008-2012 reveal striking differences in students’ experiences at Berkeley. For example, 30 percent of African Americans surveyed over the past five years in the UC Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) felt a gap between the importance of diversity to them as opposed to the importance of diversity to Read More…

Editorials

Out of action

UNIVERSITY ISSUES: Despite a brief from Mark Yudof and 10 chancellors, affirmative action is not a suitable avenue to achieve diversity on campus.

California voters took to the polls on Nov. 5, 1996 and passed Proposition 209, which forbid state government organizations from considering race, ethnicity or sex in areas that include public education and employment. Suffice it to say, Prop 209 banned affirmative action in the state. Despite constant protest and legislative proposals to amend the law for public education, it still stands 16 years later — and that’s the way it should be. Read More…