Oct 6th and 7th -- letter from Tom Pessah

A letter from my colleague Tom Pessah

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Dear Students,

Sociology as a discipline, and this department in particular, tends to engage in social struggles (see for example http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php ,

http://sociology.berkeley.edu/publicsociology/publications/betrayal/betrayal.pdf

and  http://sociology.berkeley.edu/public_sociology_pdf/hout.pdf ).

The campus does, of course, have a rich history of protests on a whole range of issues - http://caldisorientation.org/?page_id=103 ,

as you can see in this movie - http://www.fandango.com/berkeleyinthesixties_v4859/summary

available from the Media Resources Center in Moffit).

 

The protests this week are a part of a national day of action that will include mass protests, rallies, walkouts, strikes, and sit-ins, against the attacks on public education and public services. YOUR tuition increased last year by 32%. There are plans to eliminate 200 campus faculty and staff positions, Chicano Studies and Asian American Studies as majors may disappear, and there’s been a 12% drop in Latino/a admissions.

http://www.ucstrike.com/

http://defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com/

 

At their last meeting, the UC Regents voted unanimously to cut pensions for the UC’s lowest paid workers and to increase the pensions of the UC’s 250 highest paid employees. This news comes only a few short weeks after the New York Times and other major news agencies reported that, before moving to his new mansion in Lafayette, UC President Mark Yudof racked up $70,000 worth of damages to his previous UC mansion.

http://defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com/

 

The UC master plan of 1960 affirms the right of every Californian to affordable education of the highest quality. Higher education in California used to be almost free.

 

The is nothing inevitable about these fee hikes, it's a matter of priorities. Three decades ago, 10.1 percent of the state's general fund was allocated to higher education, 3.4 percent to prisons. Today, prisons receive almost 11 percent of the budget, whereas higher education has dropped to 7.5 percent.http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/to-cut-costs-send-inmates-to-college-152131.aspx .

 

As a direct result of last years' protests, the Governor has already proposed to restore some the UC's funding, although it isn't clear if this will get approved

 http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/governor-proposes-restoring-some-151155.aspx

 

Among the actions planned this week are the Wed 10/6 TEACH-IN SPEAK-OUT at 5:30pm (7th floor of Eshelmann Hall on Banrcroft) on The Looting of our University and other topics,

 

and the Thu 10/7 RALLY at Sproul Plaza at 12 PM. There will be events all day on Thursday.

 

Tom