College Republicans in California are in a unique position to deliver a meaningful blow to special interests and hypocrites everywhere by praising Governor Schwarzenegger for his fiscal responsibility, even though his intended actions come at our own personal cost. The governor’s proposed budget for 2008-2009 includes an across-the-board 10% cut in spending. This would naturally include a roughly $1 billion cut to higher education.

Students who marched on Sacramento yesterday demanded that higher education be given special treatment over all other state expenditures. I would like to ask protesting students from where they think the extra funds should be extracted. Should the money come from a reduction in the quality or number of teachers for primary education? Perhaps we could stop paying our social workers, or rescind programs aimed at protecting the environment. The causes behind these expenditures have their own special interest groups that will be feeling just as disenfranchised as students once the cuts take effect. To serve all of the special interests would require spending money that simply does not exist unless we want to leave massive debt for future generations of Californians.

As a college student, I regret the real effects that budget-cuts to this University will have on me and my peers. Still, I recognize that subsidized education is a privilege and not a right; it is only available to me at the cost of others. I urge all campus Republicans, along with any other champions of reason, to remind other students that these cuts are the result of fiscal responsibility, not a de-emphasis of the importance of higher education.

It’s already been reported everywhere else, so check out the Daily Cal Article for more, but here are the basics.

Cal Senior, former baseball player Cyrus Allizadeh was found dead on the afternoon of Sunday the 16th from apparent self-strangulation. He was a red-shirt freshman on the baseball team, until a shoulder injury caused him to pursue other interests.

I didn’t know this person, but it is always hard to hear about young deaths, especially when it’s likely a suicide. I hope we don’t have any more of these this year.

There has been some buzz recently about a deal between Berkeley, Microsoft, and Intel. It was officially announced today by the Newscenter:

The University of California, Berkeley, is partnering with Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. to accelerate developments in parallel computing and advance the powerful benefits of multi-core processing to mainstream consumer and business computers.

Microsoft and Intel announced today (Tuesday, March 18) the creation of two Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers (UPCRC), the first at UC Berkeley and another at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The two centers comprise what is considered the nation’s first joint industry and university research alliance of this magnitude that is focused on mainstream parallel computing.

I read in a different source some of the research would be make available to the public via open source licenses.

Over the next five years, Intel and Microsoft expect to invest a combined $20 million in the two university centers, with each center receiving half. Researchers at the UC Berkeley center have also applied for a UC Discovery Grant, a matching grant mechanism that uses state and university funding to leverage industry investments in UC research.

People will probably say this is another example of the University selling itself out to corporations as they said about the BP deal. As I said for the BP deal, I will repeat. The University is not selling out. Berkeley is getting the prestige and funding to do cutting edge research. Professors and students are gaining invaluable experience and creating the next generation of technology. This is a win-win situation.

If Berkeley said no to this and every other deal that came up with corporate funding, the money would simply go to other universities. First the money would leave, then the research, the professors, and the students would follow it elsewhere.

I can’t wait to see the hippies in the trees make signs saying, “Stop Microsoft and Intel.”

This exciting news from the San Jose Mercury News:

“The numbers of tree-sitters having dwindled to a hard-core few, we had an opportunity to address some safety and sanitary concerns with minimal risk to people,” Mogulof said. Only about three protesters were in the trees when police arrived shortly before 7 a.m.
Mogulof said the arborist also cut the traverse lines - ropes strung between trees that tree-sitters used to move from tree to tree. At least two people have fallen from the lines and been injured since the sit-in began.

The university over the last few months has put up two chain-link fences to prevent people from going in and out of the tree grove but tree sitters have set up an elaborate rope and pulley system to get food, water and other supplies into the grove. Some of those ropes were also taken down.

Items removed and tossed to the ground also included rain tarps and other gear.

Doug Buckwald, who has been involved with the tree sit since it started, said two men climbed into an oak tree and a redwood tree and tossed food, water and other supplies used by tree sitters onto the ground. The tree sitters yelled “extraction, extraction” as the goods fell to the ground at least 40 feet below, Buckwald said.

I am glad the University is taking measures to end the tree sit. Even if no one was pulled out of the trees, every little bit of their stuff that is removed is a step in the right direction.

I hope the hippies will soon leave the trees and this embarrassment will be over.

Whether or not you are hanging out near city hall, you can observe Darwin Day today. From their official website:

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held on or around February 12, the day that Charles Darwin was born on in 1809. Specifically, it celebrates the discoveries and life of Charles Darwin — the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor. More generally, Darwin Day expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

Picture source.

UC Berkeley is even having its own celebration, with many events including a Darwin Day “Tree Party.” Their website is sparse on the Tree Party details, but at least it is happening at Wellman Hall and not the oaks by Memorial Stadium.
I first heard about Darwin Day this past weekend. As a friend of mine was leaving church some people from Revolution Books, a local communist bookstore, were passing out flyers. They were saying progressive Christians should support Darwin Day.

If you feel left out finding out about this great holiday when so much of the day has passed, fear not. Next year is the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and you have a whole year to plan your celebration.

While Darwin has done great scientific work, there is one other person who should not be forgotten this day. Another great man was born on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln.

Picture source.

After several days of rain and gloom, today was sunny and activity on Sproul started to look normal. Megan has covered the major hoopla, all I have to add are a few pictures.

Today on Sproul the Berkeley Students for Life had a memorial. They placed white ribbons in the trees to represent unborn children whose lives were lost to abortion. As the sign explains, each of the 500 ribbons marks 100,000 lives extinguished by abortion since Roe v. Wade.

Also in the pro-life category, on Thursday Dr. Mary Davenport will be speaking on the population and fertility crises of the modern era. She is a graduate of the Tufts School of Medicine and has practiced Obstetrics & Gynecology in the Bay Area for over 30 years. She will be speaking at 7PM in 122 Wheeler Hall.

As classes start having real work due, I will engage in real procrastination, which often involves writing posts.

The University has launched a couple of websites for the upcoming election.

Just today the Berkeley Newscenter reported the Institute of Governmental Studies Library has a website with information about the propositions in California’s upcoming February 5 election. It offers the basic facts about the propositions and has many links to polls, studies, and recent articles about the issues.

Last week, the University launched a website that highlights professors who specialize in different political and policy areas. They highlighted a couple of professors in areas of campaigning and politics, economy and taxes, education, environment, gender, health care, immigration, international relations, legal issues, and voting technology. Looking at the descriptions of their expertise, I would guess they are more liberal then the average group of people you would find on the street. The website is intended to help reporters covering the Presidential election get in contact with experts from the University.

As my majors take me far away from political science classes, I don’t know how any of the above linked professors are as teachers. If you are looking for a political science class to take, one person I have heard good things about is Dan Schnur. He worked on many campaigns, including John McCain’s 2000 Presidential effort where he was the communications director. While the department only considers him a lecturer and not a professor, he has a lot of experience.

On the front page of the Los Angeles Times today was an article about the University’s holding of Native American human remains.

The remains of about 12,000 Native Americans lie in drawers and cabinets in the gym’s basement. Most of them were dug up by university archaeologists and have been stored under the pool since at least the early 1960s.

Now the bones are at the center of a dispute between Native Americans, who want to rebury their ancestors, and university officials, who have been slow to hand over the remains. Some tribal leaders contend that the university is violating a federal law that governs the repatriation of artifacts and remains.

While the article does a great job summarizing the ongoing fight, there is one thing from the rally in October that deserves a mention.

In attendance was Berkeley’s favorite Native American, Zachary Running Wolf. At the demonstration he held a Che Guevara flag, which has far as I know has nothing to do with Native American remains.

When ZRW is not looking for his “MIAs” or Missing Indian Ancestors, he is a among the tree sitters in the oaks near Memorial Stadium.

Update: The East Bay Express reports some harassment at researchers’ homes.

There is a story in the San Jose Mercury News about some action against animal researchers.

Since August, activists have visited the homes and offices of several Berkeley researchers. An October protest at the El Cerrito home of toxicology professor Leonard Bjeldanes led to several arrests, although prosecutors declined to file charges.

Several researchers declined to speak about the harassment, which has become a problem across the 10-campus University of California system. Campus chancellors released a joint statement in December decrying the protests, saying the university supports free speech but that some actions “have crossed the line.”

“They’re not above putting bombs under people’s cars,” said UC Berkeley spokesman Bob Sanders, referring to an incident at the home of a University of California, Los Angeles professor. “They’re domestic terrorists.”

The chancellors’ statement is available on the UC website. The article reported yesterday was to be “a day of action” by the animal activists, but the papers this morning did not record any incidents.

I have not seen much action against animal research on campus. The most I remember is a random non-student looking person outside VLSB last spring who handed me a big packet about the evils of dissection in biology classes.

Last time I checked, people engaged in civil discourse about issues instead of threats.

By now most of you have seen the chalk and flyers around campus advertising tonights debate. It’s hosted by BCR and BAMN, who have brought respectively Starr Parker and Shanta Driver. (Ms Driver debated Mason Weaver at the last such event.)

The event is happening at 6pm in 155 Dwinelle.

I’ll open it up to commentary on this/past/future debates on this topic. Is affirmative action right/necessary/ethical etc? Why is diversity important? IS this issue systemic, and why should we care about it? Go for it.

From the San Jose Mercury News there is great news regarding the tree-sitters:

A judge has ruled that officials at the University of California, Berkeley, may remove all tree-sitters protesting a planned new sports center.

I am very pleased the University will now be allowed to kick people off its property who are trespassing. The tree sit has been going on since last December and the hippies need to go.

In another sense, this ruling is timely. Over the weekend someone suggested I should be a lumber jack for Halloween. Also, the end of the tree sit will give Zachary Running Wolf more time to work on recalling Mayor Bates.

Some preliminary links to keep you entertained while we wait for Nonie. Gateway Pundit detailing the events slated for tonight; with the exception of the event at Pepperdine, which is cancelled due to fires.

7:11 event begins with an introduction from BCR President Ross Lingenfelder. “The purpose of Islamo-Fascism awareness week is to bring attention to our common enemy, radical Islam”

Nonie, as you are aware, is the daughter of the general who invaded Israel in the 60’s, and was brought up in a Jihadist family. Her speech is sponsored by David Horowitz.

7:14 Ms, Darwish takes the stage to jeers of “Fascist; you are nothing but a tool of the United states”. Shouter is rebuked and removed.

Ms Darwish: “As an American, I cherish the freedom of speech”. What a fitting start. “This is not a discussion of good, peace-loving muslims…but an ideology of violence and hatred”

(more…)

The IFAW, or Islamo-fascism Awareness Week is sure attracting a lot of attention and opposition. My friend in Alabama had even heard of the counter-efforts going on and reminded me to bring a video camera. Here’s an update of some of the events:

Tonight, Nonie Darwish is speaking at 7pm in 10 Evans. It’s open to anyone, and free, but be advised no large bags or or signs will be allowed in, although there will be a space set aside to leave them safely.

Various members of the media will be in attendance, including (I have been informed) Al-Jazeera.

The opposition is holding a series of events called “Peace not Prejudice” and can be seen around campus in their green shirts.

This is a diverse crowd, containing members of the MSA, the SJP, and my old arabic professor.

Here’s another image of the stylish shirts. Green is assumed to be used here in the islamic context, not just because it’s a nice color. Recall the coloration of the Empire State building for Eid-al-fitr, the end of Ramadan.

Also created (likely those over at Revolution Books) is a poster adversiting the week’s counter-festivities, and it’s fairly interesting. Although not on par with the inflamatory posters over at GWU, it does take the typical crack at the CR’s hosting.

This poster wants opposition members to “expose and defeat” IFAW, which is disturbing, because the event is specifically for “Awareness”. It’s not a promotion of anything but education and is happening in order to bring in new perspectives, so “defeating” awareness sounds like supression of expression to me. How would the Berkeley community react if sexual-harassment awareness was called to be defeated, or awareness about racism?

Aside from this is the poster’s graphic:

It shows a crowd of who I presume to be Hitler Youth set on a college campus, it is tantamount to suggesting that CR’s (indeed anyone who opposes them) are fascist sychophants. Our campus, and indeed most, are predominantly liberal, and the idea that conservative youth are “an ice sheet spreading across campuses” and suppressing liberal values on American campuses is silly and patently false.

However, this is what they want to convey:

The panel “what about US fascism?” is claiming just that. Speaking on behalf of this cause is author Larry Everest, Robert Hernandez, and a video statement from Noam Chomsky.

Tonight is going to be a lot of crazy fun, and I encourage people to come see. I’m going to try to live-blog the event, and at the very least I will be taking photos.

The Los Angeles Times covers a program where some University of California campuses receive money for referring students to an online college. According to the LA Times, Capella University operating out of Minneapolis has paid $12,000 to UC Irvine for the students it has received from there. This program is being ended for “appearance of an ethical breach.”

UC Berkeley has a similar agreement, but has not profited from it:

Three of the eight University of California campuses that have extension programs — UCI, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley — have credit-transfer agreements with Capella, said Chris Harrington, a spokesman for the UC president’s office. Santa Cruz does receive payments. Berkeley, which set up an arrangement similar to UCI’s in 2004, has not received any per-student fees because no one taking a class eligible for referral has transferred.

Berkeley also is ending the program because of the public perception of ethical problems, said Ann Guy, spokeswoman for the university’s extension program.

Shameless plug for Education Debate
If you like talking about education, the Cal Dems and BCR are having a debate on Thursday at 7 PM in 145 Dwinelle. The topic will be K-12 education in California and moderated by the Informal Debate Society.