Update: 1/4/10 UCI Rally
Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by Abe in News, Opinion
An update on the latest student-worker protest at UCI.
Today’s planned rally was noticeably smaller than past demonstrations. This is not surprising given the growing apathy and disillusionment with university politics. Lack of political action at UCI is nothing new, and I’m careful not to attribute today’s sparse attendance to the lack of campus political culture, which is already well-known. I arrived at the event at around 12:20 p.m., when my friend Ilgiz was speaking on the mic with a crowd of students circling him. Outside the circle, there was the usual first-week formalities on Ring Road–the fraternities had set up their Greek letters and booths, one of them going as far to erect one of those inflatable air puppets you usually see at car sales lots. Needless to say, the red dancing balloon distracted me far more than it should have, and I suspect that it had a similar effect on others too.
Fortunately, Ilgiz’s speech could be heard above the din of chatter and music, and he was a congenial speaker, emphasizing the accomplishments of the past quarter. He framed the opening of Langson Library for 24 hours throughout Finals Week as a small victory, not defeat, since it meant administrators were noticeably irked enough to prevent another student conflict with the police. We had, after all, been heard, opening up opportunities for future concessions by the university. What’s still not clear, however, is how the university diverted funds away from other programs to keep Langson open. What did we lose, financially and politically? A similar sit-in at Berkeley had been staged last October, before Chancellor Robert Birgeneau used private funds from wealthy Berkeley parents to extend department library hours. The students at Cal perceived the chancellor’s response as a way of deflating their attempts to use political force. Some at UCI feel similarly about the administration’s response, but very few people, I think, complained during Finals Week. It was nice for once to have a place to study, no matter how trashy and stuffy it got during the late hours.
I’m being convivial here because that’s the general feeling I got at today’s rally. After Ilgiz, several students, one from MSU, and two socialist organizers from San Diego State took the mic to speak out. The rhetoric remained unchanged from past months — Latino/a students saw the cutbacks as a targeted threat against people of color, the socialists called for a change in the prevailing capitalist culture and the MSU student emphasized the indignity of spending billions on war while cutting back on education (the obligatory Malcolm X reference in tow). All of these arguments, considered holistically, are true, but on a pragmatic level, they amount to little more than a lot of indignant kicking and screaming. Each group has its own particular indignity against the UC Regents and its own concerted strategy to accomplish its political goals. Together, they are united in their general discontent against a system that has hoodwinked students, faculty and workers — but the specific villains and heroes in this case have not been made clear. Mark Yudof, the UC Regents, Chancellor Michael Drake — the people in charge are easy to blame, and perhaps they do deserve their share of criticism. But today, I heard no mention of the problems in Sacramento — Gov. Schwarzenegger’s educational cutbacks, the state’s crippled legislative system and the entrenched neo-liberal culture of privatization. We all point fingers, but they are aimed at multiple directions toward targets that are either too broad or too specific.
This past fall, I remember the exhilaration that my peers felt after having attended the November protests at UCLA. When they felt the swing of police batons and the sting of tear gas, they lashed out against the police, the administrators, the Man. This was their time to rise up and release the activist spirit that had been gestating, waiting to erupt in anarchic furor. Unfortunately, the activist spirit came in not always mutually agreeable varieties. Taking cues from the Weathermen, some advocated the use of violent force. Others preferred the tried and true but painfully slow process of non-violent protest. Even the question of attending these rallies was complicated–should students and faculty dismiss class–already spread thin and overburdened–for the sake of political remonstrance? What would be the wiser, more pragmatic course? In the end, no one is in the right or wrong. Each took their course of action, some for reasons more justifiable than others.
The gathering of protesters today felt more like a roll call of discontents, a tally of who still cared enough to speak out about and rectify the events of last year. I wish the situation was less ambivalent than it is. If only students, faculty and workers could unite behind a common political goal that is specific and feasible (not something like the collapse of the capitalist system), if only they could agree on a method (non-militant, non-polarizing), if only more students on campus cared enough to abandon the frat bazaars of Ring Road to stand in solidarity with other protesters. We all seem to suffer from some degree of indecision and myopia, having no martyrs to rally behind, no generalized momentum. These days are not like those of 1964 or 1968 or 1970. These times are something else entirely, and we have not yet figured out how to mobilize in progressive and productive ways.
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Read Tad Friend’s excellent reportage from the Berkeley protests of last year. It expresses both the sense of unity and disunity inherent in the recent UC protests.
Popularity: 22% [?]
This is a good article, however, I disagree with any media organization making suggestions or assertions about tactical decisions of student movements unless the magazine itself is tactically involved and committed.
$3 Million Extravagant, Arrogant Spending by UC President Yudof for UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau to Hire Consultants – When Work Can Be Done Internally & Impartially
These days, every dollar in higher education counts. Contact Chairwoman Budget Sub-committee on Education Finance Assemblywoman Carter 916.319.2062 and tell her to stop the $3,000,000 spending by Chancellor Birgeneau for consultants.
Do the work internally at no additional costs with UCB Academic Senate Leadership (C. Kutz/F. Doyle), the world – class professional UCB faculty/ staff, & the UCB Chancellor’s bloated staff (G. Breslauer, N. Brostrom, F. Yeary, P. Hoffman, C. Holmes etc) & President Yudof.
President Yudof’s UCB Chancellor should do the high paid work he is paid for instead of hiring expensive East Coast consults to do the work of his job. ‘World class’ smart executives like Chancellor Birgeneau need to do the hard work analysis, and make the tough-minded difficult, decisions to identify inefficiencies.
Where do the $3,000,000 consultants get their recommendations?
From interviewing the UCB senior management that hired them and approves their monthly consultant fees and expense reports. Remember the nationally known auditing firm who said the right things and submitted recommendations that senior management wanted to hear and fooled the public, state, federal agencies?
$3 million impartial consultants never bite the hands (Chancellor Birgeneau/ Chancellor Yeary) that feed them!
Mr. Birgeneau’s accountabilities include “inspiring innovation, leading change.” This involves “defining outcomes, energizing others at all levels and ensuring continuing commitment.” Instead of deploying his leadership and setting a good example by doing the work of his Chancellor’s job, Mr. Birgeneau outsourced his work to the $3,000,000 consultants. Doesn’t he engage UC and UC Berkeley people at all levels to examine inefficiencies and recommend $150 million of trims? Hasn’t he talked to Cornell and the University of North Carolina – which also hired the consultants — about best practices and recommendations that will eliminate inefficiencies?
No wonder the faculty, staff, students, Senate & Assembly are angry and suspicious.
In today’s recession economy three million dollars is a irresponsible price to pay when a knowledgeable ‘world-class’ UCB Chancellor and his bloated staff do not do the work of their jobs.
Pick up the phone and call. Together, we will make a difference: save $3 million for students!