Defend-UCI

Dump Richard Blum, UC Regent

2010-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

Richard Blum, UC Regent invests in for profit diploma mills. He has convinced UC to invest $53 million in shady outfits that prey on the unemployed, the working class and veterans seeking to remake themselves. Diploma mills are highly profitable because they get their students to take on unmanageable in order to earn virtually useless degrees. Blum has a stake in the failure of public Higher Ed. What is he doing on the UC Board of Regents. This news needs to get out -- and Blum needs to step down from his 12 year sinecure.

March 15 Teach-In

2010-03-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

2010-03-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

For more of Jason's photos click here. Thanks to Elizabeth Allen for forwarding them to me.

Silent Protest Photos

2010-03-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

Photos of March 3, 2010 Silent Protest of Black Students Union at UCI.

UC Davis report

2010-03-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

Aggie repo.rts on yesterday's protest and actions at UC Davis

more photos of March 4 at UCI

2010-03-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

Neon Tommy has photos and video of the UCI March 4 protest. Thanks to Jon Wiener for sending this!

March 4 Brief Wrap-Up

2010-03-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

Quick wrap up: UCI 12 noon rally -- very good speakers, articulate, impressive, able to address a wide range of issues from the poverty draft, to undocumented students financial aid, library cut-backs , lay-offs and tuition hikes for graduate students, lay-offs of workers, crippling student loan debt..the admin's false equation of civil disobedience with "racism and incivility." The crowd was angry, motivated and a bit at a loss as to what to do after circling Aldrich Park, trying to encourage by-standers and others to join it. A few leaders at the front led the hundreds onto Campus Avenue, stopping traffic at the footbridge. Some protesters were overturning garbage cans and putting them in the street. At 3 pm, students were back in front of Langson Library, still chanting. That's when I had to go home. This is the culmination of three days of rallies and actions at UCI.

There were only three Irvine PD officers following the stream of protesters through Aldrich Park, but my students told me that police were on campus since 6 am yesterday morning. We are going to be editing together a short film of this week's events, and I will link to it here...The noontime flagpole rally saw well over 1500 in attendance -- the OC Register put the number at 800.

Lakoff/CA for Democracy petition

2010-03-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

For the CA for Democracy Petition and a list of March 4 events, click here .

UCLA Student Association Vote to Defend Free Speech of Irvine 11

2010-03-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

Daily Bruin reports that the UCLA student association, after much deliberation vote to pass a resolution defending the Irvine 11's right to free speech and education.

March 4 Events around UCI

2010-03-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

Rally - Noon - UC-Irvine, Flagpole Area next to the Aldrich Administration
Building

UC-AFT Rally speakers: Brook Haley, Lecturer, Amy DePaul, Lecturer,
Mitchell Brown, Librarian.

Wear your union t-shirt or a blue shirt.

Discussion Panel, UC-Irvine: 5:00, Location TBA

UC-AFT panelists: Mitchell Brown, Librarian, and Peg Hesketh, Lecturer.

Community Rally sponsored by CFT - 4:00- 6:00, Fairview Ave in front of
Costa Mesa High School and Orange Coast College. Wear BLUE to show your
support for quality

meeting tomorrow at terrace tops/student center at uci

2010-03-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Date:
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Time:
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location:
Terrace Tops, Student Center, UC Irvine

The Irvine Eleven Speak Out, Racial unrest at UCSD, Workers Rights!

Come hear straight from the students who were arrested and many more
speakers. In the past few weeks we have seen students from various
backgrounds unite on one issue: Justice. It is time to show the rest of
the campus community the importance of standing for justice in order to
bring about a university that better represents the morals and ethics we
as individuals strive for.

Speakers include:
Arrested Irvine 11 students.
Jim Lafferty: Director of National Lawyer's Guild
Representative from Black Student Union to discuss ongoing situation at UCSD
Representative from organizers of the March 4th strike in order to fight
tuition hikes and attacks against workers

More TBA....

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=331869654839

Rei Terada: Values and Civility"

2010-02-28T22:38:00.000-08:00

Chris's Blog Archives: "Values and Civility"Rei Terada response to the Chancellors Statement...

Judge Goldstone at Yale

2010-02-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

Julia Elyachar just sent this report about Judge Goldstone's talk at Yale where he was aggressively heckled and questioned by pro-Israeli protesters and audience members. No disciplinary action was taken against the protestor/hecklers who accused Goldstone of lying about Israel. Goldstone seemed to have thoughtful arguments and refutations against aggressive questions. Goldstone was also unfazed by the heckling whereas Ambassador Oren seemed irritated that he might be a controversial character.

UC Leaders Denounce Racism, Incivility????? Really??? Is that all you've got????

2010-02-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

Read the statement drafted by UCOP and the Chancellors denouncing racism and incivility in one breath. Racism and incivility are incommensurable -- one is associated with a dehumanizing system of exploitation and abuse of power, the other with a code of proper behavior developed by medieval and Renaissance elites. As a system policing proper public and social behavior, civility may have originally served to empower the literate middle classes against the aristocracy, but can be deployed censor challenges to contemporary authority.

Civility may in fact be the face of authoritarianism lite. Dissent can be indeed uncivil without being irrational. Robust dissent is a civic virtue. The opportunistic, anarchistic elements of the student protest movement are not simply uncivil: they want to escalate a confrontation with the authorities so that the University will be destroyed and then re-made. The reactionary backlash against student activism as found in the comments area of the OC Register are crypto fascist and are aimed at destroying the University as well.

Chancellor Drake wanted to remind us of our values in a statement to the UCI campus on Friday, February 26, referring to incidents that occurred at UCSD (the racist frat party) and the riots at Berkeley. He failed to mention, or only implied that the February 25 sit in was part of these series of "unfortunate events" The UCI action was an organized act of civil disobedience to attract attention to a set of demands set forth by a loose coalition called "democratize education." The occupation of Aldrich Hall at UCI is not in any way comparable to what happened either at Berkeley, and especially not comparable to what happened at UCSD. There should be amnesty for the seventeen students and workers arrested at UCI. Chancellor Drake purposefully distorts the situation by confusing the UCI actions with the events at other campuses.

Amnesty should be offered to all the students and workers arrested in recent weeks. All demonstrations on the UCI campus have been peaceful and organized: Drake should recognize civil disobedience as a form of protected speech, which has nothing to do with symbolic targeting of minorities.

The events at UC Berkeley are covered at the Daily Cal .

March 4

2010-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

March 4th is right around the corner and the local, national and international anticipation for this historic day is growing by the minute. Students, teachers, staff, parents and workers from all over California, the nation and the world have been organizing and building for the Strike andDay of Action. Below is a tentative list of events that will be happening on March 4th in California.

If you have any information to add to the list below, have information onevents from places outside of California or have any questions about March 4th, please email march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com or visit defend public education and tell us what is being planned in your school, workplace, community for March 4th Strike and Day of Action.

In Solidarity,

Jonathan Nunez

Follow-up committee of the October 24th Conference

**Regional Events***

* *
*Los Angeles Regional Rally*

• 3 pm Rally @ Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A.

• 4 pm March from Pershing Square to the Governor’s office

• 5 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (300 Spring St.)

*East Bay/Oakland Regional Rally*
• 12 pm-4 pm Rally @ Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front of Oakland City Hall, 14th &
Broadway)
• March to the Ogawa Plaza Rally from:

-UC Berkeley: 12 pm Rally @ Bancroft & Telegraph, followed by March

-Laney College: 11 am Rally, followed by March

-Fruitvale BART: Assemble @ 11 am, March @ 11:30 am

• Travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing below)**

*San Francisco Regional Rally*

• 5 pm Rally @ San Francisco Civic Center

*Sacramento/State Capitol Rally*

• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)

*San Diego Regional Rally*

• 3 pm Rally @ Balboa Park, followed by March to governor’s office

• 4 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (downtown)

*San Fernando Valley Regional Rally*

• 3:45 pm gathering @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

• 4:15 pm March

• 5 pm Hands around CSUN

• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

*Local Events*

*UC Berkeley*

• 7 am-12 pm Pickets

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally/Action @ entrance to Sproul Plaza (Telegraph & Bancroft)

• 1 pm-3 pm March from UC Berkeley to Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*UCLA*

• 10 am Pickets

• 11:30 am Walk Out

• 12 pm Rally @ Bruin Plaza

(UCLA invites high schools and community colleges in the Westside area to join)

*UC San Diego*

• 11:30 Walk-out & Rally @ Gilman Parking Structure

• 12:30 pm March from Gilman to the Silent Tree outside Giesel Library and
Rally there

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego
Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*UC Santa Cruz*

• 6:00 am Picket at the entrances to campus

• 9:00 am Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)**

• 12:00 pm Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)**

• 5:00 pm General Assembly @ main entrance to campus (Bay and High)**

*UC Riverside*

• 1 pm gathering @ UCR Bell Tower

• 2:30 pm March from UCR to downtown

• 3:30 pm Rally @ University Ave and Market St. (Downtown Riverside)

*CSU Bakersfield*

• 11:30 am-1 pm @ the Student Union Patio (rain: Stockdale Room in Runner
Café)

*CSU Channel Islands*

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to the San Fernando Valley to participate in San Fernando Valley Regional Rally @ CSU Northridge (See regional listing above)

*CSU Chico*

• 8 am sendoff for students, faculty, workers and campus community traveling to State Capital Rally (See regional listing above)

*CSU Dominguez Hills*

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Wilson High School Long Beach and Los Angeles Regional Rally (See Long Beach details below or regional listing above)

• 11 am-1 pm students hold a fair on CSUDH East Walkway (Games to learn about public education costs, access and quality)

*CSU East Bay*

• 12 pm Rally/Open Mic/Speack Out @ Agora Stage

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*Fresno State*

• 10:30 am March from NW corner of Blackstone and Shaw, go down Shaw to Fresno State

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Peace Garden

*CSU Fullerton*

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*Humboldt State*

• 3 pm-5 pm Rally @ Humboldt County Courthouse-Eureka with CSU and K-12 faculty and students

*Cal State Los Angeles*

• 9:30 am Rally @ the USU area (Free Speech area)

• 2 pm March to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*CSU Long Beach*

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ South Campus, Upper Quad,

• 1 pm-2 pm Parade

• 4 pm Rally with K-12 and Community College (see below)

*Long Beach: Wilson High School*

• 4 pm Rally @ Wilson High School Gymnasium (4400 E. 10th St.)

• Music by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman)

*California Maritime Academy*

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally and Sacramento/State Capitol Rally (See regional isting above)

• 12 pm Street Theatre/Mock “Die-In” @ Maritime’s main quad

*CSU Monterey Bay*

• 11 am-1 pm Rally/March

• Followed by car-pools to Community Rally

• 4 pm Community Rally @ Colton Hall (570 Pacific St. between Madison &
Jefferson)

- Contact: Kat General, 415-728-8927
*CSU Northridge/San Fernando Valley Regional Rally*

• 3:45 pm gather @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

• 4:15 pm March

• 5 pm Hands around CSUN

• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

*Cal Poly Pomona*

• 1:30 pm- 2:30 pm Send off Rally @ - as CFA members, students and campus community board buses for Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*Sacramento State*/*Sacramento/State Capitol Rally*

• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)

- Contact: Kevin Wehr, 916-541-2125

*CSU San Bernardino*

• 11:30 am March @ Marquee entrance (NW corner of University Pkwy and
Northpark Blvd)

• 12 pm Rally @ Pfau Library

*San Diego State*/*San Diego Regional Rally*

• 11:30 am-12:00 pm collect video testimonials from students and campus community next to Aztec Center (Large “scoreboard” showing the loss of students, teachers and classes at SDSU due to budget cuts)

• 12:00 pm Rally by Aztec Center

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*San Francisco Sate*

• 7 am Campus Shutdown

• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

*San Jose State*

• 11 am gather at San Jose City Hall

• 11:45 am March to San Jose State Tower Lawn (7th Street Plaza entrance)

• 12 pm Rally @ San Jose State Tower Lawn

*Cal Poly San Luis Obispo*

• 3:30–5 pm Rally @ Office of state Senator Abel Maldonado (1356 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo)

*CSU San Marcos*

• 10:30 am-11:30 am Teach-in on State Budget @ Academic Hall (ACD) 102 (simulcast to other classrooms)

• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Kellogg Library

*Sonoma State*

• 11:30 am Student Walk Out

• 12:00 pm-1:30 pm Rally near Stevenson Quad

*CSU Stanislaus*

• 11:30 am-1pm Rally @ campus Quad

* *

Original list compiled by Steve Seltzer

Modified by Jonathan Nunez

Bob Meister's Talk at UCI

2010-02-26T15:43:00.001-08:00

Link to Bob Meister's talk at UCI...There is more .

Students sit-in at UCI Admin Building

2010-02-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Demands have been made.

Study-in at Langson Library

2010-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Click here to find out more about a Study-in occupation of UCI's Langson Library on Friday, February 18. I think it would be good to be there a bit before 5:00 pm.

March 4 and Petition

2010-02-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to sign a petition to defend the master plan and find information about the March 4th protests!

counter cartographies at unc

2010-01-31T16:40:00.000-08:00

Check out this project by counter cartographies at UNC Chapel Hill.

teach-in tomorrow

2010-01-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

"UC and Public Higher Education: A Teach-In with George Lakoff,
California State Senator Loni Hancock, and Jesse Cheng"

Thursday, January 14, 4-6 PM *1030 Humanities Gateway (*new location)

SENATOR LONI HANCOCK, Democrat from Oakland, represents the regions of
Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Dublin, El Sobrante,
Emeryville, Livermore, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, and San Pablo.
She has compiled an impressive record of legislation supporting the
environment and education. Recently, she was appointed to the new
"Joint Select Committee on Reform," a special legislative committee
set up by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Darrell
Steinberg to address the crisis in California's tax system. For more
information, see her website: http://dist09.casen.govoffice.com/

PROFESSOR GEORGE LAKOFF teaches cognitive and neural linguistics at UC
Berkeley. He is best known to humanists for his ground-breaking
collaborations with Mark Johnson, --Metaphors We Live By, and
--Philosophy of the Flesh--. In response to the UC budget crisis,
Professor Lakoff has shown exemplary leadership, taking the initiative
to promote a referendum that would return the California legislature
to the classical majority vote and eliminate the 2/3rd rule that has
crippled the state. For more information, see:
www.californiansfordemocracy.com or www.camajorityrule.com.

JESSE CHENG is the student-regent to the UC Board of Regents and an
Asian American Studies major at UCI. He has also served as external
chair for the Asian Pacific Student Association, executive vice
president-elect for the Associated Students of UC Irvine, Academic
Senate representative for the Council on Education Policy and the
chair of the UC Student Fee Advisory Committee. Having attended the
UC Regents meetings for the past academic year, he has special insight
into their handling of the plight of students.

Please join us for this important event!

Free and open to the public. For more:
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/collective or hctr@uci.edu

keep california's promise...

2009-12-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

The numbers on how to make California's budget work with the aim of preserving the quality of public higher education....Chris Newfield has also linked to Keep California's Promise's working paper demonstrating that it is possible to fund the Cal State's and the UC's with a minimal tax increase ($32.00 per taxpayer). Read it and distribute it. This working paper shows that what the state lack is political will and a proper sense of priorities, not the money to defend public higher education.

Statement in support of the UC Mobilisation (Updated)

2009-12-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Statement in support of the UC Mobilisation

24 November 2009

We the undersigned declare our solidarity with University of California students, workers and staff as they defend, in the face of powerful and aggressive intimidation, the fundamental principles upon which a truly inclusive and egalitarian public-sector education system depends. We affirm their determination to confront university administrators who seem willing to exploit the current financial crisis to introduce disastrous and reactionary 'reforms' (fee-increases, lay-offs, salary cuts) to the UC system. We support their readiness to take direct action in order to block these changes. We recognise that in times of crisis, only assertive collective action – walkouts, boycotts, strikes, occupations... – offers any meaningful prospect of democratic participation. We deplore the recent militarization of the UC campuses, and call on the UC administration to acknowledge rather than discourage the resolution of their students to struggle, against the imperatives of privatization, to protect the future of their university.

Signed:

Dina Al-Kassim, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Alison Hope Alkon, Sociology, University of the Pacific
Eyal Amiran, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Susan Antebi, Spanish and Portuguese, University of Toronto
Aldo Antonelli, Philosophy, UC Davis
Emily Apter, Comparative Literature, NYU
Kiran Asher, International Development and Social Change and Women's Studies, Clark University
Jennifer Bajorek, Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College
Mona Baker, Translation Studies, University of Manchester
Mieke Bal, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam
Gopal Balakrishnan, History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz
Karyn Ball, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
Stephen Barker, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, UC Irvine
Tani E. Barlow, History, Rice University
LeGrace Benson, Emerita, SUNY Empire State
Leo Bersani, French, UC Berkeley
Bruce Braun, Geography, University of Minnesota
Nathan Brown, English, UC Davis
Darcy C. Buerkle, History, Smith College
Craig Calhoun, Sociology, NYU
Emma Campbell, French, University of Warwick
Julie Carlson, English, UC Santa Barbara
Anthony Carrigan, English, University of Keele
Amy Sara Carroll, Latina/o Studies, American Culture, English, University of Michigan
Allison Carruth, English, University of Oregon
Mari Castaneda, Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Paula Chakravartty, Department of Communication, UMass Amherst
Piya Chatterjee, Women’s Studies, UC Riverside
Chris Chiappari, Sociology, Anthropology, St. Olaf College
Kyeong-Hee Choi, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
Noam Chomsky, Linguistics, MIT
Joshua Clover, English, UC Davis
Lin Chun, Department of Government, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Drucilla Cornell, Political Science, Women’s and Gender Studies, Comparative Literature, Rutgers University
Maria E. Cotera, Latina/o Studies, American Culture, Women’s Studies, University of Michigan
Whitney Cox, Languages and Cultures of South Asia, School of Oriental and African Studies
Daniela Daniele, Anglo-American Literatures, University of Udine
Eva von Dassow, Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota
Jodi Dean, Political Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Richard Dienst, English, Rutgers University
Jackie DiSalvo, English, Baruch College, CUNY
Elizabeth DeLoughrey, English, UCLA
Sergio de la Mora, Chicana and Chicano Studies, UC Davis
Mattanjah S. de Vries, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC Santa Barbara
Hent de Vries, Humanities Center, Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University
Lisa Disch, Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan
Ariel Dorfman, Literature, Duke University
Robert Dudley, Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
Alexander Garcia Düttmann, Philosophy and Visual Culture, Goldsmiths University
Raymond Duvall, Political Science, University of Minnesota
Ken Ehrlich, Art Department, UC Riverside
Norma Field, East Asian Languages & Civilizations
Gail Finney, Comparative Literature and German, UC Davis
Paul Fleming, German, NYU
Aranye Fradenburg, English, UC Santa Barbara
Anne-Lise François, English and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
James Fujii, East Asian Language and Literatures, UC Irvine
John Funchion, English, University of Miami
Alexander Galloway, Media, Culture, Communication, NYU
Alexander Gelley, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Bishnupriya Ghosh, English, UC Santa Barbara
Rich Gibson, Education, San Diego State University
Jill Giegerich, Art, UC Riverside
Rachel Giora, Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
Shai Ginsburg, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University
Ruthann Godollei, Art, Macalester College
Marcial Gonzales, English, UC Berkeley
Manu Goswami, History, NYU
Yogita Goyal, English, UCLA
Greg Grandin, History, NYU
Ronald Walter Greene, Communication Studies, University of Minnesota
Martin Hägglund, Society of Fellows, Harvard University
Peter Hallward, Philosophy, Middlesex University
Werner Hamacher, Literature, Goethe University
Kristin Hanson, English, UC Berkeley
Harry Harootunian, History, Columbia University and Duke University
Michael Hardt, Literature, Duke University
Ulla Haselstein, American Literature, Free University of Berlin
Rebeca Helfer, English, UC Irvine
Cressida J. Heyes, Philosophy, University of Alberta
Katsuya Hirano, History, Cornell University
Dirk Hoerder, History, Arizona State University
Jennifer Holt, Film and Media Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Grace Kyungwon Hong, Asian American Studies and Women’s Studies, UCLA
Eugene W. Holland, Comparative Studies, Ohio State University
Ashley Hunt, Photography and Media, California Institute for the Arts
Adrienne Hurley, East Asian Studies, McGill University
Natasha Hurley, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
Patricia Ingham, English, Indiana University
Peter Jackson, English, Birmingham City University
Fredric Jameson, Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University
Micaela Janan, Classical Studies, Duke University
Priya Jha, English, University of Redlands
Adrian Johnston, Philosophy, University of New Mexico
Richard Kahn, Educational Foundations and Research, University of North Dakota
Peggy Kamuf, French and Comparative Literature, UCS
Ken C. Kawashima, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
Sarah Kay, French and Italian, Princeton University
Paul Kelemen, Sociology, University of Manchester
Rosanne Kennedy, School of Humanities, Australian National University
Susan Blakeley Klein, East Asian Languages and Literatures, UC Irvine
Suk-Young Kim, Theater and Dance, UC Santa Barbara
Anna Klosowska, French, Miami University
A. Kiarina Kordela, German Studies, Macalester College
David Farrell Krell, Philosophy, DePaul University, University of Freiburg
Ernesto Laclau, Politics, University of Essex
Bradley Lafortune, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
Neil Larson, Comparative Literature, UC Davis
Michaeal G. Levine, German and Comparative Literature, Rutgers University
Suzanne Jill Levine, Spanish and Portuguese, UC Santa Barbara
Ann-Elise Lewallen, East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Jacques Lezra, Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese, NYU
Pei-te Lien, Political Science, UC Santa Barbara
Akira Mizuta Lippit, Critical Studies, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, USC
Michèle Longino, French, Duke University
Silvia L. López, Spanish, Carleton College
Heather Love, English, University of Pennsylvania
Stephanie Luce, Labor Center, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
G. Akito Maehara, History, Asian American Studies, African American Studies, Chicano Studies, Native American Studies, East Los Angeles College
Sharon Marcus, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia
Lyle Massey, Art History, UC Irvine
Robert May, Philosophy and Linguistics, UC Davis
Todd May, Philosophy, Clemson University
Christina McMahon, Theater and Dance, UC Santa Barbara
Bob Meister, Political and Social Thought, UC Santa Cruz
Walter Mignolo, Literature, Duke University
Laura J. Mitchell, History, UC Irvine
Claudia Moatti, Classics, USC
Santiago Morales-Rivera, Spanish and Portuguese, UC Irvine
Patricia Morton, History of Art, UC Riverside
Fred Moten, English, Duke University
John Mowitt, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota
Julian Myers, Visual Studies and Curatorial Practice, California College of the Arts
Janet Neary, English, Hunter College
Vasuki Nesiah, International Affairs, Brown University
Sianne Ngai, English, UCLA
Joel Nickels, English, University of Miami
Julia Olbert, English, UC Irvine
Bob Ostertag, Technocultural Studies, Music, UC Davis
Thomas Pepper, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota
Amy Pederson, Art History, Woodbury University
Kavita Philip, Women’s Studies, UC Irvine
John Protevi, French, LSU
Jack Linchuan Qiu, Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Paula Rabinowitz, English, University of Minnesota
Francois Raffoul, Philosophy, LSU
Eve Allegra Raimon, Arts and Humanities, American and New England Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Southern Maine
Jacques Rancière, Philosophy, University of Paris (St. Denis)
Jason Reid, Philosophy, University of Southern Maine
Joseph Rezek, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Gerhard Richter, German, UC Davis
Denise Riley, Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University
Corey Robin, Political Science, Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center
William I. Robinson, Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara
Avital Ronell, Comparative Literature, Germanic Languages and Literatures, NYU
Sven-Erik Rose, French and Italian, Miami University
Andrew Ross, Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU
Kristin Ross, Comparative Literature, NYU
Matthew Rowlinson, English, Center for Theory and Criticism, University of Western Ontario
G.S. Sahota, Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Minnesota
Simona Sawhney, South Asian Literature and Critical Theory, University of Minnesota
Martha Saxton, History and Women's and Gender Studies, Amherst College
Annette Schlichter, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Andre Schmid, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto
Ronald J. Schmidt Jr., Political Science, University of Southern Maine
Gabriele Schwab, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Louis-George Schwartz, Film, Ohio University
Joan W. Scott, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University
Louis Segal, History, UC Davis
Susan Seizer, Communication and Culture, Indiana University
Jared Sexton, African American Studies, Film and Media Studies, UC Irvine
Katherine Sherwood, Art Practice and Disability Studies
Scott C. Shershow, English, UC Davis
Lewis Siegelbaum, History, Michigan State University
Brenda R. Silver, English, Dartmouth College
David Slater, Geography, Loughborough University
Gavin Smith, Anthropology, University of Toronto
Zrinka Stahuljak, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA
Haim Steinbach, Visual Arts, UC San Diego
Clay Steinman, Humanities, Media, Cultural Studies, Macalester College
Christine A. Stewart, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
Matthew Stratton, English, UC Davis
Imre Szeman, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
Rei Terada, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
Soraya Tlatli, French, UC Berkeley
Sasha Torres, Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
Alberto Toscano, Sociology, Goldsmiths University of London
Dimitris Vardoulakis, School of Humanities and Languages, University of Western Sydney
Geoff Waite, German Studies, Comparative Literature, and Art History, Cornell University
Elizabeth Walden, Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Bryant University
Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, English and Postcolonial Studies, University of North Dakota
Kathi Weeks, Women's Studies, Duke University
Silke-Maria Weineck, German and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
Leonard Wilcox, American Studies, University of Canterbury
Julia Bryan-Wilson, Contemporary Art, Visual Studies, UC Irvine
Michael W. Wilson, Art, UC Riverside
Mirko Wischke, Philosophy, National University of Kiev
David Wittenberg, English & Comparative Literature, University of Iowa
Mayfair Yang, Religious Studies, East Asian Cultural Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Hu Yong, Journalism and Communication, Peking University
Slavoj Zizek, Philosophy, University of Ljubljana
Jack Zipes, German, University of Minnesota

Statement From Faculty

2009-12-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Chancellor Drake, Members of the UCI Administration, and Library Staff,

We write to let you know that we support the peaceful efforts of UCI students to keep the main library open this Friday after 5pm through Saturday and possibly Sunday. Those of us who are able to do so plan to hold study sessions, participate in teach-ins, and stop by to be with the students in the library during the week-end.

The current library hours, among many other measures, do a grave disservice to our students and staff and are simply an embarrassment for a great research university like UCI. Far from being a mere service to students, the library, where books and study spaces are available, lies at the center of the intellectual exploration that reaches fruition in final papers and exams.

Our action is intended to draw attention to the unacceptable sacrifices made by students and staff at UCI, despite the best efforts of faculty to continue to provide the high quality instruction for which our university is known. We note that our support of this action does not preclude our support of other actions, such as the "write-in" on the budget organized by the Chancellor.

We ask that you do all in your power to ensure that the library action goes forward peacefully, allowing students the full use of library resources before finals week.

Sincerely,
Cecelia Lynch, Political Science
Elizabeth Allen, English
Jane O. Newman, Comparative Literature
Rei Terada, Comparative Literature
Eyal Amiran, Comparative Literature and FMS
Catherine Liu, FMS and Visual Studies
Laura Mitchell, History
Santiago Morales, Spanish/Portuguese

(please send signatures to john.bruning@gmail.com)

Letter of Solidarity

2009-11-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

If you would like to add your name to this letter of solidarity initiated by Peter Hallward of Middlesex University London, please email Nathan Brown at nathan.brown11@gmail.com or ntbrown@ucdavis.edu by the middle of next week!

Statement in support of the UC Mobilisation

24 November 2009

We the undersigned declare our solidarity with University of California students, workers and staff as they defend, in the face of powerful and aggressive intimidation, the fundamental principles upon which a truly inclusive and egalitarian public-sector education system depends. We affirm their determination to confront university administrators who seem willing to exploit the current financial crisis to introduce disastrous and reactionary 'reforms' (fee-increases, lay-offs, salary cuts) to the UC system. We support their readiness to take direct action in order to block these changes. We recognise that in times of crisis, only assertive collective action – walkouts, boycotts, strikes, occupations... – offers any meaningful prospect of democratic participation. We deplore the recent militarization of the UC campuses, and call on the UC administration to acknowledge rather than discourage the resolution of their students to struggle, against the imperatives of privatization, to protect the future of their university.

Signed:

• Gopal Balakrishnan, History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz
• Karyn Ball, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
• LeGrace Benson, Emerita, SUNY Empire State
• Nathan Brown, English, UC Davis
• Darcy C. Buerkle, History, Smith College
• Julie Carlson, English, UC Santa Barbara
• Anthony Carrigan, English, University of Keele
• Paula Chakravartty, Department of Communication, UMass Amherst
• Piya Chatterjee, Women’s Studies, UC Riverside
• Noam Chomsky, Linguistics, MIT
• Joshua Clover, English, UC Davis
• Elizabeth DeLoughrey, English, UCLA
• Mattanjah S. de Vries, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC Santa Barbara
• Hent de Vries, Humanities Center, Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University
• Alexander Garcia Düttmann, Philosophy and Visual Culture, Goldsmiths University
• Aranye Fradenburg, English, UC Santa Barbara
• Manu Goswami, History, NYU
• Greg Grandin, History, NYU
• Martin Hägglund, Society of Fellows, Harvard University
• Peter Hallward, Philosophy, Middlesex University
• Werner Hamacher, Literature, Goethe University
• Harry Harootunian, History, Columbia University and Duke University
• Patricia Ingham, English, Indiana University
• Priya Jha, English, University of Redlands
• Adrian Johnston, Philosophy, University of New Mexico
• David Farrell Krell, Philosophy, DePaul University, University of Freiburg
• Ernesto Laclau, Politics, University of Essex
• Jacques Lezra, Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese, NYU
• Akira Mizuta Lippit, Critical Studies, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, USC
• Todd May, Philosophy, Clemson University
• Patricia Morton, History of Art, UC Riverside
• Fred Moten, English, Duke University
• Jack Linchuan Qiu, Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Joseph Rezek, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania
• Corey Robin, Political Science, Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center
• William I. Robinson, Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara
• Avital Ronell, Comparative Literature, Germanic Languages and Literatures, NYU
• Louis-George Schwartz, Film, Ohio University
• Susan Seizer, Communication and Culture, Indiana University
• Brenda R. Silver, English, Dartmouth College
• Christine A. Stewart, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
• Rei Terada, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
• Sasha Torres, Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
• Alberto Toscano, Sociology, Goldsmiths University of London
• Elizabeth Walden, Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Bryant University
• Mirko Wischke, Philosophy, National University of Kiev
• Slavoj Zizek, Philosophy, University of Ljubljana.

Students drowning debt

2009-11-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

Students are already drowning in debt....

New UCI Actions

2009-11-23T11:11:00.001-08:00

1) RALLY at ADMIN BUILDING
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 2:00pm

FACEBOOK DESCRIPTION:

MAKE SURE TO WEAR BLACK!!!

Itinerary coming shortly!

The UC has voted to raise tuition by 32%! Students were brutally assaulted at UCLA for using their right of freedom of speech! Cuts are coming from the bottom not the top, while the administrators are getting raises workers are getting fired and student class sizes get larger. It is time that we as students come together in solidarity to tell the UC it's our UC!!!

Come out and hear stories from those affected and find out what we can do from here! Please invite at least 10 others. This is our time in history will we live up to the responsibility?

We stress that this is a peaceful rally, however, we as citizens of the United States can and will exercise of First amendment Rights!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQtp1UJpOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UBllA_-d7w&feature=related

2) Liberate Langson Library!
FROM: Friday, December 4, 2009 at 4:00pm
TO: Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:00pm
AT: Langston Hughes Library

FACEBOOK DESCRIPTION
When they raise our tuition 32%, even studying is a form of resistance.

All quarter, our library hours have been inadequate, and UCI administration is threatening to lay off even more library staff. The quality of our education falters when our library closes at 11pm during the week at 5pm on weekends. Even Finals Week is not a good enough excuse for extended library hours--the weekend before finals, the library is open:
8am-5pm on Friday, December 4
1pm-5pm on Saturday, December 5
1pm-5pm on Sunday, December 6
8am-11pm throughout Finals Week

We don't need a crowded study hall (Gateway), we need books and respect!

-----------------
Friday December 4:
3pm: Teach-in outside Langson Library about the budget cuts
4pm: Study-in inside Langson Library!
5pm-All Night: teach-ins, workshops, films, music, food, quiet study areas, and group study areas.

Saturday December 5:
1pm: General Assembly, Graduate Reading Room
(schedule subject to change)

The study-in will continue indefinitely!

Be sure to bring study materials, blankets, and food!

We are trying to make the Library into a safe space for queer/trans and AB540 students; please post suggestions below. All bathrooms will be gender-neutral!

If there is something you want to see happen at the study-in, DO IT! You don't need anyone's
permission, just post what you're doing on this page or announce it at Langson!

Finally, because the Library is named after Jack Langson, local real estate baron, it is appropriate that we rename it to something relevant to students. It appears we have near-unanimity: it will be called Langston Hughes Library!

SAVE petition to UC Regents

2009-11-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

Petition from SAVE at Berkeley, asking the Regents to delay tuition hikes as we search for other sources of funding.

Petition to Defend Public High

2009-11-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Sign this Petition to support robust public funding for higher ed in CA.

To the Gould Commission, from Michael Montoya

2009-11-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

Sent October 2009

Dear Commissioners,

Thanks for agreeing to serve and for allowing the opportunity to comment.
I have one overriding comment that stems from my research and teaching
across disciplines.

Students increasingly approach their degrees as means to a prescribed end.
I see this in social and natural sciences, medicine, law, engineering and
less so in humanities. The pressures for students to be so oriented are
immense. However, I have found that only the top 1% of those following a
prescribed professional path, adequately imagine their discipline, their
chosen field, their research question, as part of a larger body of
intellectual pursuits. Instead, they learn how to think based upon the
perceived - often accurately so - dictates of their aspired to profession.

The same could be said of research strategies whose horizon are simply the
next grant or next publication. The risks faculty take are few, because we
can ill afford it. Our reward structures are based upon market forces for
certain kinds of knowledge.

While we could cater to this 'market demand' in each of the 5 key areas of
the future UC, I submit that we do a disservice to our state when we allow
market forces to shape what education and research have become.

My vision, and I hope to persuade here, is that education and research are
inherently risky, curiosity driven endeavors. Only under these
circumstances, structurally supported, can students be exposed to and
appreciate the breadth and depth of human intellectual, social, cultural
genius. And only under conditions of risky curiosity driven pursuits, can
innovation spring.

I am deeply saddened to encounter students and colleagues who cannot argue
the merits and flaws of their field of study with any conviction, let
alone informed by philosophical, historical, social or empirical
connection to debates in fields other than their own. This is not
education.

The future of UC requires that the professorate and students swim in a
soup of ideas untethered to a return on investment (ROI) strategy. If we
cannot free ourselves from this intellectual straitjacket, we can never
hope to create imaginative, bold, innovative ideas and problem solutions
to the scale and scope to which our premier UC campuses aspire.

Michael J Montoya
Anthropology, Chicano/Latino Studies
Public Health
Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community
UC-Irvine

Gould Commission at UCI

2009-11-02T19:46:00.001-08:00

The Gould Commission came to UCI, with our own Chancellor Drake, Cynthia Brown, Mary Croughan and Chris Edley presenting the Commission's structure, its mission and its willingness to listen to a sparse audience, perhaps sixty profs at most with a smattering of students and staff. The Commission asserted that the policy recommendations that they were going to draw up were not to be reactive, but rather to be authentic projections of the better UC that we should become. As expected, Edley was by the far the most aggressive member of the Commission, cross-examining the former Chair of our Faculty Senate in his best lawyerly style when she insisted that the UC should not have differential tuition across the campuses. He turned it around and asked her if UC Merced should offer better financial aid, and if financial aid should not be differential across the various UC's. Jutta Heckhausen paused and said she had not thought of this, and considered UC Merced a special case. I thought that Edley was supposed to be LISTENING, but obviously he has a few ideas of his own that he isn't keeping so secret. At one point, he asked Carol Burke to go home and think about how big a graduate program at UCI should be, and asked her to email him the answer when she had drawn her conclusions. To Julia Lupton's eloquent statement about technology and distance learning as well as distribution of resources for instruction rather than on-line ed, Edley replied, "Of course our initiative will serve professors and instructors first." I was almost reassured, when the gloves finally came off and he expressed exasperation in response to my brief statement about the Commission's managerial ethos, which seemed to neglect an intellectual rationale or vision for the UC: Edley, "I've been in California almost five years four months and twelve days, and I am tired of the ROMANTICIZATION of the UC." To paraphrase, he went on to tell us we aren't all that, and that we need to be remade and reinvented. He was also responding impatiently to an Assistant Professor of Anthropology who had mentioned that the Socratic method had worked for 3000 years and that sometimes, education at the University took place simply as conversation in his office; Ann Van Sant of English suggested the Commission may not have the instruments to measure such interactions: Edley: "You just can't compare the excellence of teaching 400 students with the excellence of conversations you are having with three of them!" I WISH I had recorded his controlled rant about how blind we all are to our limitations, and how deluded we were about our past. Now there are enormous problems with the UC, but when one of the Gould Commission's members is already "tired" of our alleged self-mythologization then, the power that he has can indeed be wielded to destroy an institution's legacy in the name of his version of a the future. In addition, he urged us to have "charity for UCOP" because if we knew about how dire the budget situation was, we would be grateful indeed about how much money we managed to get from the State considering the depth of all the cuts that have been made. This seems persuasive on some level, but I wonder if Edley or UCOP recognizes what it is like for the rest of us. I would like the admin to be a bit more grateful that we are all working at a feverish pace at less pay, watching our community's most vulnerable members lose their jobs as staff and clerical workers live in fear of a pink slip. If I saw a bit more understanding of life on the lower echelons, I might be more inclined to feel "charity" for our leaders. I am already a philanthropist of my own time...to the tune of 7% of my paycheck. Drake seemed to be genuinely distressed when one speaker spoke of how poorly her students wrote and commented that large lecture courses of 400 were perhaps not the best places to learn the skills we assume college students should possess...One emeritus Medical prof suggested that what we should be offering as a University is something more general and broad than simple professional training. Yes, but Edley's 400 haunts us all...Managerial solutions have taken on the allure of a sovereign heroism...and the rest of us are seen as impractical malcontents, unable to fight the right wars, renounce our ideals or our romanticism and take on the new realities...Athenians in short.

Zombie Protest

2009-10-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

(credit Jason Davis)

In defiance over President Yudof's statements that being President of the UC System was like “Being president of the University of California is like being manager of a cemetery: there are many people under you, but no one is listening,” zombie students rose up in Yudof's cemetery, calling for an end to tuition hikes and layoffs. President Yudof even made an appearance, offering to take "32% more blood for less brains" from passing students.

More photos from the action can be found at the Literary Journalism 21 blog.

UC Berkeley Grad Students Call for Strike

2009-10-27T11:16:00.001-07:00

Call for UC-wide Strike .

2009-10-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog of UCI's reporting class in the literary journalism program.

Students in LJ21, a reporting class in the Literary Journalism program at UCI, are documenting the effects of unprecedented budget cuts to UCI in the blog you are reading.

Through this exercise, we will practice interview, observation and fact-finding, in addition to helping illuminate what the budget cuts mean for students, faculty, staff, workers and administration.

UCLA teach in

2009-10-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

Saving UCLA has a ning up where they are announcing events, teach-ins and actions in response to the budget crisis. There are teaching materials available at the site.

Zombie protest flyer

2009-10-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the Zombie protest flyer.

Upcoming Events

2009-10-14T19:52:00.001-07:00

October 24
UC Berkeley campus
Statewide organizing conference
Email John Bruning (john.bruning at gmail.com) to carpool

October 29
Zombie protest: the Dead Will Rise Up!
Noon, Aldrich Hall
Come in your finest undead garb!
Tell Yudof that those people in his cemetery have a lot to say!

November 17-19
UCLA campus
UC Regents meeting

Teach-In Oct. 14

2009-10-13T06:53:00.001-07:00

“Public Education At Risk?
A Teach-In on The History and Meaning of the Current UC Budget Crisis.”

Wednesday, October 14th
3-5pm at the Student Center, Moss Cove A”

Panelists include Professors Gilbert Gonzalez from Chicano Latino
Studies, Thurston Domina from Education, and Horacio Legras from Spanish
and Portugese. There will be plenty of time for questions and
comments. We are hoping for a open and lively discussion of the
current crisis.

Bob Meister's Open Letter to Students

2009-10-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Bob Meister has written a must read open letter to UC students about their tuition dollars. Please circulate this critical analysis of how the UC is pledging future tuition revenues to pay interest on tuition based bonds. The more this happens, the less budget transparency there will be in the future operations of the UC.

Krugman on the Ignorant American

2009-10-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Paul Krugman argues for and Education Bailout, making arguments that the federal government should be concerned about the state of education in this country after the economic downturn has forced state governments to slash education budgets. He emphasizes that throughout the twentieth century, the US was a leader in public education. This is a critical piece of the puzzle here -- private schools did not provide the kinds of mass education that allowed millions of Americans of all classes access to better work, a better life and deeper forms of political participation.

October 24 event at UC Berkeley

2009-10-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

The October 24 Event at UC Berkeley should be worth attending.

judith butler in the Guardian

2009-10-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Judith Butler in the Guardian UK on the UC Budget crisis!

anthropology colloquium

2009-10-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

„Bankers into Populists:
The Texas Tax Clubs and the Mellon Plan, 1924-1928‰

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
3:30-5:00 PM
Room 1208, SSPB (Anthropology Library)

From time to time the United States is swept by populist mobilization in favor of tax policies that redistribute categorically to the rich. These movements present a puzzle–how do regressive tax reforms win popular support? This paper addresses the question with a case study of one of the first and most influential of these episodes: the tax club movement in Texas in the 1920s. The paper illustrates some general dynamics of rich people's movements and illuminates the genealogy of contemporary anti-tax populism in the U.S.

Dr. Martin is the author of The Permanent Tax Revolt: How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics (Stanford University Press 2008) and the co-editor of The New Fiscal Sociology: Taxation in Comparative and Historical Perspective (2009) and After the Tax Revolt: California‚s Proposition 13 Turns Thirty (2009).

Also Note: Toward a Fiscal Social Science: Wednesday, October 14, 12-1:30pm, SSPB 1208. https://eee.uci.edu/09f/60743/

2009-10-02T11:14:00.001-07:00

Here's the link to a powerpoint on the UC Budget Cuts for use in brief teach-ins, courtesy of Ameeth Vijay.

Next meeting

2009-10-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday 10/1
5pm
Humanities Instructional Building (HIB) 341

meeting tonight

2009-10-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

HIB 341 at 5 pm

Chris Newfield vs. Mark Yudof at the Chronicle

2009-09-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Chris Newfield has published an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education on the UC Budget. It is paired with an article by UC President Mark Yudof on the same topic, more or less. This juxtaposition of viewpoints provides a good overview of faculty advocacy for public higher ed vs. administrative resignation and accommodation. It would be good to have a discussion about how these two viewpoints differ qualitatively in their assessments of the present crisis.

9-24-09 Walkout Press

2009-09-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

LA Times - UC campuses hit by protests
LA Times - UC protests loud but peaceful; no major disruptions or problems reported
OC Register - Few UCI students join in fee protest (really bad article)
OC Register - UC staff, students protest state budget cuts (video)
TIME - California's Budget Crunch: The Universities Protest
The Nation - U of Cal Budget Protests Draw Thousands

Other articles about the system-wide actions:
New York Times - California University Cuts Protested
Guardian (UK) - University of California campuses erupt into protest
San Francisco Gate - Thousands march in Berkeley over UC cuts
College Times - Thousands protest tuition hikes, layoffs at University of California
Mercury News - 5,000 at UC Berkeley protest tuition increases, furloughs, layoffs
Inside Higher Ed - Walkouts across U. of California

Press Release for 9-24-09: A Day of Action

2009-09-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

1000 rally against fee increases and layoffs at UC Irvine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 24, 2009 - At noon today, in an unprecedented action at the University of California in Irvine, five hundred undergraduate and graduate students, professors, staff, and workers packed the steps outside Aldrich Hall, the administration building to rally against budget cuts and their implementation by the administration, fee increases, layoffs, and furloughs. Speakers chastised the state legislature and UC administration, while emphasizing the importance of public higher education. The protesters joined the UPTE workers and their picket lines before the speakers rallied the crowd with speeches about collective action.

At UCI, 1000 faculty, students, union members and staff participated in actions throughout the day, including the picket, an improvised, street theater performance on the Claire Trevor School of the Arts campus and a teach-in in the Social Science Plaza at 2 pm. An evening teach-in about the budget crisis and the history of UCI activism had over one hundred in attendance. Numerous professors and graduate students also held impromptu teach-ins in their morning classes before walking out.

These actions were carried out in coordination with a UC-wide day of action, which saw protests at all of the ten UC campuses, with over to 5,000 protesters gathered at UC Berkeley alone and over 700 at UCLA.

Catherine Liu, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, told students at the rally, "Educate, empower yourselves, learn what you're not supposed to learn, take charge of where you're going, figure out why the UC was virtually tuition free in 1972."

Many students attended because of rising student fees, class cuts, and outrage over administrative pay increases, but there was also strong support for campus workers, who are facing furloughs and have seen 7 groundskeepers and janitors laid off. Faculty and lecturers are also expecting furloughs this year. Protesters held signs reading "Chop
From the Top" and "Lay Off Yudof," in reference to UC President Mark Yudof.

Next steps have not been announced yet, but there will likely be additional coordinated actions in the coming months. Activists at the southern schools, such as UCLA and UC Irvine, are anticipating actions at the UC Regents' meeting in November, where the Regents are scheduled to make a final decision on mid-year fee increases which would bring fees to over $10,000 for the first time in UC history.

For more information:
Contact
John Bruning jbruning@uci.edu (262) 894-7667

raw footage of noontime rally

2009-09-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

That you Courtney Santos for sending this link to me!

noon rally at uci. It is raw footage of Catherine Liu's speech.

uci arts plaza: 9-24-09

2009-09-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

UCI Arts Plaza: Act Out/Stand Up!

new link to "Understanding the Crisis"

2009-09-24T02:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the newest version of " here! Please download and distribute this one instead of the older version.

new link to three pager

2009-09-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is the new link to the three page information document for teach ins.

9-24-09: FAQ's

2009-09-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

UCI Day of Action: A Note from Concerned Faculty
Defend UCI
Sept 24, 2009

1. What do we hope to achieve with the UC walk out?
For faculty the walk out is a way to call attention to the current budgetary crisis at the University of California. This crisis will lead to a wholesale restructuring of the University. We believe that instead of being spectators to this process, we have to be actors, and that in order for us to act effectively, we need to know the facts and the history of the present crisis.
2. Where can I find these facts?
We have assembled the most objective information on the crisis in a document called “Understanding the Budget Crisis at UCI” which can be accessed through www.defenduci.blogspot.com. Many people will also receive similar information by regular mail or flyers.
3. Why does the walk out fall on the first day of class?
The walk out is a system wide initiative. We did not choose the day. But we think it is important that all campuses have a coordinated action.
4. Does the walk out mean that teachers and students do not go to class?
No. Students have to be in class the first day to register in that class. Once in class, the teacher can invite students to participate in the walk out or may prefer to hold class regularly. The teacher may also want to invite students to discuss the current situation for a few minutes. Whatever the decision of the teacher is, we respect it.
5. Is the walk out the only opportunity to show your support for this initiative?
No. Instructors are also invited to discuss the issue with students throughout the coming year. We believe that the information assembled at www.defenduci.blogspot.com can be instrumental to this end.
6. What comes next?
We hope that throughout the coming year, professors and students will continue to inform themselves about the crisis. Just reading the documents assembled in the blog is a form of participating. After that you may want to take other action: talk to your colleagues, to your friends, to your parents. Share with them the information you now have. Ask them to write to UC President Mark Yudof and to state representatives.
7. Is this politicizing the classroom?
For many years one of the main goals of the university has been the education of responsible citizens able to contribute to the common good. By undertaking this action, we are continuing to fulfill the university's critical mission.

Understanding the crisis at UC

2009-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Understanding the Crisis at the UC is another way to access a direct and permanent link to a critical research document that contains facts and figures about the financial situation of the UC in light of the state of California's budget.

Please download and distribute as widely as possible!

Flyers and Informational Material

2009-09-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Flyers to publicize the 9 24 event at Noon at the UCI flagpoles, and information to polish your political arguments can be found at: http://groups.google.com/group/defend-uci-students-and-workers/files

You can also then join the listserv on which many organizational and political details are hammered out.

9-24-09 Program

2009-09-19T05:24:00.001-07:00

Program
Day of Action
UCI September 24, 2009 Events

On-Going Action: 6am- 5pm: Support the UPTE (University Professional and Technical Employees) Strike! Day-Long Picket at the Flagpoles

9-10 am: Act Out Interactive Drama: Arts Plaza

9-12am: Morning Teach-ins within classes all over the campus...check back for information about classes and schedules

12 NOON RALLY AT THE FLAGPOLES: PLEASE COME SUPPORT UCI AND PROTEST THE BUDGET CUTS TO PUBLIC HIGHER ED IN CALIFORNIA.

FEATURING: SPEAKERS REPRESENTING STUDENTS, FACULTY AND WORKERS!

This is our major event of the day where we hope for a large crowd! If there is only one event you can make on 9/24/09, this should be your priority.

2-3pm: Rally in the Social Science Plaza

5-7pm: Evening Teach-ins: Humanities Gateway 1010

(please check back for latest schedule of events)

Press Release for 9-24-09: A Day of Action

2009-09-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

9-24-09
A Day of Action At UCI:
Defending Public Higher Education in California

September 24, 2009 is a Day of Action to Defend UCI: An unprecedented coalition of concerned faculty, staff and students are planning a series of actions on this day to protest the devastating budget cuts to public education across the state. We are working together to defend the proud legacy of public service and academic excellence that have been the hallmarks of the University of California.

UC students still deserve an affordable and excellent education. UC faculty and employees deserve adequate compensation and rewards for their expertise and experience. It is only through collective action that we can end the legislative inertia in Sacramento, elect visionary leaders, and restore the promise of the Golden State.

We want to urge students, staff and faculty to join us in taking action to SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA and to DEFEND THE UC. We join our colleagues on other UC campuses, in the State University system, the community colleges, the high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools to protest these devastating cuts in state support for education.

The UC is a common good and a public asset that belongs to the state and people of California. California has been and should continue to be a leader and not a follower in public higher education. In the global economy, California's culture of innovation, creativity and tolerance has provided a model for the entire world.

We must all make strong arguments to local and national media, as well as to our state legislators that it is critical to preserve and defend the UC. There are those who believe that California can no longer afford to support the best public university system in the world. We think we cannot afford to be myopic and pessimistic about California's ability to reinvent itself and to grow. We do believe in fiscal discipline and greater transparency not only in the UC, but in state government in general.

We may not be able to afford PR agencies or lobbyists, but together, with sufficient numbers, we CAN make a difference in the political process. We will continue to make a case for the significance of the cultural, economic, and intellectual contributions that UC makes to the state. Every member of the UC community can participate in this effort.

We are aware that not everyone agrees with or can participate in the call for a general walkout on September 24, 2009, but in what will no doubt be a long battle , we can find common ground in preserving and defending access to excellence at the greatest public university in the world.

A true grassroots movement has emerged at UC Irvine, and it is committed to preserving and protecting the promise of public higher education in California.