tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2436752942903769912024-03-19T01:48:20.390-07:00reclaim UCprovisional home of the College of Debtors in DefianceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger652125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-74730381245310525162020-06-22T15:11:00.013-07:002020-06-23T13:59:00.112-07:00How Much Money Does the University of California Spend on Its Police Departments?<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The ongoing rebellion against the police, which was kicked off by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, has effectively generalized the demand to “defund the police.” This demand articulates an abolitionist politics that looks to build a world without police, a world where police are no longer necessary. The politics of reform has failed, as Mariame Kaba <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">argues</a> in a recent <i>New York Times</i> op-ed. “The surest way of reducing police violence is to reduce the power of the police, by cutting budgets and the number of officers.” Instead of spending that money on policing, it could be redirected toward other programs and necessary services like health care, education, and housing. “If we did this,” writes Kaba, “there would be less need for the police in the first place.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Schools and colleges have been some of the first to respond to the demand to “defund the police.” Even before the Minneapolis city council announced its intention to “dismantle” the city’s police department, the Minneapolis public school system <a href="https://www.startribune.com/mpls-school-board-ends-contract-with-police-for-school-resource-officers/570967942/" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">canceled its $1.1 million annual contract</a> with the Minneapolis police department to provide them with “school resource officers.” Other school districts, including Seattle, Portland, Denver, have made similar moves. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/student-body-president-demands-university-of-minnesota-minneapolis-police-department" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">cut some ties</a> with the Minneapolis police department, like the contract for security at football games, concerts, and other large events. These moves effectively begin the process of draining resources from the police department, and freeing up money that could presumably be used to provide other kinds of support for students, teachers, and workers and support the educational mission of public schools and universities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A recent incident at UCLA, in which Los Angeles police used the university’s baseball stadium parking lot as a staging area and a “field jail” to repress Black Lives Matter protesters (including UCLA students), has given rise to a <a href="https://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2020/06/ucla-faculty-response-to-admin-claim-of.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">campaign to</a> <a href="https://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2020/06/ucla-faculty-critique-of-admin.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">cut ties with the LAPD</a>. This is an important project, but it is important to remember that every UC campus also has its own police force, and that these police have been responsible for some of the most viral moments of police brutality in the last decade (remember the pepper-spray cop?), not to mention everyday forms of racism, harassment, and repression of students and workers. We should defund these police forces too, and redirect that money toward supporting the students and workers who embody the university’s educational mission. At a moment of unprecedented economic crisis, when the UC system and universities across the country are preparing for massive budget cuts, it could not be a better time to defund campus police.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A crucial first step to defunding UC police is figuring out how much money they have. For some reason, there’s been very little in depth reporting on these numbers since this blog has been in existence. One exception is an <a href="https://www.dailycal.org/2016/10/07/ucpd-operating-near-22-million-budget-document-shows/" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">article</a> from 2016 in the <i>Daily Cal</i> that looked into the funding of UC Berkeley’s police department from 2012-2016. Building on this approach, and following a <a href="https://twitter.com/cnewf/status/1270925403159269377" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">suggestion</a> from university budget guru Chris Newfield, we have pulled together the available data on UC police budgets across all campuses from the last ten years. These figures come from the UC’s <a href="https://www.ucop.edu/financial-accounting/financial-reports/campus-financial-schedules/index.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">campus financial schedules</a>, specifically in Schedule B, where campus expenditures are documented. Currently, the website contains documentation for each campus for each of the last ten fiscal years, from 2009-10 to 2018-19. Figures for police are divided into four categories: “Salaries & Wages,” “All Other Expenses,” “Recharges,” and “Total.” The first two categories are self-explanatory, though the second is frustratingly vague. The third category, Recharges, refers to funds that are paid to campus police departments by other “university-affiliated departments.” In other words, Recharges are revenue transfers from one part of the university to the UC police. We will discuss these figures more below, but for now what is important about Recharges is that they represent revenue, and consequently the official accounting subtracts them from police expenditures and calls that result the “Total.” In other words, the Schedule B follows this formula:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Salaries & Wages + All Other Expenses – Recharges = Total</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But that “Total” doesn’t actually account for the total police budget, what it costs to have all these campus police around. Whatever revenue the police happen to bring in in a given year, salaries still have to be paid, pepper spray still has to be purchased, and so on. So this accounting is misleading, because it uses Recharges to conceal part of what is actually spent on the campus police department. In reality, what the Schedule B calls “Total” is actually the net total, while the real total would be the sum of Salaries & Wages + All Other Expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Except there’s one more caveat. As Chris Newfield <a href="https://twitter.com/cnewf/status/1270925403159269377" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">explains</a>, these figures only capture the “permanent budget,” which mean that they don’t include the money that was spent on large or unplanned protests, like when Milo showed up at Berkeley. These can be massive expenses. <a href="https://www.dailycal.org/2018/02/04/uc-berkeley-split-4m-cost-free-speech-events-uc-office-president/" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">UC Berkeley spent $4 million on police</a> during a single month of “free speech” events, including that Milo photo-op, in 2017. More recently, <a href="https://payusmoreucsc.com/strike-updates-day-19-we-are-winning/" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">UC Santa Cruz spent at least $5.7 million on police</a> during the wildcat strike/COLA campaign on that campus. This money is not reflected in the Schedule B’s, and, unfortunately, we don’t know how to track it down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, studying the permanent budget is still useful, offering a baseline by which to understand the expansion of the UC police and to imagine how these resources might be repurposed. We have adapted the categories in the Schedule B to reflect this analysis, and consequently use the following formulas and categories:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Salaries & Wages + All Other Expenses – Recharges = Net Total</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Salaries & Wages + All Other Expenses = Total Base Expenditures (or Permanent Police Budget)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The full dataset, which includes Salaries & Wages, All Other Expenses, Recharges, Net Total, and Total Base Expenditures for all ten years, is available <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vwSNVmtJi4j7puimx-6OjNrDOd33W-JYL9d6ZMGrWd0/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>. In what follows, we pull out and analyze some parts of the data on UC police spending. The following table contains the Total Base Expenditures (in millions) for each campus over the last ten years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="111"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Campus"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Campus</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"TBE (2009-10)"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">TBE (2009-10)</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"TBE (2018-19)"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">TBE (2018-19)</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total Increase"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Total Increase</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Percent Increase"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Percent Increase</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCB"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":14.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">14.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":22.4}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">22.4</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8.1}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8.1</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":56.6}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">56.6</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCLA"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCLA</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":12.7}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">12.7</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":20.8}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">20.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8.1</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":63.8}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">63.8</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSF"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSF</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":11.6}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">11.6</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":18.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">18.9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":7.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">7.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":62.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">62.9</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSD"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":6.8}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">6.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":14.9}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">14.9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8.1</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":119.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">119.1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCI"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCI</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":14.8}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">14.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":9.5}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9.5</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":179.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">179.2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCD"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8.5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8.5</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":13.8}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">13.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5.3}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":62.4}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">62.4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSB"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5.4}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5.4</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":10.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">10.9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5.5}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5.5</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":101.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">101.9</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCR"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCR</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4.4}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4.4</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":9}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4.6}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4.6</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":104.5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">104.5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSC"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSC</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4.2</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":7.4}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">7.4</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3.2</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":76.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">76.2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCM"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCM</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2.1</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5.3}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3.2}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3.2</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":152.4}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">152.4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Total</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":75.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">75.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":138.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">138.2</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":62.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">62.9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":83.5}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">83.5</td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, between 2009-10 and 2018-19, <b>Total Base Expenditures across all campuses jumped from $75.3 million in 2009-10 to $138.2 million in 2018-19, an increase of $62.9 million (84%)</b>. At half of the system’s ten campuses, police budgets have more than doubled; at UC Irvine, the budget approaches tripling. Even campuses with relatively smaller increases in police spending, like UC Berkeley, stand out in that the total increase is significant—just the <i style="font-weight: normal;">increase</i> in the police budget at Berkeley over the last ten years is greater than the <i style="font-weight: normal;">entire</i> budget at seven campuses at the start of the period. Taken together, these figures suggest a ramping up of police capacity across the UC system and especially at campuses that began this period with smaller police budgets and consequently smaller police forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">It is also important to remember that the campus is a relatively porous unit; UC police from one campus are regularly deployed to other campuses during protests or major events. From this perspective, all campus police budgets within the UC system can be understood as corresponding to a single unit. And within this unit, overall police budgets have jumped by 84% in the last decade. It is worth noting the period documented here, which begins in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, is marked by the imposition of harsh austerity measures as well as sustained protest movements by students and workers. In this context, the growth of police budgets makes little sense from the perspective of the universities’ instruction and research missions, but quite a bit of sense from the perspective of university administrators, who are fully conscious of protesters’ capacity to throw a wrench in their plans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Beyond tracking the growth of police spending in the UC system, we can also consider where these funds were directed. Unfortunately, as explained above, the Schedule B only includes two very general categories: Salaries & Wages and All Other Expenses. But even these categories could be revealing. On the one hand, rising salaries could suggest pay raises for or increased hiring of officers. On the other hand, growing “other expenses” might suggest equipment purchases or an expanding physical footprint on campus. A relative emphasis toward either one of these categories could offer a sense of how the police force on that campus is changing. We’ve broken down the numbers (in thousands of dollars) in the table below. You can see how salaries represent a significant majority of the increase at UC San Francisco (68%) and UC Santa Barbara (58%), while “other expenses” represent a significant majority at UC Santa Cruz (74.2%), UC Berkeley (68%), UC Davis (66%), and UCLA (61%). The generality of the categories means there’s not a lot of clarity, but the numbers still offer an overall sense of the direction of the spending and could help to formulate more concrete questions about how the money is being used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="82"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="72"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="78"></col><col width="81"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Campus"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Campus<br /><br /></td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total Increase S&W"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Total Increase S&W</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total Increase AOE"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Total Increase AOE</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total Increase TBE"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Total Increase TBE</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Percent Increase S&W"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Percent Increase S&W</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Percent Increase AOE"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Percent Increase AOE</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSC"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSC</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":834}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">834</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2395}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2395</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3229}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3229</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":25.8}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">25.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":74.2}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">74.2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCB"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2574}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2574</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5568}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5568</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8142}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8142</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":31.6}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">31.6</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":68.4}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">68.4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCD"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1793}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">1793</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3435}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3435</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5228}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5228</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":34.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">34.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":65.7}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">65.7</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCLA"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCLA</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3185}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3185</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4981}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4981</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8166}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8166</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":39}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">39</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":61}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">61</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCM"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCM</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1584}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">1584</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1675}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">1675</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3259}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3259</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":48.6}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">48.6</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":51.4}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">51.4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSD"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3982}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3982</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4154}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4154</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":8136}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">8136</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":48.9}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">48.9</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":51.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">51.1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCR"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCR</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2284}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2284</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2347}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2347</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4631}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4631</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":49.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">49.3</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":50.7}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">50.7</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCI"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCI</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5020}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5020</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4556}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4556</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":9576}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9576</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":52.4}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">52.4</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":47.6}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">47.6</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSB"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3183}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">3183</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2295}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2295</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5478}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">5478</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":58.1}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">58.1</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":41.9}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">41.9</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSF"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSF</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4940}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">4940</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2346}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2346</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":7286}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">7286</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":67.8}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">67.8</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":32.2}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">32.2</td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">An additional consideration is the growth of “Recharges.” To reiterate, recharges are funds that are paid <i style="font-style: normal;">to</i> UC police <i>by</i> other “university-affiliated departments,” which means that they constitute a transfer of money from one part of the university to another. What do UC police make this money from? According to the <span style="font-style: normal;"><i>Daily Cal</i></span>, recharges for UC Berkeley’s police department come from “security services, such as security presence for more than 400 events each year including football games, concerts and campus events in general. In addition, UCPD charges for other procedures, such as key card access, alarms, fingerprinting and background checks in hiring.” More details can be found in this official listing of <a href="https://cfo.berkeley.edu/uc-police-services-recharge-rates" style="color: #954f72; font-style: normal; text-decoration: underline;">“UC Police Services Recharge Rates.”</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What has happened with UC police recharges over the last decade? As the table below indicates, they have grown significantly. Across campuses, recharges (in thousands of dollars; they're negative because they represent revenue) have grown from $21.2 million in 2009-10 to $45.8 million in 2018-19, an increase of 116%. That means that UC police forces are currently generating $45.8 million in annual revenue. At UCLA, recharges have increased by 110%; at UC Berkeley, by 150%; at UC Riverside, by 188%; at UCSF, by 229%; and at UC Irvine, by an astonishing 562%. (Unfortunately, some of the percentages in the table don’t give an accurate sense of the change, either because of a mysterious decline in 2018-19, as at UC Santa Barbara, or because of very small starting amounts, as at UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.) Since the revenue in question comes from other parts of the university, the rise in Recharges could indicate a draining of resources away from, among other things, the universities’ instructional and research operations and toward its policing function.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><font face=""><br /></font><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="61"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="55"></col><col width="64"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Campus"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Campus</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,5,"yyyy-m",1]" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":40087}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2009-10</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,5,"yyyy-m",1]" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":40483}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2010-11</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,5,"yyyy-m",1]" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":40878}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2011-12</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2012-13"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2012-13</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2013-14"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2013-14</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2014-15"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2014-15</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2015-16"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2015-16</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2016-17"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2016-17</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2017-18"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2017-18</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2018-19"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">2018-19</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Percent Increase"}" style="background-color: #bdbdbd; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Percent Increase</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCLA"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCLA</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4747}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4747</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4967}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4967</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5583}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5583</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5812}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5812</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-6381}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-6381</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7153}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7153</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7282}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7282</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7559}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7559</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-9053}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-9053</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-9981}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-9981</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":110.3}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">110.3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSF"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSF</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2290}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2290</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2943}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2943</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3747}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3747</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4419}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4419</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3314}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3314</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3585}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3585</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5065}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5065</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5003}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5003</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5542}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5542</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7522}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7522</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":228.5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">228.5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCB"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3006}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3006</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3317}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3317</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3185}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3185</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4393}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4393</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4934}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4934</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5648}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5648</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-6915}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-6915</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7074}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7074</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-6835}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-6835</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7514}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7514</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":150}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">150</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCI"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCI</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1073}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1073</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1167}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1167</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1248}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1248</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1244}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1244</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2242}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2242</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1975}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1975</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2475}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2475</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3069}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3069</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5256}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5256</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-7098}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-7098</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":561.5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">561.5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCD"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4773}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4773</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4613}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4613</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3933}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3933</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4384}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4384</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4774}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4774</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5491}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5491</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5251}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5251</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5502}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5502</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5510}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5510</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-6196}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-6196</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":29.8}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">29.8</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSD"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSD</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2331}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2331</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2333}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2333</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2334}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2334</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2449}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2449</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2374}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2374</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3049}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3049</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3650}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3650</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-3636}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-3636</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4109}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4109</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-4106}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-4106</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":76.1}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">76.1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCR"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCR</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-635}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-635</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-641}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-641</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1051}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1051</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1136}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1136</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1223}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1223</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1414}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1414</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1328}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1328</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-726}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-726</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-991}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-991</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1827}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1827</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":187.7}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">187.7</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSB"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSB</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2280}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2280</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2201}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2201</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1704}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1704</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-1803}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-1803</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2064}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2064</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2617}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2617</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2682}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2682</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2154}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2154</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-2279}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-2279</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-582}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-582</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-74.5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-74.5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCM"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCM</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-23}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-23</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-35}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-35</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-26}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-26</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-30}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-30</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-52}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-52</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-65}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-65</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-74}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-74</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-312}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-312</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-558}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-558</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-561}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-561</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2339.1}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">2339.1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"UCSC"}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">UCSC</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-22}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-22</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-28}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-28</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-15}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-15</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-5}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-5</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-22}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-22</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-286}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-286</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-291}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-291</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-336}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-336</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-331}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-331</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-363}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-363</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1550}" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">1550</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Total"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom; word-wrap: break-word;">Total</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-21180}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-21180</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-22245}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-22245</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-22826}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-22826</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-25675}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-25675</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-27380}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-27380</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-31283}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-31283</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-35013}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-35013</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-35371}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-35371</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-40464}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-40464</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":-45750}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">-45750</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":116}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">116</td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="107"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="111"></col></colgroup></table></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The data suggests that UC police are acting increasingly as revenue-seeking units within the university in crisis. (Despite clear differences, there is an interesting resonance here with what Jackie Wang, in her book <i>Carceral Capitalism</i>, calls “policing as plunder,” by which cities have used their police departments to generate much-needed revenues to balance municipal budgets on the backs of poor and racialized residents.) In recent years, and especially following the 2008 financial crisis, university administrators have doubled down on seeking out new opportunities to generate revenues and cut costs. Although they are not generating nearly enough revenue to balance university budgets, UC police still reflect and participate in both of these administrative projects in interesting ways. On the one hand, they are themselves becoming generators of revenue, thereby subsidizing their own operations like other academic units are encouraged to do (though here they act parasitically on those units); on the other hand, as they do so, they expand their capacity to enforce UC administrators’ imposition of austerity and insulate those administrators from the protests these measures likely provoke. The UC administration’s <a href="https://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2015/01/securitization-risk-management-and-new.html" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">risk management</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160307061543/http:/reclamationsjournal.org/issue07_whitener_nemser_near_future.htm" style="color: #954f72; text-decoration: underline;">framework</a> contributes to this dynamic by aiming not strictly to prohibit but to optimize risk and the potential profits that risk entails. For example, changes to university policies requiring a police presence at certain kinds of events might serve most directly to help the administration “manage” risk while at the same time indirectly underwriting the growth of UC police revenues and expanding police capacity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Defunding the UC police would be a meaningful step toward a world without police. It would eliminate a set of institutions with a history of brutally repressing student and worker protest, and free up $138.2 million for other uses that support or even reimagine the UC’s educational mission—especially in a moment of serious budget crisis. In this way, the abolition of campus police could also contribute to the creation of a different kind of university for a different kind of world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, feel free to consult and download the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vwSNVmtJi4j7puimx-6OjNrDOd33W-JYL9d6ZMGrWd0/edit?usp=sharing">UC police expenditures dataset</a> and play around with it. And please help us answer the questions we still have about these numbers, like</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">How much money was spent on UC police beyond what is accounted for in the Schedule B?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What is included in “Other Expenses,” and what is the specific breakdown of these expenses at each campus?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the specific breakdown of “Recharges” at each campus?</span></span></li>
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Reclaim UC!http://www.blogger.com/profile/05829354530668279576noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-14294126079957654372015-06-15T08:38:00.000-07:002015-06-15T08:56:13.066-07:00In the Regents We Trust? How Autonomy Put Tenure on the Chopping Block<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-daef51c6-f7d8-15be-1068-4f0a008f5748" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">National attention has turned to Wisconsin yet again due to a Republican-led charge to eliminate longstanding and historically progressive state protections for employees. Last week, the Joint Finance Committee (JFC), a subcommittee of the Legislature, approved an omnibus motion that not only cuts the university budget by $250 million but also removes tenure protections for faculty from state statutes. The tenure item has led many around the country to conclude that Wisconsin is a conservative testing ground for ALEC-styled initiatives, while media representation would seem to suggest that there has been an active, political response to it. For instance, headlines last week read, “</span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/01/wisconsin-faculty-incensed-motion-eliminate-tenure-state-statute" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Wisconsin faculty incensed by motion to eliminate tenure</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,” “</span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/05/faculty-members-protest-tenure-shared-governance-changes-board-regents" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Faculty members protest tenure, shared governance changes</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,” and “</span><a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/outraged-uw-madison-faculty-call-for-full-court-press-on-tenure-b99516301z1-306715741.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Outraged UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison faculty call for full court press on tenure</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(The titles of the first two pieces, written by Colleen Flaherty for Inside Higher Ed, have recently been changed to remove any mention of faculty response. They are now entitled “Trying to Kill Tenure” and “Losing Hope in Wisconsin.”) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But these titles are misleading, as we will outline here, for numerous reasons </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and importantly for strategic reasons. Early on in February when the Biennial Budget first announced the potential magnitude of the cuts, there was widespread agreement among university administration and many faculty and students that protest and political action would only worsen the situation. Despite the ongoing attacks on the university system by the state legislature </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and the </span><a href="http://languagepolitics.org/2015/02/25/cross-doubles-down/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">seeming complicity</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of the UW System President, Ray Cross </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> many faculty and students continue to trust the Board of Regents (BOR), UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, and Cross to diplomatically defend student and faculty interests against the conservative agenda set by the Legislature. By and large, faculty, students and others decided that political action would only ensure the passage of the $300 million cuts proposed in the 2015-17 Budget. Despite the fact that sixteen of the eighteen members of the Board of Regents are Governor Walker appointees, there was a hopeful assumption on the part of faculty that the Board would push back against the recent Joint Finance Committee’s motion </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> especially item #39 which alters the tenure system by moving tenure protections from state statutes to the Board of Regents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the Board of Regents, and UW-Madison’s administration in particular, is playing a strategic game. From what we see as an increasingly neoliberal university, the elimination of tenure and massive budgetary cuts are merely bumps along the road of “difficult decisions” that will transform Wisconsin’s flagship university into a more efficient competitor for tuition dollars and a more flexible manager of its employees. In recognizing this strategic game, our point is not to dismiss the importance of state defunding nor to argue that the state should be idealized or nostalgized as a funding source. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is, rather, as Annie McClanahan recently pointed out during a talk on UW-Madison’s campus, that we cannot separate or exempt the university from its role in the production of student debt, delimited accessibility for students of color and students of limited economic means, and ultimately the collectively foreclosed future of what we continue to refer to as the public. One important example to bear in mind throughout this post comes out of </span><a href="http://www.demos.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Demos’</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> recent report “</span><a href="http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/publications/Wisconsin%E2%80%99s%20Great%20Cost%20Shift.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Wisconsin’s Great Cost Shift</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.” The report greatly emphasizes state defunding and pays little attention to the role of universities’ pursuit of increased tuition revenues. But it also mentions that despite tuition revenue increases, expenditures on student instruction and academic support has slightly declined while expenditures on student services has risen 12.3%. Thus, </span><a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-university-administrators-gain.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">as we wrote</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in February on this blog, tuition control and what tuition can be used to pay for has been a main factor in the struggle for UW-Madison and System autonomy in Wisconsin. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wait for it….</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the emergency UW-Madison Faculty Senate meeting held on June 9th to address the JFC’s passage of the omnibus motion, Chancellor Blank attempted to allay faculty concerns by telling them that whereas other universities in the UW-System are subject to the Board of Regents’ tenure policy, UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee will have the ability to write their own tenure policies. Why is this? Because UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are currently both in the process of finalizing independent Human Resource systems (through the </span><a href="http://hrdesign.wisc.edu/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">HR Design project</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) that are to be implemented this year. Blank offered this olive branch as if it was a reprieve from the current legislative onslaught on the university. In reality, however, the HR Design project at UW-Madison is bound up with tenure elimination and budget cuts. And Blank’s use of it as a tool in the growing flexibilities toolbox obscures the fact that it is a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">causal</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> factor and not a byproduct of the current funding crisis; Blank treated it instead as an affirmation of the need for autonomy from the state rather than bound up with the cuts that came along with it. What follows is a brief recap of the origin of this HR Design, since a broader outline was offered in a </span><a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-university-administrators-gain.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">past post</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> on this website and on </span><a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-high-price-of-public-authority-in.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Remaking the University</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the same time that Governor Scott Walker was pushing through policies that demolished public sector unions in Wisconsin in 2011, then-UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison Chancellor Caroline “Biddy” Martin was in discussions with him about another item in that budget, which was called the New Badger Partnership (NBP). Walker had the prerogative to include the NBP because, in Wisconsin, the Governor has a divine fiat allowing him to write statutory changes, fiscal and otherwise, into the Biennial Budget. Chancellor Martin’s messaging about the NBP primarily focused on the financial flexibilities it would give the university for purchasing supplies. But for our purposes here, the most important and least spoken about feature of the NBP was that it would have given the University of Wisconsin-Madison far greater control over tuition setting capacities, both for in-state and out-of-state students. This Partnership was eventually watered down considerably and some of the “flexibilities” it did provide were expanded out to include all UW-System universities and colleges. But it gave UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee alone the power to create and implement their own, independent Human Resources policies. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thus, the HR system Blank invoked on Tuesday </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">originated out of the first real political confrontation between the state and the university in recent years, not over abstract or general flexibilities but namely the right to set in-state and out-of-state tuition costs in a manner more akin to our university’s peers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. We saw the same struggle ensue over tuition setting power in the most recent budget, where UW System leaders and Republican legislators both agreed that a Public Authority model, which </span><a href="https://badgerherald.com/news/2015/02/23/explained-what-is-a-public-authority-what-it-means-for-uw-system/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">granted tuition control</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> after a two-year freeze imposed by the state, was best for the System </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">– </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">even if it meant trading that power for significant cuts to the university’s budget.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blank’s characterization of the HR Design as a fortunate antidote to current tenure threats obscures past decisions and actions of the university, decisions that some warned against as potential triggers for future state defunding. Her portrayal of the Design as a disconnected tool that we happen to have at our disposal, rather than as a past point of contention in the recent history of the restructuring of higher education, makes it impossible to debate whether or not past decisions in the pursuit of autonomy were good ones, and whether or not we should continue to endorse and move forward with them now. And it further perpetuates the bureaucratic posture </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">– </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">with which many UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison workers and students are now familiar </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">– </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">in which we are told by administrators that not enough information is currently available to predict what will happen in the future. This posture ignores the incremental, but concrete, decisions made along the way, decisions which inform what future policies on tenure, governance and tuition hikes will look like years from now. As UW workers found out during the process through which UW</span>-<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison created its new HR system </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> one that removed seniority and established merit-based pay raises </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> once there is enough information about university policies, it’s already too late to contest them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This bureaucratic posture is reflected in Blank’s recent comment on her blog that “Section 39 isn’t a command or directive. It merely authorizes the Board of Regents to lay-off faculty for the stated reasons. The Regents can decide when and how they want to invoke that authority” (</span><a href="http://budget.wisc.edu/budget-news/blank-message-to-faculty-senate/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Chancellor Blank’s Message</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">). The ambiguity of this comment is stated as if it was meant to be a comfort for faculty, promising a malleable and open process in which they will have agency, through a Task Force, to write a tenure policy for UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison that adheres to the “gold standard” of the AAUP. It is further coupled with guarantees by Blank and others that campus community involvement in that process will be crucial, even as she describes shared governance through a weakened language of “consulting” with faculty. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In such rhetoric the actual precarity of faculty’s current situation is turned into a selling point, neglecting the fact that while the BOR might approve this gold standard for UW-Madison it’s still entirely unclear how much jurisdiction they will have in implementing their own, newly acquired powers to terminate tenured professors above and beyond UW-Madison’s policy. As the Public Representative Organization of the Faculty Senate at UW-Madison (PROFS) has </span><a href="http://profs.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/profs-jfc-item39-statement1.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">pointed out</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, the fact that the BOR can “terminate any faculty or academic staff…due to a budget or program decision regarding program discontinuance, curtailment, modification, or redirection,” means that there “could be no meaningful limit on the power of the Regents to dismiss faculty and/or to close programs or research centers that fell out of favor with administrators or political leaders.” In this context, Chancellor Blank’s statements evoking UW’s history of standing up for academic freedom and commitment to “sifting and winnowing” is far from reassuring. As </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">David Vanness, an associate professor of population health sciences, recently </span><a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/23833" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">said</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as to the future without tenure,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We will sift where it is safe to sift. We will winnow where we are told to winnow.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s entirely unclear how this promise of “wait and see” will function in the future since, as </span><a href="http://languagepolitics.org/2015/06/09/stop-making-sense/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Richard Grusin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> put it, “Wisconsin is about to go from being the only state with tenure in statute to being the only state with broad provisions for firing tenured faculty in statute.” But it’s likely that what Blank refers to as a mere authorization of power for the BOR is of a kind with the logic by which she separated the HR Design project from our universities’ struggle for greater access to private revenue streams like tuition at UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison. That is, it will be used in a similar manner in the future, swooping in at a moment of budgetary crisis and applied under the guise of necessity, as if it was the only way to protect the university from the state’s attacks. And shouldn’t we be grateful for it, they will ask, when programs need to be closed and certain faculty let go? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In instances like this, we are reminded of the logic </span><a href="http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/slavoj-zizek-responds-to-noam-chomsky.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Zizek describes</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> where one waits patiently for evidence or data for proof of what might happen in the future, instead of looking in the face of available and explicit ideology. In our case, that means asking how the struggle for autonomy, a term that </span><a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121999/gov-scott-walker-weakens-tenure-university-wisconsin" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Scott Walker</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, Rebecca Blank and Ray Cross all deployed in support of the public authority model, connects seemingly disparate projects like our new HR system to recent budget cuts from the state, along with the rising tuition, fee and housing costs that are making UW-Madison an increasingly elitist, exclusive institution.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Whose tenure?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">HR policies are thus part of a systemic shift that includes decreased affordability and even, however unintentionally on the part of UW System administrators, the recent attacks on tenure. The successful precedence of those policies, which have effectively eroded job security for staff and non-faculty workers by terminating seniority rights and installing individuated merit-based pay raises, only further highlight an entrenched raced and classed ideology that would preserve job security only for those doing “intellectual” or academic work at the university. Such policies can easily target janitors and clerical workers without backlash from academic workers, in part because tenure was defined in its origins as a protection specifically for academic freedom and not as a job protection. It’s no surprise that Blank can defend tenure through the same system that is stripping other workers of job protections, since it was first established in 1916 when the AAUP abandoned unionization for “a weak form of academic freedom” through which faculty “retained the power to govern knowledge production [but] gave up power to govern the political and economic functions of the university” (</span><a href="https://www.academia.edu/1375246/Time_and_the_University" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Johnson et al 492</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Even so, the threat to knowledge production is not evenly distributed today. Numerous </span><a href="http://dissentandcookies.org/2015/06/08/189/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">faculty responses</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to the recent tenure threat, including the rhetoric of a mass exodus of faculty from the state, suggest that somehow any faculty person, working on any topic could be affected by the BOR increased powers to terminate employment. While theoretically true, this view ignores the historic and ongoing differences in how faculty and academic programs are treated within the university. Thus, the question of who will be most affected by the changes in tenure are connected to the historic development of ‘academic freedom’ and tenure, the continued “pattern of marginalization” of certain academic programs, and the general trends toward the precaritization of labor in the university. And it tends to ignore the fact that programs and departments have always been tied to their financial viability in some way, as we saw exemplified in the sweeping closures of humanities and arts departments after the 2008 financial crisis.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In response to Republican attacks on tenure as a job-for-life guarantee, faculty have argued that tenure provides critical protection for academic freedom. And certainly throughout the history of tenure it has buffered faculty from external intervention and attack. However, this has not universally been the case. As pointed out in Piya Chatterjee and Sunaina Maira’s book, </span><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-imperial-university" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">The Imperial University</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, certain faculty </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> especially those of color </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> whose research is deemed politically contentious, have lacked these protections. They quote Ellen W. Shrecker, who argues that the early Seligman Report by the AAUP in 1915, actually “reveals how deeply enmeshed the notion of academic freedom was with the overall status, security and prestige of the academic profession” (Chatterjee and Maira 2014:35). Thus, while early discussions of academic freedom sought to protect faculty from outsiders, they did not “adequately address political dissidence or any political positions that were considered ‘unsympathetic’ by the majority of academics” (36). Instead, it was largely focused on maintaining “‘appropriate” behavior that would not jeopardize the professionalism and status of academia.” And thus we see a continued policing of academic “civility” on campuses around the country. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In this context, then, the changes in tenure at UW would certainly affect faculty work - perhaps increasing anxiety and subsequently leading to conservatism. However, faculty who are already marginalized are likely to be affected the most by these changes. In a famous example, Professor Steven Salaita’s faculty appointment was terminated by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign after his public critique of Israel’s actions in Gaza in the summer of 2014. The University justified its decision by citing Salaita’s “incivility.” A recent </span><a href="http://www.aaup.org/report/UIUC" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">report</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by the American Association of University Professors, recognizes that “civility consistently operates to constitute relations of power,” and that “it is always the powerful who determine its meaning </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> a meaning that serves to delegitimize the words and actions of those to whom it is applied.” In addition, as </span><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/09/steven-salaita-first-amendment-rights-academic-freedom-and-the-elephant-in-the-room/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">pointed out</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Salaita, the language of civility also works to reproduce a “colonial logic” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> one in which the university is thoroughly entrenched </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> determining who gets to speak and which departments get support.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here at UW-Madison, the recent efforts to consolidate the Ethnic Studies programs </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> which include Chicano and Latino Studies, Asian American Studies, American Indian Studies and Afro-American Studies </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> exemplify what Political Science Professor Ben Marquez </span><a href="http://host.madison.com/daily-cardinal/future-of-ethnic-studies-divides-uw/article_a77aee8e-7ece-11e4-8356-430561e1a829.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">calls</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> a “greater pattern of marginalization” on our own campus. Despite asserting the importance of diversity on campus, in 2013 approximately </span><a href="http://host.madison.com/daily-cardinal/future-of-ethnic-studies-divides-uw/article_a77aee8e-7ece-11e4-8356-430561e1a829.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">72% of students and 76% of faculty and staff</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> identified as white. In this context, as </span><a href="http://badgerreport.journalism.wisc.edu/2015/04/16/uw-madison-ethnic-studies-fights-for-resources/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Karma Chavez</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, a professor in communications, argues, “the very programs designed to help students learn diverse histories and feel included on this campus are treated like third class citizens.” And due to the threat of budget cuts, the Gender and Women's Studies department at UW-Madison received notice of a 20% budgetary cut despite having performed very well on the university’s own enrollment-based metrics. So even adhering to the bureaucratic norms put in place by administration may not protect the marginalized and much-embattled programs that were, perhaps, never the central concern of academic freedom to protect in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How to act on a campus divided</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the recent Faculty Senate meeting, Blank vouched for the Board of Regents as a body that we can trust, but also said only time will prove whether or not they share our care and concern for higher education in the state. As we’ve suggested above, this is a rhetoric that needs to be read closely and carefully as it bears a bureaucratic strategy within it that obscures past decisions made by our own administrators about state funding and the primacy of increasing private funds. Those decisions continue to shape our present and future in Wisconsin. And as we’ve also suggested, her assurances leave questions about equity and race in regards to student access and faculty protection completely to the side. These two reasons are precisely why we believe it is important to organize and protest strategically on our campuses, and not only against the state, as UW</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Madison’s administration has itself been an active agent, albeit in complicated and sometimes contradictory ways, in producing our current crisis. With the “flexibilities” that are inevitably coming down the pipeline, those of us concerned with equity, access, race and gender issues must hold our administration responsible, and we cannot do that by remaining silent or by placing trust in their ambivalent information about future decisions that is always deferred. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our decisions about strategy, protest and political action need to be informed, of course, by the 2011 Capitol occupation and how it has been remembered during this most recent political crisis. In the month after the current budget proposal was released, much of our campus community and administration warned that any response similar to that of 2011 would only further weaken our chances of reducing cuts, because it would make us look like “crazy radicals” and play into Walker’s own narrative. This kind of revisionism isn’t simply wrong, given that what received widespread media attention throughout the the occupation and what led to its limited agenda (Kill the Bill) was that the fact that it was quite unradical in many regards. The Capitol protests were peaceful and largely filled by teachers, firefighters, and nurses--not by insurrectionists.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But you wouldn’t know that by talking to most Wisconsinites, who argue that the extreme nature of the occupation catalyzed the failure of the later recall election that tried to oust Walker from power, rather than the </span><a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/scott-walker-right-to-work/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Democrats' mismanagement</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of it. Ask most people in Madison or consult popular publications on the recall, and they will attest that the occupation proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that political action is too risky in conservative times like these, an assessment that confirms, a la Frederic Jameson, that history hurts. But in our case it also seems that history is traumatic, as many of those who participated in the protests now reject them and endorse a revisionist account in which it wasn’t everyday people engaging in direct action in 2011, perhaps for the first time in their lives, but some other unstable, radical population. What could have been a starting point for building a more skilled and strategic action for the future has lapsed into a narrative that makes action an untouchable end point, never to be repeated. This interpretation of the past informed the strategic choices made early on in the budgetary process, making it seem like the only channels available to university workers and students were the doors of System and UW-Madison administrators and their largely closed-door discussions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The results they returned to us, a reduction from $300 million to $250 million in cuts and a proposal to raise out-of-state and international student tuition by more than $10,000 over the next four years, might maintain some kind of status quo of funding on our campus for now. But what are the larger impacts of having depended on legislative lobbying and administrative approaches to address state budgetary cuts? Who will get left out, put on the margins, made the exception or the example of the rule under these conditions, both as a result of cuts to the budget and to tenure protections? And who would we be struggling for and with if we instead chose to cultivate an active culture of dissent from this status quo and engaged instead in political action? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One answer to these questions might be available in the history of struggles for ethnic studies, black studies and women’s studies programs that took place from the 1960s up to the 1980s, and their focused strategy of antagonism, occupations and concrete demands. Instead of relying on promises of future reform made under the sign of multiculturalism and diversity, students and some faculty engaged in political actions because they realized it was the only way to leverage their power and to make demands on university faculty and administrators. Many of these attempts were unsuccessful and others were translated into disciplines and colleges that conformed to the existing university structures. But we close with this example because it reminds us that students and faculty before us recognized and identified their campuses, and not simply their states, as sites of dissensus and struggle, rather than unity and agreement. Those were struggles over the kind of non-utilitarian education, one not reducible to the demands of the job market, that can seem impossible to defend in public today. As Nick Mitchell recently glossed in his </span><a href="http://www.lowendtheory.org/post/112138864200/theses-on-adjunctification" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Theses on Adjunctification</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, the struggle for ethnic studies and black studies came about at the very same time that black, brown and female workers were brought into the university to perform low wage, contingent labor. We should keep this in mind today, as we see the inverse taking place in the collapse of such programs alongside the explosion of contingent labor far beyond dining halls and custodial closets. It is time choose our histories strategically, then, and align ourselves with those workers already in the most precarious positions in our universities, and to fight for tenure not for the sake of already-tenured faculty but with those who have been excluded from it.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-34270008850871892752015-05-26T08:33:00.001-07:002015-05-26T09:03:12.488-07:00The Political Economy of Enrollment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One the most important debates about the crisis of public higher education these days has to do with understanding the reasons for the restructuring of the public university, which is tied to everything from skyrocketing tuition and student debt to administrative corporatization. In very schematic terms, there are two answers: one focuses on state governments and budget cuts to public higher education, the other on university administrations and their profit-seeking protagonism. The way we choose to answer the question is politically important because it is part of what shapes our strategic and tactical response. If the state government is the primary actor, interventions will generally operate at the level of electoral politics, either through supporting candidates, lobbying, or more generally “making a case” for supporting public education. In contrast, if university administrations are the primary actors, interventions will generally occur more locally, at the level of the campus or system, through actions like rallies, walkouts, strikes, occupations, and so on. Of course, things aren’t always as clear cut as this dichotomy suggests. But in a context where austerity is so visible and “politics” is largely seen as something politicians do, it’s important to remember the active role of administrators in restructuring their universities into the ground.<br />
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These debates are organized in part by how the numbers are calculated. Take the recent and controversial <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-college-tuition-costs-so-much.html">essay</a> by Paul Campos, which argued counterintuitively that government support for higher education has actually increased, not declined, since the 1960s. He claimed that the real reason tuition has gone up so much is not budget cuts but the skyrocketing expenditures that channel money into administrative bloat and building construction. Not surprisingly, the piece generated a quick response from folks who see state funding as the key. A number of these critiques turned on the claim that he was using the wrong metric—rather than aggregate support for higher education, he should instead be using <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/04/06/why_is_college_so_expensive_the_new_york_times_offers_an_awful_explanation.html">per-student funding</a>:<br />
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Overall, public spending on higher education has, as Campos argues, risen dramatically over the long term. But so have the number of Americans attending college. When administrators say that government support is shrinking, what they usually mean is that <i>per student</i> appropriations have fallen. This is a crucial point. Someone has to foot the bill for each and every undergraduate's education. If taxpayers don't do it, then families have to pick up the slack themselves.</blockquote>
And sure enough, the administrators did in fact say exactly that. Nathan Brostrom, the Chief Financial Officer of the University of California system (and <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2010/01/uc-budget-and-jp-morgan.html">former JP Morgan exec</a>), wrote a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/opinion/soaring-tuition-what-is-to-blame.html">letter</a> to the <i>Times</i> criticizing the Campos piece in which he made exactly this argument:<br />
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Mr. Campos blames administrative bloat and high salaries; I disagree. The State of California, for example, funds the University of California system at the same level as it did in 1999—even though today we enroll 83,000 more students and have one more campus.</blockquote>
The per-student argument makes mathematical sense. It’s obvious that equal funding / more students = less funding per student. State funding per student has obviously declined. And yet... using this metric as the gold standard seems to miss something important about the function of the student at the public university today.<br />
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When higher education was relatively fully funded by the state—when tuition was zero—the per-student metric made sense. Under the Master Plan, state funding for the UC was <a href="http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/from-master-plan-to-no-plan-the-slow-death-of-public-higher-education">pegged to in-state enrollment</a>. In that context, enrollment served as a reasonable way to quantify the “public good” produced by state support for higher education. Rising enrollment theoretically meant more trained workers who could be funneled into the labor market. The massive expansion of the infrastructure of public higher education during the 1960s, when not only new buildings but entirely new campuses were constructed, was justified in exactly these terms.<br />
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Over the last three decades, however, these enrollment quotas have gradually been removed. Little remains, likewise, of the idea of higher education as a “public good.” What is the function of the student today? It depends who you ask. Teachers see (or should see) students as critical, thinking subjects, who they can learn with and from. But administrators see students as dollar signs. These days, students are little more than revenue streams that show up on credit reports as potential liquidity and favorable interest rates. We all understand that tuition increases are an attempt by university administrations to bring in more revenue. <i>But enrollment increases do the same thing</i>. And this actually shouldn’t be all that controversial, since we already talk about <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/18/report-criticizes-public-colleges-use-funds-recruit-out-state-students">out-of-state enrollment</a> in exactly this way. But is it the case for in-state enrollment as well?<br />
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Last week, the UC regents approved an increase in out-of-state tuition by 8 percent per year for the next 5 years. Next year, out-of-state students will pay an extra $1,830 in tuition. During the meeting, Brostrom himself <a href="https://twitter.com/uc_faculty/status/601448309920636930">pointed out</a> that the UC could accommodate 10,000 more undergraduate students if the state provided additional funding for them. He also suggested that the administration would <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/05/21/uc-regents-approve-increases-in-undergrad-nonresident-tuition-endorse-funding-agreement/">lobby the state</a> for these funds. The CFO’s language frames increased enrollment as a public good, a drag on the university’s resources, certainly, but something that the state should do, as the state once did. What he doesn’t say, however, is that enrolling 10,000 more in-state undergrads (at 2015-2016 tuition levels) would provide the university with an extra $112.2 million per year. And even if we assume those 83,000 extra tuition-paying students are all California residents, that’s nearly a billion extra dollars in gross annual revenue over 1999 levels.<br />
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Now, the UC administration claims that the cost of instruction is greater than in-state tuition. But these claims are at best debatable and at worst simply not credible, because as Chris Newfield and Bob Samuels have shown they include research and other non-educational expenses in order to <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-current-cost-debate-will-do-nothing.html">inflate the alleged instructional cost</a>. (It's gotten to the point that, as Samuels <a href="http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/2015/02/is-uc-spin-spinning-out-of-control.html">observes</a>, the administration literally claims it costs $342,500 to educate one medical student for one year.) According to Newfield, a more reasonable estimate of the cost of instruction for undergraduates would be somewhere between 40-80 percent of the administration’s figures. Even using the higher rate, then, the administration still generates a net profit for every extra student they bring in.<br />
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Per-student funding can be a useful metric for clarifying certain trends, but it’s equally important to understand the things it makes invisible. University administrators make decisions about enrollment not out of some abstract interest in the “public good” but rather out of a very concrete interest in the bottom line. Enrollment should not be treated as a given but as a variable that may shift as executives and financial officers seek to optimize revenue flows. In this context, using per-student funding may obscure the function of the student today while deflecting antagonism toward the state.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-51999578896059274202015-05-14T20:16:00.000-07:002015-05-18T10:16:26.429-07:00Ambiguous news from Sacramento Today Governor Brown announced his <a href="http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/2015-16/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf">revised budget</a>. Despite general enthusiasm about its two-year tuition freeze for in-state students, the budget presents a pretty ambiguous picture. In addition to allowing up to 8% annual hikes for out-of-state tuition, it also imposes a series of regressive transformations on the UCs. For example, the budget sets in place requirements that campuses push students toward three-year degrees:<br />
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In addition to supporting timely four‑year degrees, each campus will develop three‑year
degree pathways for 10 out of its top 15 majors by March 1, 2016, which will provide
students with another option to earn a UC degree. The UC has committed to promoting
and encouraging these accelerated pathways with a goal that 5 percent of students will
access these accelerated tracks by the summer of 2017.</blockquote>
The reduction of time-to-degree is presented as a solution to a problem that would not exist absent university privatization: 3 year degrees are affirmed by the State insofar as they allow students to avoid paying another year's worth of high tuition and room and board. But this accelerated pace would diminish educational quality, and would impose on students an even more intense schedule, making it difficult for them to organize strikes and other sorts of unproductive activities. A couple other areas of concern are the agreements between the governor and UCOP that in-state tuition should begin to rise by at least the rate of inflation after the two-year freeze, the establishment of a third pension tier, and the $18 million dollar cut to the Middle Class Scholarship Program.<br />
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But to return to the out-of-state tuition hike: the state's effort to divide the student body (in terms of their immediate political interests) between those from California and those from other states or from abroad seems to be working. While the out-of-state tuition hike is not nearly as high as what was being discussed last December (an up to 8% annual increase rather than 17%), the multi-thousand dollar hike is not insignificant in terms of out-of-state students' debt levels, nor is it politically insignificant. Those who rule the state seem to be on the verge of breaking what had been an established across the board tuition freeze: they are thus rolling back some of the student movement gains of 2012. The following charts, composed by Shannon Ikebe, show recent (and projected) trends in tuition rates (based on data from UCLA): <br />
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Not only does the out-of-state hike extract more money from certain students and thus divide the immediate interests of the student body, it also <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2014/12/on-democrats-education-plan-part-2.html">exacerbates inequalities</a> between UC campuses, with those (like UCB and UCLA) with relatively whiter and wealthier student bodies receiving a disproportionate funding increase, while those (like UCR, UCM, and UCSC) with higher percentages of working class / students of color receiving relatively little increase following the hike, since they have significantly lower rates of out-of-state students. While the chart on the left shows the percentage of the out-of-state tuition hike that will go to the respective campuses, the chart on the right shows what a more equitable distribution of funding would look like.<br />
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All of this is to say that Brown's revised budget is a politically ambiguous document, reflecting at once the power of mobilized students and the current limits of this power. Those who rule the state (whether they be UCOP bureaucrats, the Regents, or State Representatives) have managed to chip away at the tuition freeze and to introduce regressive reforms of UC education, even as active students (led by those at Santa Cruz) have managed to hold off even worse privatizing reforms. </div>
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Beyond tuition, there are a number of regressive dynamics happening at the moment with respect to the repression of student organizers. At Santa Cruz, students who blockaded a highway in early March are still suspended from campus under the orders of conduct officers. This is, I believe, the first extended suspension imposed by a UC administration on anti-privatization protesters in recent memory. And it's possible that Berkeley students who briefly occupied California Hall a few weeks ago demanding a community benefits agreement for the Richmond Bay campus could also be facing conduct charges. If such charges materialize, they would constitute the first student conduct prosecutions for political activity at UCB since the delegitimization of the Office of Student Conduct accomplished over the spring of 2010 by a group of Boalt law students and by other active students. </div>
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Thus, on both anti-privatization and anti-repression fronts, much remains to be done. </div>
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<b>Update</b> [5/15/15]: Chris Newfield is up with <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-may-budget-revision-uc-budget-goes.html">a new piece</a> on the revised budget, that especially breaks down the total state contribution levels, the pension re-tiering, and the state's insistence on a certain minimum ratio of transfer to four-year students, among other aspects of the revised budget. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-52560564854615341502015-05-11T12:18:00.000-07:002015-05-11T12:18:03.980-07:00What Makes a University Public?: Privatization, Environmental Racism, and UC Berkeley’s Real Estate Office <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">“It’s a gift to be here—you can take that to the bank.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">EVCP Claude Steele, May 5 Berkeley Forum “What Makes a University Public?”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“There is deferred maintenance all over the place.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, May 5 Berkeley Forum “What Makes a University Public?”</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1">For those who haven’t been paying attention, <a href="http://serc.berkeley.edu/oped-public-or-private-the-office-of-real-estates-hostile-takeover-of-the-office-of-student-affairs/"><span class="s2">UC Berkeley’s recent move to expand the Real Estate Office’s control</span></a> has led to some strange and shocking administrative moments in the last couple weeks.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">One such moment was a May 5 Berkeley Forum in which Chancellor Nicholas Dirks and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele hosted a chat called “What Makes a University Public?” In this talk, they attempted to redefine “public education” to effectively argue that the kinds of private financial investments that circulate through the newly expanded Real Estate Office do not constitute privatization. These investments—alternately called “Public-Private Partnerships”—currently include privately funded construction projects such as <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/10/30/berkeley-global-campus/"><span class="s2">the Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay</span></a>, a brand new UC campus that will focus on lucrative STEM and Silicon Valley research; <a href="http://occupythefarm.org/"><span class="s2">the Gill Tract</span></a>, a piece of land the UC is trying to lease to outside contractors for $900,000/year for six acre plots; Berkeley student housing, including <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/04/09/bowles-hall-sell-bonds-cover-renovation-costs/"><span class="s2">the privately funded Bowles Hall</span></a>, several other <a href="http://realestate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/stiles_developer_rfq_0.pdf"><span class="s2">new large-scale dormitories</span></a>, and real estate developments at <a href="http://patch.com/california/albany/uc-proposes-sprouts-farmers-market-at-university-village"><span class="s2">UC Village</span></a>, to name only a few. </span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">Many students, faculty, workers, and community members are challenging the administration’s superficial rhetoric that such construction on public land does not constitute privatization, citing the <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/print-edition/2011/05/27/contractors-fined-for-work-at-uc-davis.html?page=all"><span class="s2">lack of oversight</span></a> for these projects, the ways that <a href="http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-02-20/not-so-fast-uc-berkeley-biofuel-research-takes-hit-bp-oil"><span class="s2">private money shifts research possibilities and priorities</span></a>, and the <a href="http://cucfa.org/news/tuition_bonds.php"><span class="s2">rising tuition costs which are used to secure the Real Estate Office’s low interest construction loans, called “bonds.”</span></a> Further, many believe the exorbitant costs for these expensive construction investments will ultimately be deferred to students, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/Cal-scrambling-to-cover-stadium-bill-4604221.php"><span class="s2">as has been the practice in the past</span></a>, and the public, <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/23/lsu-bankruptcy.html"><span class="s2">should the University go bankrupt</span></a>. Dirks even admitted that this new development comes at the expense of deferred maintenance, as much of the Berkeley campus is in desperate need of basic upkeep.<br />
<br />
The egregious forum was protested by multiple allies, where critics seemed to far outnumber supporters and even neutral attendees at the event. Unionists came to ask questions about poverty-level wages and job insecurity amid Berkeley’s contracting out of non-unionized labor. A Teamsters 2010 flyer read “Low Wages Do Not Serve the Public Good.” Also present were various students working on anti-privatization efforts, some of whom distributed sample audience questions for administrators about the UC’s commitment to public education. One question read, “Many of the UC Regents are heavily involved in the financial and real estate sectors. How should the UC Regents balance their private interests with the public’s interest?...What do we, as a public institution, owe to the public of Richmond?”</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">Perhaps the most significant presence at the Forum was a group of Black student organizers who are <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/04/20/students-faculty-fight-reverse-tenure-decision-espm-professor/"><span class="s2">fighting to reverse Prof. Carolyn Finney’s arbitrary and unexplained denial of tenure</span></a>. Finney, the only Black Professor in the Environmental Sciences Policy and Management department, researches racial exclusion in the environmental movement. Hers is an especially crucial voice at a time when the UC is trying to break ground in Richmond to construct a new, privately funded campus atop <a href="http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/viewbyepaid/cad981436363"><span class="s2">an EPA “superfund” designated toxic waste site</span></a> in a largely black and brown working class community. Finney’s much acclaimed work represents an especially critical perspective during this phase of Richmond’s development in an environmentally sensitive area. Concerningly, one of the campus functions the Real Estate Office has taken over in its transition is Berkeley’s Environmental Health and Safety Office, which enforces compliance with environmental regulations, water safety, and construction permitting. Whether the EH&S Office will retain its autonomy and commitment to environmental justice or become a permit mill for new construction remains to be seen. Unless the University reverses the decision to deny Prof. Finney’s tenure, a decision within Chancellor Dirks’ power, this battle to ensure environmental justice will need to be waged with one fewer respected local researcher and community ally. </span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">Also prominent was the Respect Richmond Coalition, a student group pushing the <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/04/30/students-discuss-berkeley-global-campus-administration-protest-community-benefits-agreement/"><span class="s2">Chancellor to sign a Community Benefits Agreement</span></a> that would ensure that Richmond residents are not harmed by and actually benefit from the new UC campus construction. Many <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/12/15/berkeley-global-campus-ommunity-meet/"><span class="s2">Richmond community members are currently struggling to stay in their homes</span></a> as land speculation and rent rises and contributes to gentrification, and they are fighting to ensure that the new campus provides jobs and educational opportunities for local residents. Six student members of this group are now facing Student Conduct Charges for staging <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/04/22/respect-richmond-coalition-hosts-speakout-protests-outside-chancellors-residence/"><span class="s2">a peaceful sit-in outside the Chancellor’s office last week</span></a></span><span class="s2"> to push Dirks to sign the Richmond Agreement</span><span class="s1">, an attempt to silence student concerns about the direction of the Richmond Bay development project. At the Berkeley Forum, a dozen Respect Richmond Coalition members assembled in a line at the front of the stage, mouths taped shut, holding signs that read “You Can’t Arrest Our Voices” and “Drop the Student Conduct Charges.”</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">Amid these groups was Fossil Free Cal, whose members distributed pamphlets calling on the UC to divest itself from fossil fuel assets. This group, comprised of students and alums, connected the University’s financial interest in toxic commodities to its profiting off of environmental injustice. “Talk is cheap,” read Fossil Free Cal’s flyer, “A public university that fails to ACT in the public interest sells its mission short.”</span></div>
<div class="p6">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1">For those of us committed to a public UC Berkeley, this is an exciting moment, where there is potential to link many ongoing campus struggles to fight structural racism, privatization and gentrification, environmental degradation, and anti-labor measures. The <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2015/05/06/berkeley-forum-panel-public-higher-education-shut-amid-protest/"><span class="s2">forum was eventually shut down when the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost refused to answer audience questions</span></a> about workers’ unlivable wages, when Finney’s tenure denial will be reversed and what it was denied in the first place, and why UC administrators are so actively undermining the UC’s public education mission. </span></div>
<div class="p4">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="p5">
<span class="s1">I write this update both to keep interested readers and coalition partners—wherever you may be—in the loop and also to urge people to continue organizing on these issues in whatever spaces you can and that feel right. This is a really significant time for our University, and it’s future as a public institution committed to racial and economic equality is truly on the line. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-75796983361382236072015-03-27T13:18:00.000-07:002015-03-27T13:18:59.940-07:00Statement of Occupation from the Che Cafe at UC San Diego<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobWXNYUVTxh-7CJurS4Uq1V0Nt4YiujglHGghyAnH7I1WnFIy94Mz3fkDlvNWyYyDqLfWXvfW8JPTkr7_8AfueHUfW7AsriatE91sdXpNm5I-GjLIU1B7BiPPs3SWLfPBVAej2oGLZNM/s1600/11010570_10203532671909636_437917569989616071_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbOt_kqom5L47G67kU1593RcbWLP8r7KNMu7vqYFeOaG5jUyaI3Pj-eVvwv0WeZ6lkD_XOq7mf1wktmT8Z4MirgI38v5BJ9LrQL2xMBL51rcTS-oU3WYs3r3WRuL6XcDMJfJVTIgTe80/s1600/11055652_1570455356544530_1183004236_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbOt_kqom5L47G67kU1593RcbWLP8r7KNMu7vqYFeOaG5jUyaI3Pj-eVvwv0WeZ6lkD_XOq7mf1wktmT8Z4MirgI38v5BJ9LrQL2xMBL51rcTS-oU3WYs3r3WRuL6XcDMJfJVTIgTe80/s1600/11055652_1570455356544530_1183004236_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
The Che Cafe has been occupied. The 35 year old cultural center, social space, DIY music venue, student/worker co-operative and affordable eatery has come under the complete control of students, faculty, alumni and community members who have refused to leave its premises, despite a UC sanctioned eviction notice that became active on March 24 at 6:00 a.m. For over one year, the administration of UCSD has attempted to shut the Che Cafe Collective out of its historic home using a variety of secretive bureaucratic maneuvers, manipulations and blatant lies. This most recent battle between the Che Cafe Collective and UCSD administrators can be contextualized within the larger history of struggle that informs the identity and praxis of the Che Cafe. By our count, this is the 5th time that university administration has attempted to eliminate the Che Cafe Collective since it became operational in 1980. All prior eviction attempts carried out by the university have resulted in abject failure. Each subsequent eviction attempt has inspired wider community and student solidarity with the Che Cafe Collective and this occasion is no different. Students, community members, faculty and alumni from disparate backgrounds have become determined to demonstrate their power and willingness to engage in collective direct action to preserve the Che Cafe.<br />
<br />
The Che Cafe Collective and its supporters are not so nearsighted that we ignore the obvious parallels between the fight that UC students have brought against the continuous fee and tuition hikes enacted by the Regents and the fight to prevent the closures of integral student facilities which would no doubt result in an erasure of culture and student self organization that is preserved by spaces like the Che Cafe. Our fight is one and the same.<br />
<br />
When we act as we are now, by occupying a space that rightly belongs to the students and community members who utilize it, we act in solidarity with the 6 UC Santa Cruz students who are being criminalized by the UC after having taken direct action to preserve the accessibility of higher education. When we act as we are now, we are acting also in solidarity with the students of Quebec, who have once again taken to the streets with calls for a general strike in order to ensure their access to public universities. When we act as we are now, we invoke the knowledge, practice and ferocity that UC students across California acted with in 2009. When we act as we are now, we hope to inspire action on your part.<br />
<br />
Our occupation is ongoing - we invite you to join our fight.<br />
<br />
forward until victory,<br />
<br />
some occupiers and collective members of the Che Cafe Collective<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobWXNYUVTxh-7CJurS4Uq1V0Nt4YiujglHGghyAnH7I1WnFIy94Mz3fkDlvNWyYyDqLfWXvfW8JPTkr7_8AfueHUfW7AsriatE91sdXpNm5I-GjLIU1B7BiPPs3SWLfPBVAej2oGLZNM/s1600/11010570_10203532671909636_437917569989616071_n.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiobWXNYUVTxh-7CJurS4Uq1V0Nt4YiujglHGghyAnH7I1WnFIy94Mz3fkDlvNWyYyDqLfWXvfW8JPTkr7_8AfueHUfW7AsriatE91sdXpNm5I-GjLIU1B7BiPPs3SWLfPBVAej2oGLZNM/s1600/11010570_10203532671909636_437917569989616071_n.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-9485726469959197262015-03-04T16:41:00.000-08:002015-03-04T16:46:25.168-08:00Please take action: Students seeking to redesignate restrooms as “all gender” face harassment and police detention at UC Berkeley<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYVNF128oAbVLTg6mv6OV0l7pruBPb6rTYCUDwhyphenhyphenFDJgILSRIgdED7ZUy5oawbC0tguygo0EJ0ns2uSQQbDAlJixb3B2xTnel6Cte6JD4PJxrNdzyOrAUsagHHVF5dpk6Zei-w3AoJlJo/s1600/tumblr_nkp8ulBazq1uokuqgo2_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYVNF128oAbVLTg6mv6OV0l7pruBPb6rTYCUDwhyphenhyphenFDJgILSRIgdED7ZUy5oawbC0tguygo0EJ0ns2uSQQbDAlJixb3B2xTnel6Cte6JD4PJxrNdzyOrAUsagHHVF5dpk6Zei-w3AoJlJo/s1600/tumblr_nkp8ulBazq1uokuqgo2_1280.jpg" height="355" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Reposted from <a href="http://ucopbathrooms.tumblr.com/">UCOP Bathroom Brigade</a>:</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Yesterday, March 3, an anonymous group known as the Bathroom
Brigade posted “all gender” signs on bathroom doors across UC Berkeley. The
signs include the following text:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Please excuse our dust! The approval and planning process for
a bathroom redesignation is surprisingly time-consuming, but in the interim the
University’s priority is making sure everyone has safe access to a bathroom. As
a temporary measure, we encourage everyone, of all genders, to use this
bathroom. We’ll put up a permanent sign as soon as we can.</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a tongue-in-cheek way, the signs seek to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pass</i> as being officially authorized.
They also highlight the reality that trans and gender nonconforming people on
campus do not have adequate access to safe bathrooms. University administrators
appeared to have recognized this unmet safety need: months ago, President
Napolitano promised to redesignate every single-user bathroom as “all gender,”
while UC labor relations agreed to provide reasonable access to all gender
restrooms for student workers. Since then though, UC Berkeley administrators
have not redesignated a single bathroom. </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday, when members of the Bathroom Brigade sought to
expedite the process of redesignation, administrators and UC police officers
responded in ways that threw into question the UC’s stated commitment to the
safety of trans and gender nonconforming students and workers. First,
administrators sent out emails disavowing the signs, as in the following:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">Dear Stanley Hall Faculty, Researchers, Students, and Staff,</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">Signs have appeared on the building’s restroom doors that
indicate that restrooms are available to all genders. Please disregard the
signs; they will be taken down as soon as possible.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems that these efforts to take down the signs have
already overstepped, as previously authorized “all gender” signs in Stephens
Hall were torn down yesterday. Additionally, members of the Bathroom Brigade
and supportive students have reported facing harassment or violence in
connection with the signs. Some members of the Bathroom Brigade were followed
down the hallways of a building by a campus administrator. And a supportive student
who attempted to discourage an administrator from tearing down the signs faced
aggression. As she writes:</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">Still trying to
collect my memories from the heat of the moment, but moments ago I stood in
front of this sign to stop a man from aggressively tearing it down as we went
to the bathroom after class. He had torn down 3 of 4 signs despite repeated
requests to stop, and was so determined to get the last one that he attempted
to pull it from behind my head. My friends and a passerby were shocked by ho</span><span style="color: #141823;">w he went so far as to almost touch/hit me to get to that
sign (which he may have, but I was too focused on protecting the sign to
notice). There is a photo of me pointing my camera phone to get him to back
off, since he stood incredibly close. All of this occurred even after I
explained that the folks behind this campaign are trying to force the UC to
take issues of gender and trans safety seriously. He and his friend are both
older white men who likely work in the electrical engineering and computer
science admin office, so we were surprised that they felt so comfortable
proceeding aggressively in a confrontational dispute with students. But their
behavior is a perfect example for why the UC needs to stop dragging their heels
in implementing accessible gender neutral bathrooms.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: #141823;">Then, early yesterday
afternoon, two students were detained by the UC Police in connection with the
bathroom redesignations. A white trans woman and a black cis man, both members
of the Bathroom Brigade, were initially confronted by two building
administrators in the hallway of the Li Ka Shing Center – a building that
currently contains no all gender restrooms. One of the administrators demanded
that “all gender” signs be removed, which the students attempted to do. When
the administrator continued harassing the students, they left the building and
walked three blocks to a bus stop. He followed them the entire way, talking on
his phone as he walked. The students then boarded a bus and rode on it for a
block, at which point the bus was stopped by two UC Police officers. The
officers came onto the bus and detained the students. After detaining them on
the sidewalk, the officers said that they were planning to report the students
to the Office of Student Conduct, and that, if there had been any damage to
paint surfaces in the Li Ka Shing Center, they would consider pursuing a
warrant for the students’ arrest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: #141823;">That two students
attempting to expand trans peoples’ access to safe bathrooms were harassed,
followed, and detained by the UC Police highlights some of the connections
between interrelated forms of sanctioned violence: the harassment trans people
face in public spaces, including at our universities; the securitization of
partially-privatized UC buildings, such as the Li Ka Shing Center; and the
militarization of UC and Berkeley City police departments. A coalition of
student and community groups has recently been pushing back against police violence
in Berkeley. On February 10, the UCB Black Student Union helped organize a
march to city council, where students and community members called on the
council to take action against racial profiling and against militarized
policing throughout Berkeley. The coalition also continued to press for justice
for Kayla Moore, a black trans woman who was killed in her home by Berkeley
City Police on February 13, 2013. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: #141823;">Please take a moment
to call or email Chancellor Dirks and share with him your thoughts about what
happened today. You might consider demanding: 1) that UC Berkeley expedite the
process of redesignating bathrooms as “all gender” in order to address the
safety needs of trans and gender nonconforming people; and 2) that no student
conduct or legal charges be brought against students for posting “all gender”
restroom signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #141823;">Chancellor Dirks: </span><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 7.5pt;">(510) 642-7464; </span><a href="mailto:chancellor@berkeley.edu"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">chancellor@berkeley.edu</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">.</span></div>
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<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyl1WjT66rZICMhdC3uLjeXmXa-i5F_40nJxl35NZDgKzks9QmaS-sbgJVq7tjX6U_XIXRxKB_J-N1K_-3_-Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-34774757459974984712015-02-09T08:09:00.000-08:002015-02-09T08:09:56.082-08:00What University Administrators Gain from $300 Million in Cuts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIA-tiiVUavuoQ0LQbaXjpiRRu6COW6kpl1a_KTULewINu8krJP-kqvELwdkP-L6t5h6v7fdW9Z2b0q-3eptck73QBf7-3G2iz9_rRTfhs96UQH3pLnF671-cOGYEneaTPm04GjUsC24/s1600/madison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIA-tiiVUavuoQ0LQbaXjpiRRu6COW6kpl1a_KTULewINu8krJP-kqvELwdkP-L6t5h6v7fdW9Z2b0q-3eptck73QBf7-3G2iz9_rRTfhs96UQH3pLnF671-cOGYEneaTPm04GjUsC24/s1600/madison.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Guest post by Lenora Hanson and Elsa Noterman, graduate students at University of Wisconsin, Madison.</i><br />
<br />
Over
the past two weeks the University of Wisconsin System and UW-Madison
administrations have gone on the defensive against the hemorrhaging of
state support for higher education recently proposed in <a href="http://www.wpr.org/guide-whats-scott-walkers-new-budget-proposal">Scott Walker’s Biennial Budget</a>—including
$300 million in budget cuts (the largest cut in the 44-year history of
the UW System). But the current proposed budget cuts and university
restructuring should be understood within a larger historical and
political context—one in which a push for privatized education has
happened not simply due to partisan divisions at the state Capitol, but
also because of financial and material incentives for the UW System.<br />
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The UW administration’s narrative, along with that of others in the local and national media, blames Scott Walker and tea-party Republicans for both recent and ongoing budgetary crises in higher education in Wisconsin. In part, memories of the historic resistance to Walker’s attack on labor in 2011 only fuels this narrative. As a result, anger about and actions against the budget are being directed towards the state Capitol. Sending campus and system-wide emails, talking to local and national media outlets, meeting with legislators and creating open forums on campuses to discuss the cuts with students, faculty and staff, UW System administrators are taking every opportunity to inveigh against the 13 percent cut in state funding—and emphasizing the inevitability of tuition increases and job losses if these cuts go through. But the administration’s defensive posture around state cuts to university funding is not new; indeed, it has provided the catalyst for much of the System’s rhetoric around austerity measures in the past. As Chancellor Blank made clear in October 2014, even maintaining current state contributions would require “implementing substantial cuts” within the university, one reason she has recommended <a href="http://www.channel3000.com/news/education/uw-chancellor-wants-to-raise-outofstate-tuition/24422470">considering increases to out-of-state undergraduate tuition</a>. This posturing arguably obscures the administration's ongoing efforts to consolidate control over the university, making them appear as passive respondents to a continuous Republican onslaught.<b> </b><br />
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<b>More of the same</b><br />
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There is precedent in the UW System for trying to restructure the university and reduce reliance on state support, one that perhaps grows out of UW-Madison’s aggressive attempts to free itself from the burdens of state regulation. In 2011, then-Chancellor Biddy Martin infamously <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116339939.html">held secret talks with Walker’s administration</a> to discuss what she called the “New Badger Partnership” (NBP), which would give UW-Madison autonomy from the state by making it, and it alone, a public authority (also known as a public-benefit corporation). Budgetary cuts and labor issues were at the forefront of critiques of the NBP. Less attention was paid to the fact that in the original version of the NBP, the UW-Madison would have won the ability to issue bonds (essentially debt plus interest) for its campus construction projects instead of relying on the state to do so. The NBP, at least as originally drafted, failed to be implemented due to public outcry and bipartisan legislative opposition. But in December 2012 a “Task Force on Restructuring and Operational Flexibilities” was put together to recommend to the state certain “flexibilities” that would be given to the entire System, and the Budget and the failed NBP had not provided specifically to UW-Madison. One of the recommendations issued was to grant the system the ability to lease or bond for their own projects:<br />
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While the state disagreed with the Task Force recommendation to remove the state from the design and implementation of new buildings, they agreed that the System should be given the capacity to lease, or bond, their own projects. This ability, however, “would require statutory changes” (59) that the UW System did not have in 2012. <br />
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In making an appeal to the state for greater control over capital projects, the Task Force made an important point for us to keep in mind. Of <i>all</i> UW System projects, nearly 60 percent each biennium are funded by university‐generated revenue and receive no taxpayer support. This means that only 40 percent of the construction projects built on UW System campuses are paid for by state tax dollars, and thus only 40 percent are built primarily or specifically for instructional purposes.<br />
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<b>Buildings Race</b><br />
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<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Rw80qtJ0wpQ3glWVd-E-sFP58LyGaaC3fsdTrnXDT8a4unnRomG6YGCitWp6j_mwohsr29xz-DnIEoYU-37BxYGwsFb1pmJdqIfPySeLAM7kvcYApS1GlyxNuicNgtiOAg" /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_fsDv0pkS8H7XZMbMxKTbYmvQj4qk0uBp2p98ZAZwcUP9-535m6axGJEuxvyI3CNXLRBo37sbawF9iF5_7NAaCsALeVAChySxOiiE9EmamF3Tz9pYqea9tqYDUJBBw-gXA" style="cursor: move;" /></div>
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In their drive for increasing revenue, universities around the country are competing to attract the same wealthy out-of-state students to their campuses. In the fall 2014 semester—for the first time in at least fifteen years, <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/02/u-m_out-of-state_residents.html">over half of the students at the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan were from outside the state</a>. This followed the announcement last year of a <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20140220/NEWS05/302200094/">$500 million building spree</a> at the university. At UW, out-of-state new undergraduate freshmen increased by 42 percent between 2003 and 2012—and these out-of-state students paid more than twice as much as their in-state classmates (UW Data Digest). To attract these non-resident students, administrators are increasingly taking on capital building projects and recreational amenities—such as upscale apartments, climbing walls, and food services. This buildings race—where universities are trying to out-build the competition—has lead to increases in tuition (the most flexible source of revenue). In Wisconsin, spending on non-instructional campus buildings has drastically increased in recent years (see above graph). On average, these building projects now cost students <a href="http://www.secfac.wisc.edu/senate/2014/0203/2470%20Ad%20hoc%20tuition%20report.pdf">$192 a year—and will continue to do so for up to 30 years</a>. Of course, this cost does not include the price of building maintenance, upkeep, and debt services (the interest that is paid—over many years—on the loans used to finance these projects). In the end, these building projects often cost more in debt service payments than the initial construction price-tag. Currently, costs and debt service are largely guaranteed by segregated fees and revenues generated from parking lots, dining services and other non-instructional services. But with the public authority model tuition is likely to become a significant—if not the primary—source for paying off bonds as well providing the capital necessary for taking on future debt.<br />
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<b>Pledging Tuition? </b><br />
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Lo and behold, the statutory changes previously recommended by the UW Taskforce (see above) have emerged in the current budget bill proposed by Governor Walker, which grants bonding issuance and management to the UW System for those projects not backed by public monies, or general purpose revenues (60 percent of construction projects in the system). It explicitly allows the newly-formed UWSA Board of Regents to: “<i>issue bonds that are not public debt</i> and specifies that the state pledges that, unless bondholders are adequately protected, the state will not limit or alter any rights before the UWSA satisfies the bonds. <i>The bill eliminates all appropriations to the UW System under current law, except general purpose revenues for educational programs and the payment of certain construction debt</i>” (emphasis added 16-17).<br />
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The latter section of the above quote is important because it seems to suggest that funds to pay for non-instructional construction costs and debt service (remember, the majority of construction projects on campus) are no longer guaranteed by the state, but by the UW Board of Regents (BOR) and its revenue sources. Previously, UW Madison’s construction costs and debt service were backed by the state through general obligation bonds, which means they were backed by a certain percentage raise in taxes that could be levied to cover costs. In other words, all previous bonds issued to pay for university construction projects—for both academic and non-academic purpose buildings—were at least hypothetically backed by public debt. But what are the revenue sources that the BOR will be able to rely on, then?<br />
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If we needed a crystal ball to know where the UW System is going, we only need to look to the past. In 2009, Prof. Bob Meister at UC-Santa Cruz sent shockwaves through the University of California system <a href="http://cucfa.org/news/2009_oct11.php">when he revealed that</a> in order to continue funding the building boom on campuses across the state, the UC System had pledged access to 100 percent of tuition revenues to pay off the debt service on those projects should all other revenues be cut. Why was tuition promised? Because, “although tuition can be used for the same purposes as state educational funds, it can also be used for other purposes including construction, the collateral for construction projects, and paying interest on those bonds. None of these latter uses is permissible for state funds.” In other words, it is a more flexible source of revenue for the university administration. As of 2017, just as the state cuts enumerated by the current budget will get even worse for the UW System, tuition setting ability will rest wholly with the Board of Regents. So while the $300 million dollar cuts will certainly necessitate tuition increases, so will the System’s newly acquired control over construction projects if they follow the trend suggested above. And if the cuts have appeared as a surprise in recent weeks, the construction project “flexibilities” been in the works for years.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Flexible not free</b><br />
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Given the amplifying costs of debt services for capital projects, there is then a greater incentive (and arguably a financial imperative) for the university administration to regularly increase the price of university education. At the University of California System and University of Michigan—where university administration has complete control over bonding (and are thus responsible for paying the debt services)—tuition rates have increased dramatically. Across the UC system, for example, between 2008 and 2010 student tuition rose by <a href="http://cucfa.org/news/2009_oct11.php">109 percent</a>. At the University of Michigan, tuition has <a href="http://occupyumich.tumblr.com/post/19735255245/university-of-michigan-student-debt-and-the-for">increased by 233 percent</a> since 1990. While the state of Wisconsin currently has a tuition freeze for in-state students until at least until 2017, <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/blank-to-address-proposed-budget-cuts-at-regents-meeting-b99439791z1-290947951.html">Chancellor Blank has asserted</a> that she will be lobbying the Board of Regents to raise tuition for students not affected by the freeze—including nonresident students and those in professional schools. Given that <a href="http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/0203asm.pdf">after the last tuition freeze in 2004, tuition increased 18 percent</a>, it is also very likely that following 2017, the cost of education will increase for all UW students.<br />
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This most recent attack on higher education in Wisconsin needs to be understood not strictly as a partisan issue, but as a new development within the university itself as a site of accumulation, investment and speculation. This development needs to be considered when we decide who our targets and who our allies are not only in responding to attacks, but in working towards building the university we want now and in the future.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-86790758141282400662015-01-09T10:11:00.000-08:002015-01-12T19:42:23.984-08:00Securitization, risk management, and the new university <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The germ for this presentation emerged as I was
reading Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Golden
Gulag</i>. Her second chapter argues that the prison construction boom in 1980s
California was a response, on the part of those managing capital and governing
the state, to four surpluses, including of capital, labor, land, and state
capacity. With respect to capital surpluses, Gilmore shows how investment
bankers, in search of profitable sites of investment, developed new financial
mechanisms in the early eighties that enabled debt-financed prison construction
to go forward without voter approval. These new financial mechanisms, called
lease revenue bonds, had recently been put to use as well for the funding of
construction projects at California colleges and universities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In what follows, I want to talk a bit about
these convergent shifts in prison and university financing, which Gilmore reads
as ruling class responses to the protracted economic crisis of the seventies.
While formally similar in certain respects, these parallel shifts also indicate
a <a href="http://cacs.org/research/winners-and-losers-corrections-and-higher-education-in-california/">tilting</a> of the state toward policing and incarceration and away from direct support
for education and other socially reproductive state functions. I’m interested in
the aftereffects of these shifts, and particularly in what has changed over the
last five years, following the crisis of 2008 and recent waves of struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With respect to the universities, Gilmore
describes how, in 1981 and ‘82, Frederic Prager, a well-connected underwriter
in California, “worked with the Association of Independent California Colleges
and Universities to issue an innovative revenue bond whose proceeds [constituted]
a forward-funded market for student loans” (98). Soon afterwards, the loan
arrangement was extended to public universities as well. The terms of this
particular revenue bond illustrate some of the emergent parameters of
university financing in the early eighties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At this moment, newly available student aid and
loan money – funded and backed by state agencies – provided an incentive for
universities to gradually increase tuition, and thus enabled them to secure the
unencumbered revenue necessary to undertake debt-financed construction projects
– projects that university managers justified on the grounds that new
construction would help them compete for students. Prager and his associates at
KPMG helped rationalize these new financial dynamics, publishing manuals of
“best practices” for university managers. Their 1982 “Ratio Analysis in Higher
Education” presented its readers with financial “ratios” that could be used to
determine the proper balance of university revenues, operating costs,
investments, and bond debts. Unsurprisingly, these apparently neutral ratios
pushed university managers to funnel more capital into financial markets and to
take on higher levels of construction debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Similarly, Prager and his associates’ work
developing new prison financing mechanisms enabled the California Department of
Corrections to acquire over 2.5 billion dollars in state-backed lease revenue
bonds over the 1980s, supplementing 2.5 billion in general obligation bonds,
which the Department of Corrections used to expand prison capacity by
approximately four hundred percent (101). This prison expansion was accompanied
by the rewriting of criminal law and by the emergence of new forms of urban
policing, surveillance, and spatial enclosure, outlined by Mike Davis in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City of Quartz</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The assertiveness with which financial advisory
firms in the 1980s worked to turn the prison and higher education industries
into new sites of real estate investment and capital accumulation is especially
striking when considered in relation to KPMG’s most recent, and much more
reticent, <a href="http://policies.medschool.ucsf.edu/sites/policies.medschool.ucsf.edu/files/documents/NSS_Handbook.pdf">2010 edition</a> of “Strategic Financial Analysis for Higher Education,”
the successor to their “Ratio Analysis in Higher Education.” In this most
recent edition, Prager and his associates implicitly acknowledge that their
earlier ratios had not been conservative enough to protect against financial
meltdowns, and even that university managers probably shouldn’t have been
relying on abstract ratios in making investment decisions in the first place. “</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Financial
analysis is not a static exercise,” they write; “'Acceptable metrics' in one
environment may not be desirable in another.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> In their
contextualist 2010 edition, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the only advice the KPMG authors
confidently assert is that central administrators must systematically
incorporate a “risk management” framework into all dimensions of university
governance, lest they be caught off guard again by financial or other shocks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The University of California certainly has
followed this prescription. The university’s Office of the President recently
<a href="http://www.ucop.edu/risk-services/">established</a> an “Office of Risk Services,” and has begun convening regular “Risk
Summits” and meetings of the “Risk Management Leadership Council.” This turn
toward risk management can be read as marking the incorporation of security and
surveillance techniques into the heart of public university management,
including the management of university finances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The variant of “risk management,” that has
recently been taken up by University of California administrators is a
composite thing, drawn together from disparate sources and remolded to fit
local conditions. In part, risk management follows from the codification of
internal accounting techniques that were developed in the aftermath of the
Watergate scandal, but only formally required of public companies following the
2002 ENRON scandal. As KPMG and other boosters insist though, risk management
is not simply a matter of insurance or internal compliance mechanisms. It also
entails new, more ambitious, modes of governance and control, first developed for
the logistics and security industries. The logistics industry, contending since
the 70s with elongated supply chains and just-in-time production, developed
tracking and distribution practices to limit both the frequency and disruptive effects
of delays across supply chains. As Deborah Cowen has shown, these new practices
drew the logistics industry closer to security and military agencies. The
notion of “supply chain security” indicates how logistics has come to rest upon
a strategic relation to space; nodes and spans in supply chains, including
ports, highway networks, ocean passages, and rail yards must be surveilled and enclosed
by force in order to ensure the smooth flow of commodities. Thus, under the
banner of supply chain security, the urban policing, surveillance, military, and
logistics industries have become increasingly enmeshed since 2001.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.ucop.edu/enterprise-risk-management/_files/protiviti_faqguide.pdf">Documents</a> designed to introduce interested UC administrators
to “Enterprise Risk Management” contain illustrations and categories drawn
directly from the logistics industry, including just-in-time production and supply
chain analysis. But these
and other categories of risk management require a certain amount of translation
to fit within university contexts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the remainder of my talk, I want to discuss
a few recent events that illustrate the contested local manifestations of risk
management practices at UC Berkeley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First, concerning new construction. As a result
of anti-tuition and occupy mobilizations in 2011 and ’12, the University of
California adopted a multi-year tuition freeze in the summer of 2012. At this
same <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.ca/2014/10/after-freeze-uc-privatization-since-2012.html">moment</a>, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley’s office of Capital Projects
announced that future dorm construction would be outsourced to private
developers in the form of ground lease agreements. Since then, other
development projects are being privatized through similar agreements, both at
Berkeley and on other California campuses. Not coincidentally, a 2012 Bain
<a href="http://www.bain.com/Images/BAIN_BRIEF_The_financially_sustainable_university.pdf">report</a> on “The Sustainable University” encourages university managers to use ground
lease agreements to reduce debt leverage and to avoid risk exposure attendant
upon new development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This turn toward privatized construction –
aligned with the project of risk management – has contributed to an intensified
securitization of university space. Partially or fully privatized new
buildings, such as the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences,
the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and the Energy Biosciences Institute,
are each at least partially closed to the general public and require key card
or other forms of securitized access. In February 2013, organizers with the
Student of Color Solidarity Coalition<a href="http://studentofcolorsolidaritycoalition.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/collective-statement-regarding-the-february-13th-day-of-action/"> took over </a>the Blum Center to protest the
appointment of Janet Napolitano as UC President -- a particularly glaring
illustration of the university’s securitizing turn. The occupation of the Blum
Center challenged as well the shift toward spatial enclosure at UC Berkeley and
its racially exclusionary effects. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The enclosure of campus space also appears in university
administrator and police anxieties toward the presence of “non-affiliates” on
campus. As Brian Whitener and Dan Nemser <a href="http://reclamationsjournal.org/issue07_whitener_nemser_near_future.htm">note</a>, UC risk management templates
identify the presence of non-affiliates (i.e., people perceived as having no
direct tie to the university) as a factor that increases the risk profile of a
given event. The non-affiliate is a<a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.ca/2012/04/on-non-affiliates-in-reynosokroll.html"> racialized figure</a>, which was made glaringly
evident when UC Davis administrators, in justifying police violence against
Occupy Davis protesters, attempted to associate the threat of sexual violence
at occupy encampments with the presence of Oakland-based demonstrators on
campus. The everyday campus police harassment of black students and workers on and
near campus is linked to this anxiety over the presence of non-affiliates, and manifests
a broader anti-black exclusionary logic, which can be traced back as well through
recent privatizing reforms, the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, and the
anti-affirmative action politics of the 1980s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Following acts of police violence against Occupy
Davis, Berkeley, and Riverside protesters in 2011, then-President Yudof
commissioned an internal review of campus police practices. <a href="http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu/documents/implementation-report.pdf">Recommendations</a> that
emerged from this review align with the principles of risk management. Police
responses to protests are to be managed by administration-led crisis response
teams, and police are responsible for recording all demonstrations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Before concluding, I want to turn briefly to
recent actions in Berkeley and Oakland against anti-black police violence,
considering them in relation to the rise of risk management and the intensification
of securitization at and beyond the university. In the midst of larger uprisings
in the bay area and nationally following the non-indictments of Darren Wilson
and Daniel Pantaleo, UC students were particularly galvanized when Berkeley
police decided to use tear gas and batons to drive hundreds of students and
other local residents ten blocks south of campus. Presumably, the police
decided to force students away from campus because the demonstration’s original
proximity to dorms and a commercial district meant that police could not secure
the area and that the risk of costly property destruction was relatively high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While many students likened this act of police
violence to the violence inflicted on students by police in 2011, the
demonstrations that emerged in response were quite different. In 2011, students
responded by holding strikes on campus, while this past December, students and other
local residents gathered each night on the edge of campus, and marched along
different routes through Berkeley and Oakland, stopping at police stations,
shutting down highways and train lines, and destroying windows of banks, police
cars, and chain stores. More <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/01/_black_brunch_protesters_stage_demonstrations_inside_businesses.html">recently</a>, Black Student Union members have marched
through commercial districts of Berkeley, interrupting restaurant and
commercial businesses by reading the names of black people killed by police or
vigilante violence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">In traveling through Berkeley
and Oakland, student protesters have refused to remain enclosed within the
bounds of campus, or even in some cases to take political action</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">as students</span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;">. In doing so, they have worked to de-activate the student /
non-affiliate binary. They have also acted in a way that implicitly recognizes
the increasing imbrication of university policing, urban policing, and supply
chain security, as well as the similarly anti-black nature of these varied
forms of policing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In my introduction I referred to the “tilting”
of the state toward incarceration and away from education, beginning in the
eighties. As we’ve seen, this tilting is not simply a matter of a tipping of
the scales of state funding toward the CDC and away from the UC. It also refers
to a tilting forward – a shift toward a more martial posture – that has
affected all state institutions, including the universities. Those assuming
this posture don’t incline toward negotiation. It is this aggressive posture
that we confront when we fight fee hikes; reclaim campus spaces; strike for better
working conditions; or march to local nodes of global supply chains – ports, rail
yards, commercial centers, and freeways – to challenge racist state violence.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-9146769234085881402014-12-09T17:40:00.004-08:002014-12-09T18:03:38.843-08:00Urgent: Call-in to support Berkeley -Black Lives Matter- arrestees <div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b><i>Urgent:</i> </b></span><span class="s2"><b>Call-in to support Berkeley </b></span><span class="s2"><b><i>Black Lives Matter</i> arrestees</b></span><b> </b></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
On Monday night, more than a thousand Berkeley students and community members marched west from UCB campus, in order to block highway I-80 as part of the ongoing movement against </div>
<div class="p3">
anti-black state violence, and particularly the police murders of Eric Garner and Mike Brown. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
As one group of 200 or so protesters were marching near the freeway, they were kettled and arrested by police. Most of them were taken Monday night to Santa Rita jail, and are slowly being cited and released. At least one of those who traveled to the jail to support arrestees has herself been arrested. Additionally, there have been multiple reports from students being released from Santa Rita that the police are not returning their belongings. This is very irregular and cannot be justified legally. It is a serious problem for all those being released. People do not have needed phones, keys, computers, and other belongings. For students, it is significant as well in terms of their coursework: many of them have been denied their lecture notes, books, and other course materials, only a week before final examinations. To support arrestees: </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<b>Please call UCB Chancellor Dirks (510-642-7464)</b> and demand that he call on Santa Rita administrators and local police to release all those arrested and their belongings.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<b>Please also call police</b> to demand the release of everyone arrested and all their belongings. Santa Rita jail: <b>(925-551-6500). </b>Alameda County Sheriffs office: <b>(510-272-6878)</b>. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
<i>Please share and repost widely.</i> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-36211355167172408892014-12-03T18:24:00.001-08:002014-12-18T12:38:13.052-08:00Updated: On the Democrats' Education Plan, Part 2: ResegregationOn Tuesday, state Democratic Party lawmakers <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_27050887/no-uc-tuition-hikes-but-middle-class-scholarship">presented</a> their 2015 plan for higher education. The most publicized aspects of the plan are, first, that it would marginally increase state contributions to the UC and, second, that it would freeze undergraduate in-state tuition. An in-state tuition freeze would be be much better than Napolitano's original proposal for 5% annual tuition hikes. <br />
<br />
But there's more to the Democrats' plan: it would also eliminate a recently-established middle class scholarship program, would tie CSU student support to timely completion of degree, and would raise UC out-of-state and international students' tuition by 17 percent, or approximately $4,000 dollars. These proposed out-of-state fee hikes would be more than three times those initially proposed by Napolitano, and would generate for the UC an estimated $82 million dollars of revenue next year.<br />
<br />
There are a number of reasons to oppose this plan, particularly its reliance on a $4,000 dollar tuition hike for out-of-state and international students. First, from the perspective of those students directly affected, the hike would involve a financial shock, almost certain to be managed by many through the taking on of even more debt. Those opposed to skyrocketing student debt levels and to the privatization of the university thus have reason to oppose the Democrats' plan to increase out-of-state and international students' debt levels, and to keep UC reliant on tuition revenue rather than on public funds. <br />
<br />
Furthermore, from the perspective of the student movement, the proposed hike severs the interests of various groups of current students and can be seen as an <a href="https://educationshouldbefree.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/california-wont-be-happy-until-the-last-regent-is-strangled-with-the-entrails-of-the-last-democrat/">attempt to divide</a> the nascent anti-fee hike movement by polarizing students on the basis of our place of origin and citizenship. For the sake of justice and the effectiveness of our movements, it's important to challenge the logic underlying this division of students. People from different places are all living and working together on our campuses, and many of us, regardless of place of origin, will continue living in California after graduation. So even if we base our efforts on an interest in supporting affordable education for California residents, the tuition hike plan is not OK, because all students are residents. In this way, the question of out-of-state tuition levels should be separated from the political question of what percentage of out-of-state students ideally would be admitted to the UCs. Those with different views on the latter can nevertheless unite to oppose fee hikes that would affect current "out-of-state" and international students.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoikX1MFo2qTuCWTb6iHn5b1jsoBtnp6cBoI7CsdMwyNZEpPayP3jTyQHRPOr4mGCGeXnEzN4i2SLC1rgideGU6Phhkv459ZQDucI7RJXKRckHAXmLK9rUGN3Tewfq46qSZ2DfmB0hXJgl/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+4.52.59+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoikX1MFo2qTuCWTb6iHn5b1jsoBtnp6cBoI7CsdMwyNZEpPayP3jTyQHRPOr4mGCGeXnEzN4i2SLC1rgideGU6Phhkv459ZQDucI7RJXKRckHAXmLK9rUGN3Tewfq46qSZ2DfmB0hXJgl/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+4.52.59+PM.png" height="320" width="255" /></a>But there is a much more destructive dimension to the Democrats' proposal<i> -- the further resegregation of the UCs along lines of race and class --</i> which only comes into focus when we broaden our frame of reference by considering the distribution of funding to the various UC campuses. As Chris Newfield <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2012/01/racial-patterns-of-campus-budget.html">pointed out</a> in 2012, the UC Office of the President distributes its general fund revenues unevenly between the various campuses, and this structural unevenness involves the relative underfunding of campuses with higher percentages of Black and Latin@ students (UCR, UCM, UCSB, and UCSC). And, as Bob Samuel's has <a href="http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-uc-campus-funding-imbalance.html">noted</a>, it's only gotten worse since 2012. UC officials have not only admitted this resource inequity but have defended it: the Office of the President "stated that the university does not wish to jeopardize the achievements of the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses by shifting funds away to other campuses in an effort to provide an equal amount of general funds and tuition budget per student." As Newfield puts it, UCOP defines its job as protecting UC stratification rather than correcting it. <br />
<br />
With their education proposal, the California Democrats have apparently taken on as well the job of protecting and exacerbating stratifications between UC campuses. The reason their planned out-of-state tuition hike would further stratify the UCs by race and class is that the various campuses have sharply uneven capacities to attract out-of-state and international students, based largely on their relative name recognition and prestige. If they can't attract out-of-state students at higher tuition rates, they won't gain significant funds from the out-of-state tuition hike. To get a sense of this unevenness between campuses, here's a comparison of the percentages of in-state students enrolling at the various campuses in 2012: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVKb_p_cuOEE_jNQtRfaxia49gReX9sImR3mBw8oz7PHwnk7VufJTKzoagGAiafIQ7t0_wivTyvKGqO2iA2QHNyhC8dmTzrF75-lwJdxdAfOGT7ndSwyiDB4qk-Ep86F7j3ZzfmfcAzzP/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+9.45.13+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVKb_p_cuOEE_jNQtRfaxia49gReX9sImR3mBw8oz7PHwnk7VufJTKzoagGAiafIQ7t0_wivTyvKGqO2iA2QHNyhC8dmTzrF75-lwJdxdAfOGT7ndSwyiDB4qk-Ep86F7j3ZzfmfcAzzP/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+9.45.13+AM.png" height="491" width="640" /></a><br />
This graph above helps explain the charts below, which illustrate the difference between, on the one hand, the relative percentages of out-of-state and international students at the various campuses, and, on the other hand, the relative percentages of total enrollment at the campuses (based on 2012 data). The chart on the left can serve as a proxy for the percentages of the state Democrats' proposed out-of-state fee hike that would go to the various campuses. The chart on the right represents what would be a more equitable distribution of funds, which could be supplied if the state, rather than raising out-of-state fees, simply contributed an additional $82 million dollars to UC and earmarked percentages of the money for particular campuses. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfO3K1MlySxGz3C17dLnFqBjAZLq8Ox9eYoNhVildaHLkOn2aW8Rs6MQSVkpMMQ5hdiR7hxDK33554MCVlvNj5hUySbLQ1tHoewFpjZMldX_8Z02Z-B1ySAqYub3yRHIdwo-R0hNDa43fh/s1600/campuspercentages-page-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfO3K1MlySxGz3C17dLnFqBjAZLq8Ox9eYoNhVildaHLkOn2aW8Rs6MQSVkpMMQ5hdiR7hxDK33554MCVlvNj5hUySbLQ1tHoewFpjZMldX_8Z02Z-B1ySAqYub3yRHIdwo-R0hNDa43fh/s1600/campuspercentages-page-001.jpg" height="388" width="640" /></a></div>
Seen from this perspective, the California Democrats' plan for out-of-state fee hikes looks much more like an effort to salvage funding at the flagship campuses while leaving all other campuses, and particularly those with higher percentages of Black and Latin@ students, out in the cold. And class and race stratifications are inextricably linked, as the following graph makes clear:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlihS8uZxZgyi1wc28Bg90NLpbk9Wm_U3KhnRLDGgB94i0Azwf627IAd5odCfpapa-4Xr9BerJniVI0Tkpm1iZtwUVaMywjHgxLs2WujhjXEd_vepnveWX5DvcyWlOL23frRs9jnznzxT/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+12.21.40+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinlihS8uZxZgyi1wc28Bg90NLpbk9Wm_U3KhnRLDGgB94i0Azwf627IAd5odCfpapa-4Xr9BerJniVI0Tkpm1iZtwUVaMywjHgxLs2WujhjXEd_vepnveWX5DvcyWlOL23frRs9jnznzxT/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-12-03+at+12.21.40+AM.png" height="536" width="640" /></a></div>
The Democrats' plan would thus have the effect of further underfunding campuses with relatively higher percentages of Black and Latin@ student enrollment and of working class student enrollment. Their plan promises the intensification of race and class inequalities within a UC system characterized by internal segregation. For this reason, as well as those identified above, the state Democrats' plan (SB15) should be vigorously opposed, and better <a href="http://keepcaliforniaspromise.org/3553">alternatives</a> should be advocated, by all those interested in just and equal public education in California. <br />
<br />
<i>Updated, December 18:</i> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-pol-uc-tuition-explainer-20141211-story.html#page=1">Apparently</a>, the state Democrats are considering proposals that involve even higher out-of-state tuition hikes, and are also considering capping the number of out-of-state and international student admissions at current levels, thus locking in the inequalities discussed above. From the details of Assembly Speaker Akins' plan:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"•Increase UC enrollment of California students by 10,000 over five years and cap enrollment of out-of-state students at 2014-2015 levels.<br />•Increase the tuition premium for out-of-state students by $5,000, which would raise an additional $100 million annually."</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-17384617580778913542014-12-03T16:26:00.001-08:002014-12-03T16:26:58.416-08:00On the Democrats' Education Plan, Part 1: Class War<div style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.882353); border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22.1000003814697px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-top: 14px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
Reposted from <a href="https://educationshouldbefree.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/california-wont-be-happy-until-the-last-regent-is-strangled-with-the-entrails-of-the-last-democrat/">Education Should be Free</a>: </div>
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<i>"California Won't be Happy Until the Last Regent is Strangled From the Entrails of the Last Democrat" </i></div>
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A <strong><a href="https://educationshouldbefree.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/fuck-the-regents-and-fuck-jerry-brown-too/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">previous communiqué</a></strong> announced our opposition to both the UC Regents and Governor Brown: “Fuck the Regents, and Fuck Jerry Brown Too.” It is now necessary for us to declare our opposition to the latest plan for privatization put forward by the California Democratic Party.</div>
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The cowardly California Democrats, fearing the retribution of the students and people of California, have announced a new plan to avoid fee hikes. But their plan proposes cutting scholarship programs for middle-class Californian students and raising tuition for out-of-state students by over $4,000. Let’s be clear about the strategy they’re employing: instead of imposing cuts on all students, the Democrats intend to attack certain constituencies, middle-class and out-of-state students, the classic imperial maneuver of “divide and conquer.” They want to divide us, leave us to fight over the scraps left by the state.</div>
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<a href="https://educationshouldbefree.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/sorbonne-occupied.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="sorbonne occupied" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-69" src="https://educationshouldbefree.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/sorbonne-occupied.jpg?w=590" style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-radius: 4px; border: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 5px;" /></a></div>
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What’s more, in a crude and grotesque application of their neoliberal ideology, the Democrats propose offering “completion incentive grants” to create “financial incentives” for students in the CSU system to graduate faster. Underlying this move is a frank acknowledgement that the education system has <i>completely failed us</i>: standardized test-based public education has not prepared students for college, and the university does not provide students the resources they need to finish according the administration’s schedule.</div>
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Despite their awareness of the fact that students often need to <i>work full-time</i> to keep up with the cost of living while they go to school, the Democrats are proposing the use of incentives to impose a form of <i>factory speed-up</i>: encouraging students to drive themselves into the ground and cut corners in their education, just to win a bonus that isn’t even worth a week of a Chancellor’s income.</div>
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Of course, they claim they will help speed students along by throwing money into more classes, as well as more advising and support. But don’t mistake this for a concern with your education. “If we invest more, we expect better efficiencies,” the Senate Leader shamelessly confessed to the <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article4242343.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: black; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><i>Sacramento Bee</i></a>. Students are being reduced to <i>pure financial flows</i>, to sources of income that can be manipulated and controlled by the unholy alliance of big capital and Homeland Security. No wonder they want to admit more students.</div>
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The California Democrats’ plan is not a plan to create better, more accessible, or more democratic university. It is an insidious form of privatization and financialization that <i>converts your education into a flow of money, and your life into endless work</i>. It represents another form of class warfare waged against the people of California. They can be sure that the people of California will respond in kind.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-90280458314759992062014-11-21T18:14:00.002-08:002014-11-21T18:14:45.285-08:00A Letter of Fire from Egypt<i>Reposted from: <a href="https://aletterfromegypt.wordpress.com/">A Letter from Egypt</a>:</i><br /><br />Dear Santa Cruz and Berkeley Occupiers,<br /><br />We are students and faculty from Cairo writing to you from within the folds and dust of an ongoing revolution. Many of our own universities are now occupied by the military, and we now find ourselves fighting against a regime that grows worse than the one that our revolution had initially rose up against only 3 years ago. When we first heard that you had occupied your universities, we were inspired by and felt close to your revolt that we see as resonating with our own.<br /><br />We think it is important to say that our struggles arise from distinct histories, but we also know that the problems we all face can only ever be challenged by a cascade of a thousand revolts, revolts like yours that involve both a struggle for your own lives but equally for the lives of others. Our revolts are ultimately attempts to become something together, to become a part of a collectivity that is as much emancipatory as it is diverse. In your occupations against the tuition increases in your universities, we hope you find yourselves fighting alongside new and unanticipated friends and allies, people found in your revolt that have joined you in inhabiting spaces that you have made your own. We hope that you consider us among these new friends as well.<br /><br />We don’t find it so urgent to distinguish between whether the attacks on our lives come in the name of austerity, security, or civility, but instead recognize that each of these attacks and each of our revolts against them are connected by shared logics: the logic of what you’ve called in your communique the “capitalist economy of accumulation” and the opposing logic of what we’ll call in this letter “creativity and solidarity”. In this spirit, we write in solidarity with all of those who look forward and see a hopeless future, and in return demand a different present and occupy it. We write in solidarity with you who have been ignored by society’s institutions, and in return have seized them. We write in solidarity with you who the global powers hope will suffer injustice alone, and instead have found one another on the barricades of revolt. We write in solidarity with you who were born into a world of fear, and yet have learned to light fires that cast fear away.<br /><br />With fires against fear,<br /><br />-Students and Faculty from Cairo’s UniversitiesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-20099863254441403412014-11-21T17:00:00.005-08:002014-11-21T17:00:47.926-08:00Why Humanities 2? or: End the Administration Reposted from <a href="http://educationshouldbefree.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/why-humanities-2-or-end-the-administration/">Education Should be Free</a>:<br />
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The UC administration wraps its tentacles around all of our lives. And it has established many nodes from which to strangle us; Kerr Hall is only one hub of a much larger amorphous beast. Given this fact, students had a lot of options when we began considering an occupation. How, then, did we choose this particular administrative base of operations, Humanities 2, for our action?</div>
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In fact, it is not a difficult question, and everyone here is clear on the answer: this building houses the office of a particularly smarmy figure, one Dean Sheldon Kamieniecki—a perversely enthusiastic agent of austerity. This person was responsible for slashing whole departments as soon as he got the chance, Community Studies being one notable example. Most recently, he tried to sack five or six Social Science staffers last year, most of whom make roughly $40,000, and who, as any student can tell you, are absolutely indispensable to the day-to-day functioning of the university and central to the academic lives of students. Kamieniecki himself made $206,000 last year, and nobody knows what he does.</div>
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<img alt="A montstous Dean Kamieniecki enjoys a snack." class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-9" height="300" src="https://educationshouldbefree.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/slugmonster.jpg?w=225&h=300" style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 5px;" width="225" /></div>
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Last fall, a group of students saw Kamieniecki entering this building and confronted him about the proposed layoffs: “How do you justify firing six workers who we all depend on?”</div>
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“It’s simple math. We have to make cuts. What else could you cut?”</div>
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“Well, we saw that you make over $200,000 a year.”</div>
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“So what? I should just quit my job then, I guess.”</div>
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Silence and a stare made clear our agreement with that plan. A scoff was all we got back.</div>
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But the point is not merely rhetorical: Imagine a university where the workers and students who make the place run also get to run the place. And where people whose primary job is to make cuts and give “mathematical” defenses of those cuts didn’t have to exist.</div>
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That is a university we could live with.</div>
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In this sense, this story is not only about Kamieniecki. UC President Janet Napolitano (salary $578,000) was recently quoted citing “arithmetic” in defense of the need “to look at a whole range of things” to resolve the school’s financial situation. Predictably, in the course of a month, the task went from “looking at” to actually imposing a 27% tuition increase. How quickly a look turns into an act! The Regents’ discerning eyesight is matched only by their own efficiency.</div>
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These administration figures hide behind the veneer of mathematics in order to carry out their jobs. It makes things seem very complicated. In reality, it’s very simple: they raise tuition, attack workers, cut student services. In concert with the Regents, they make choices about how this university functions and where its resources go, and they make the wrong choices. Unsurprisingly, a lot of those resources go to admins and Regents themselves via high salaries, debt-vehicles and real-estate deals.</div>
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Unfortunately for the administrators, even if we take them at their word, the discussion of math here reveals their own redundancy. I propose, therefore, that as a test we replace all administrators with a very mathematical computer. If everything is dictated by numbers, then this computer can probably do their jobs for a lot less money.</div>
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But this will also make our job easier! For then, we can spend less time tracking these people down and denouncing them, and simply smash the computer.</div>
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For the time being however, this occupation will serve as a similar sort of test. We will keep Kamieniecki away from the levers that he pulls, and what will become clear is that no one is worse off for his absence. Either the arithmetic of austerity will simply run its course without him, or, if we’re lucky, it will falter, and our lives will surely improve. In short, like all UC administrators, he’s either superfluous or pernicious. Either way, we don’t want him.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-41683557110291620032014-11-20T20:16:00.001-08:002014-11-20T20:17:27.456-08:00A Communiqué from the UCSC Occupation of Humanities 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrXGJ2ogM3GkZYuN8VXQKOMADSm6ECc3dfgVFUM2aCARMdXGP_8nSfaTOIIqNkiHAuiQhTD4uYVk4ULzwQ6g8-VDcQez6PbxEWOLuffG7bwaKVtKKgNBe-mQaw7WbqK1MYh4V9Q9Pi1Kx/s1600/humanitiesucsc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrXGJ2ogM3GkZYuN8VXQKOMADSm6ECc3dfgVFUM2aCARMdXGP_8nSfaTOIIqNkiHAuiQhTD4uYVk4ULzwQ6g8-VDcQez6PbxEWOLuffG7bwaKVtKKgNBe-mQaw7WbqK1MYh4V9Q9Pi1Kx/s1600/humanitiesucsc.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
The University of California was once a tuition-free and public institution. Now the students are facing yet another tuition hike. The most recent attempt to raise tuition in 2009 was successfully frozen by the courageous and necessary action of students, yet this week, the UC Regents have approved a 5% tuition increase each year for the next five years. This is in addition to the numerous increases that have occurred since the new millennium which amount to what will now be a 500% increase by 2020. Governors and legislatures have come and gone, and have continually spouted rhetoric without taking any action.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In addition to tuition increases, students face larger class sizes, fewer classes, cuts to student services, and ultimately, are paying more for less education. Of course, these measures disproportionately affects those already marginalized--women, students of color, queer students, and many more. A private business parades in the mask of a public university.</div>
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<br /></div>
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All of these issues and more are a direct result of the failed leadership of the UC Regents, a ruling junta appointed by the governor—yet rebuked in this move even by him!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Privatization threatens the promise of education for all. With this most recent tuition hike, UC</div>
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students are being crushed; this is just one symptom of a global effort to privatize everything. Our</div>
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water, lands and studies are being held hostage to further benefit those at the top of a horrifying</div>
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capitalist economy of accumulation. It extends far beyond the university, from the extraction of</div>
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natural resources, to the oppression and exploitation of laborers. We are saddled with obligations to</div>
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work and incur debts at the expense of our humanity and the habitat we depend on. As students,</div>
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our future labor is put on lien for the privilege of attending a once free, now mediocre, university.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The hypocrisy we face is astounding: the Regents gave 20% raises to a few campus Chancellors just</div>
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weeks before hoisting more debt onto vulnerable students. Regent Bonnie Ress said they were</div>
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correcting an “injustice” by bumping people up from $360,000 to $383,000. This would be</div>
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laughable if it weren’t so disgusting. Never mind that the chancellors are already in the top half</div>
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percent of income earners in the United States. But with ten CEOs, four corporate lawyers, two</div>
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investment bankers and merely one student on the board of Regents, it is not surprising that the</div>
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priorities of this institution are skewed towards the interests of those at the top.</div>
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<br /></div>
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For all these reasons, we are occupying the Humanities 2 building at UC Santa Cruz. We are using</div>
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the space to do many things: to think, to strategize, to finally meet the fellow students we sit next to</div>
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every day. Most of all, however, we are simply inhabiting a space that is ours in a world where</div>
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nothing seems to be for us.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The students here are fed up, but we have not given up hope on one another, and we have not given</div>
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up hope on you. This message is intended for our fellow students here at UCSC, but it is also for</div>
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everyone else: we want to hear from alumni; from parents; from the people in our communities;</div>
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from our fellow students at other UCs; from our young comrades in elementary, middle and high</div>
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schools; from the workers and teachers who make this university run. We may only be in this</div>
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building temporarily, but we want to build something bigger, something lasting, and we want all of</div>
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you to be a part of it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Regents have passed their tuition hike, but this is far from over. We are calling on our allies to</div>
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help us grow: more occupations will surely follow (we don’t know who plans them!), and more</div>
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strikes, more disrupted meetings, more barricades, more students and allies in the street. All of this</div>
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not to return to the past, but to build a new future.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We will be unmanageable until such time as there are no managers—until the Regents, tuition, and privatization are washed away in a wave of democracy.</div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-44386175656990652052014-11-20T08:31:00.002-08:002014-11-20T08:31:32.564-08:00Who Are the "Legitimate" Occupants of Wheeler Hall?<br />
An internal email sent out this morning by the UCB facilities manager. Very invested in distinguishing "legitimate" occupants from the "suspicious or dangerous" occupants.<br />
<blockquote>
-------- Original Message -------- <br /> <b> Subject:</b> Wheeler Hall is Occupied by Protestors [TODAY! - 11-20-14] <br /> <b>Date:</b> Thu, 20 Nov 2014 07:19:18 -0800 <br /> <b>From:</b> Mark DAVIS <a href="mailto:medavis@berkeley.edu"><medavis berkeley.edu=""></medavis></a> <br /> <br /> <br />
Dear Wheeler Hall Occupants,
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
UCPD has notified us that Wheeler Hall is occupied by about
70 protestors who are mostly concentrated in the main lobby of
level 1.</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
As of now, UCPD has no plans to disperse these protestors
and they have indicated that building operations and classes
should take place as scheduled.</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
UCPD is on site and closely monitoring the activity of
these people and will notify us if there are any changes to
the status of this occupation. The LSFO office, in turn, will
share this information asap with building occupants.</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
As I suggested yesterday afternoon, I would recommend
occupants (non classrooms) lock their doors and post signs to
direct their legitimate visitors.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div>
Beyond that, UCPD has requested that building occupants be
vigilant and report suspicious or dangerous activity to UCPD
directly.</div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<div>
Occupants can always call me or our office if they are
unsure of what to do or if they need help addressing any of
these issues. </div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
Thank you,<br />
<br clear="all" />
<div>
Mark Davis</div>
<div>
Facilities Manager<br />
</div>
<div>
College of Letters & Science Facilities
Office</div>
<div>
150A Barrows Hall</div>
</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-58341056727346806762014-11-19T20:51:00.002-08:002014-11-19T20:51:52.113-08:00Wheeler Hall Occupied; Mass Convergence Monday at NoonAt the Berkeley general assembly tonight, those gathered voted to call for a mass convergence and walkout this coming Monday at noon in front of Wheeler Hall as well as to immediately begin an open occupation of the Wheeler lobby, which is ongoing.<br />
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<i>Reposted from <a href="http://www.theberkeleygraduate.com/2014/11/tuition-hikes-protests/">The Berkeley Graduate</a>: </i><br />
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“1-2-3-4 tuition fees are class war! 5-6-7-8 students will retaliate!”</div>
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Blue and yellow lights on Wheeler Hall illuminated students chanting in the rain this evening, following a vote today in San Francisco that brings the University of California one step closer to <a href="http://www.theberkeleygraduate.com/2014/11/tuition-hike/" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a potential 28% tuition increase</a>.</div>
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The UC Board of Regents’ Long-Range Planning Committee approved 7-2 a plan to increase tuition by up to 5% for 5 years, yielding a 28 percent tuition hike, in addition to creating quotas to accept more out-of-state and international students, who pay higher tuition. The two dissenting votes<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-raises-tuition-20141119-story.html" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">came</a> from Governor Jerry Brown and student Regent Sadia Saifuddin. UC President <a href="http://www.theberkeleygraduate.com/tag/napolitano/" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Janet Napolitano</a>, however, is strongly pushing for this plan, on which the full 24-member Board of Regents will vote tomorrow at UCSF.</div>
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A UC <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Hundreds-protest-UC-tuition-hikes-5903912.php" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Berkeley student was arrested</a> during the UCSF protests today, though campus police stayed several hundred feet away from this evening’s Berkeley event, leaning on a metal blockade near Sather Gate. The highly-organized and collaborative student gathering assembled under the tree on Dwinelle Plaza to share updates and ideas before regrouping into small circles to plan a Statewide Day of Action this coming Monday.</div>
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Speakers used a megaphone to share updates from, draw parallels to, and express solidarity with organizing in Palestine, <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27472-a-silence-that-speaks-ayotzinapa-and-the-politics-of-listening" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ayotzinapa</a>, and Ferguson.</div>
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The crowd clapped in frustrated agreement when <a href="http://blogs.berkeley.edu/author/rshabazz/" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rasheed Shabazz</a> pointed out the pattern of militarization across these struggles, as the University naming former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to the UC Presidency epitomizes. Shabazz urged: “education is a right, not a privilege: the machine must be stopped…you have to keep organizing!”</div>
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<a href="http://www.bamn.com/tag/yvette-felarca" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Yvette Felarca</a> reported on the Regents’ meeting with optimism: “This is not the end. Tomorrow is not the end. However they vote, it’s just the beginning.” Felarca reminded the audience that although the Regents will probably pass the plan in tomorrow’s vote, that the plan’s implementation is conditional on the University not receiving an additional $91 Million in the State Budget announced December 1st. The sum is relatively insignificant given the State’s full budget, and Governor Brown has so vociferously opposed the fee hike, that he will hopefully use his full influence to secure the necessary additional funds.</div>
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How Brown chooses to support students in preventing the fee increases will indicate his true allegiances. Fee hikes represent privatization, a process Brown has previously supported, for example, encouraging the University to privatize through online classes.</div>
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Felarca related how thoroughly the peaceful, if passionate, student protests shook the Regents, one of whom “couldn’t believe that the protestors were so angry that people in suits had to fight their way into the room!”</div>
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Attesting to student protests’ importance and power, Jasmine Schatz told this reporter, “student apathy is a huge problem on this campus…if we don’t keep showing up they’ll get comfortable and we’ll lose our opportunity to enact change” The second year undergraduate Italian Studies major took BART and Muni over to UCSF early this morning to be there by 6am to protest.</div>
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As small groups strategized for the Statewide Day of Action this coming Monday, Felarca remarked that though teach-ins, walk-outs, rallies, and other gatherings would be valuable, “I think we ought to occupy. It is time.”</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-49903867324910352342014-11-19T17:00:00.002-08:002014-11-19T17:11:39.034-08:00Students block UC CFO Brostrom from entering Regents meeting <span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">At least for a time today, students <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFhCYRPMaU">blocked</a> UC CFO Nathan Brostrom, one of the <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2010/03/heckofajob-brostrom.html">primary architects</a> of UC privatization who used to work at JP Morgan, from entering today's Regents meeting. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.5454540252686px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">At the meeting, the Regents ultimately voted on a multi-year plan that could result in 27% tuition hikes. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.5454540252686px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.5454540252686px; line-height: 21.466667175293px;">Students also turned away from this entrance UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who three years ago justified the police pepper spraying of UC Davis students -- students who were acting in part against a proposed 81% tuition hike. Three years ago, students blocked the proposed tuition hikes through mass strikes, encampments, and mobilizations that lasted through the spring. This year, with only two weeks of mobilization, over three hundred students travelled from around the state to take action against the tuition hikes at today's Regents meeting. It is only beginning. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mpcWJquB4PtL9twP-3YJ6ha7wp4b2wtaQ6kNNVrm76G9W6bAEzYZOXO8M_pCikkSh1_RwxkczoYu5BU4Q8BsPTZqGuP6b5z7bVhW5eRact8KFbxzDKaenFgS7f5Q4KiRfOV5_jiThssI/s1600/katehi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mpcWJquB4PtL9twP-3YJ6ha7wp4b2wtaQ6kNNVrm76G9W6bAEzYZOXO8M_pCikkSh1_RwxkczoYu5BU4Q8BsPTZqGuP6b5z7bVhW5eRact8KFbxzDKaenFgS7f5Q4KiRfOV5_jiThssI/s1600/katehi.jpg" height="348" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Having been confronted with her support for police violence, Katehi responded: "You are woefully misinformed."</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-91525235404173677262014-11-16T15:41:00.001-08:002014-11-16T15:41:48.932-08:00Predictable <div class="p1">
<i>by Rei Terada</i></div>
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Having previously agreed with Governor Brown not to raise tuition for three years ending in spring 2016, the UC Regents have now unilaterally broken the agreement. Give UC more funds, the Regents say, or we'll raise tuition 5% in 2015--and another 5% a year for at least four years after that. While the Regents claim to negotiate on behalf of those who use the university--students, staff and faculty--their new gambit instead shows the difference between the Regents and higher Administration, on one hand, and "those who use" the university on the other. For organizations like the unions and faculty associations would of course like more funds from the legislature, too. But those groups aren't demanding that students pay up if the legislature doesn't. To them, it's obvious that another tuition increase wouldn't help California students, and that it's counterproductive to threaten to do something counterproductive. Contrary to UCOP's PR campaigns in favor of a "return to aid funding model" (high tuition, high aid), student debt has been rising during this period of "high aid." It's been <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/11/hiking-to-nowhere-ucop-doubles-down-on.html">shown</a> that when working class students have to use up their Pell grants on high tuition, they wind up working longer hours and going into tens of thousands of dollars of debt for housing and living expenses. Yet this is what the Regents are willing to bring about. And Mary Gilly, the chair of the Faculty Senate, lines the Senate up behind the administration more plainly than ever by <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ln-uc-tuition-20141106-story.html">calling</a> the tuition increase an "unfortunate" but "good option."</div>
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In many ways the tuition increase proposal looks more like an intent than a coercion tactic. More state funding "is probably not likely," Gilly notes (ibid.). UCOP has already developed a strategy for justifying the increases regardless of their pressure-value: (1) they could be worse, being "not . . . more than 5%" a year; (2) they would feed the "return to aid funding model" (according to an email sent to staff on Friday by Michelle Whittingham, Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management at UCSC); and (3) they would offer "predictability." UCOP's press release <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/long-term-stability-plan">euphemizes</a> the raise by calling it a "stability plan." But stability, predictability and not-being-more than 27% (at the end of the period, tuition would be 27% over its current base) are all empty qualities that drain the increase of its positive content, which is, obviously, revenue on the backs of students. A 5% increase will pay more than 4% a year from the legislature, even after return-to-aid. If that wasn't so the increase could not be proposed at all. At the same time, as Michael Meranze observes, "UCOP's proposal actually <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/11/hiking-to-nowhere-ucop-doubles-down-on.html">leaves open</a> the possibility of up to a 9% tuition increase" if Governor Brown is uncooperative--and that would have the most point of all. Technically, <i>no</i> ceiling for this scenario is mentioned in UCOP's announcement. Its language is: "tuition would not increase by more than 5 percent annually for five years, <i>provided the state maintains its current investment commitment</i>" (my italics). And so finally, even "predictability" is erased, since UCOP's statement merely says that it will be there unless it's not.</div>
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In other words, the Regents' proposal is indeed predictable. It repeats the logic of their moves against the most vulnerable segments of the University in 2009--the 32% increase and layoff of 2000 workers--only now that logic is actually cast as a form of support. Their threat reveals that the Administration does not represent the University to the legislature. It's rather a third force, willing to sell out parties on either side of it so long as it gets paid. Maybe it will be useful for people in the University to point out to the state that the Administration is now treating the legislature in the way it has treated its own community up to this point. In the past five years the Administration has been an antagonist, not a bargaining partner--<a href="http://cloudminder.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-president-of-university-of.html">willing to break</a> and disavow agreements, we see now, <a href="http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/UC-resists-law-requiring-disclosure-of-5895688.php#/0">obscure</a> data, and target the vulnerable while making no sacrifices of its own. For in the same period that legislative funding has declined, Administration <a href="http://ucbfa.org/2013/01/uc-management-bloat-updated/">has expanded</a>, roughly doubling since 2000. The Regents just saw fit to raise the Chancellors' salaries by 20%. As Meranze <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/11/hiking-to-nowhere-ucop-doubles-down-on.html">notes</a>, in 2013-14 UCOP's budget<b> </b>in 2013-14<b> </b>was about $587,000,000, while the budget for the whole Santa Cruz campus was $633M. The tenor of the Regents' address to the state government sounds familiar to those who've had to "negotiate" with it during this time: it is of a piece with its unilateral form of governance. You don't have to be a fan of the state government to think toward it something like "See? They're willing to pepper-spray you, too."</div>
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The legislature would be justified in demanding a correction of these conditions. This is something it could do rather than never talk to the Regents again, tempting as that must be. Instruction is 21% of the budget. It's always unclear whether funds will be used for education rather than administrator salaries, pet projects like MOOCs, donor-invented capitalist-in-training <a href="http://www.due.uci.edu/LaunchBlumCenter.pdf">programs</a>, real estate ventures, and other forms of development enriching an elite class only. The legislature would be within its rights to require that UCOP cut itself back to former levels and that any new funds--from the state or from tuition--go to instruction and student services. More to the point, regardless of what the Academic Council or the legislature will do, people inside the university will keep doing what they can, both to demand such economic justice as is available and to create forms of thought and relation that might support, finally, the unpredictable.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-50366175253078152412014-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:002014-11-10T14:21:52.869-08:00The State Funding Sleight-Of-Hand: Some Thoughts on UC's Proposed Tuition Hike<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span>Now that the UC administration has begun <a href="http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-campaign-first-leaks-on-tuition.html">a full-fledged public relations campaign to raise tuition</a> by about 5 percent per year for the next five years (adding up to an over 25 percent hike in total—if you calculate it out, it’s a 27.6 percent hike by 2019), it’s worth taking a second to think about how money moves through the university. As always, administrators justify the tuition hike by talking about how funding from the state has decreased. In a <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/default/files/chancellors_%20statement.PDF">joint statement</a> last Thursday, the chancellors of the ten UC campuses wrote the following: “State funding for the University is still $460 million below what it was in 2007-08, even though we are educating thousands more California students.” The proposed tuition hikes, they suggest, are necessary to make up for the difference.</div>
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This argument about the decline in state funding is a reasonable one, made by neoliberal university administrators and many defenders of public education alike. But the argument also has some pretty significant blind spots. The point isn't that state funding hasn't declined, but that this real decline doesn't actually do all the work UC administrators are suggesting it does. Let’s see what’s really going on.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCSNH4kGYy5cvWr8cZKIZxFeUdd6vZnp3iDWTIc1dY24WEQHar1OpLeC5LFhjmfdUbKDUh_lkokzUr41O6ESxkhHKcDbYV0uqc5jJ9Cm8imDe9NItV5qZ28uJWy-5Hjscq7gA-p-fvt8/s1600/UC+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCSNH4kGYy5cvWr8cZKIZxFeUdd6vZnp3iDWTIc1dY24WEQHar1OpLeC5LFhjmfdUbKDUh_lkokzUr41O6ESxkhHKcDbYV0uqc5jJ9Cm8imDe9NItV5qZ28uJWy-5Hjscq7gA-p-fvt8/s1600/UC+2013.jpg" height="348" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOra4q5o-eQebXZ8YVjvwGseiCtnlGErAr7UYP4fq6bmbXNbslOpoQ39kscgdXnoy6t0FIKBphcYohM_qWplSZpRaTaRPTXenw1jRYi7mxjtpeTJS6q5aNsreOcmjwOb1_IIhsWT-edk/s1600/state+funding+07-08.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOra4q5o-eQebXZ8YVjvwGseiCtnlGErAr7UYP4fq6bmbXNbslOpoQ39kscgdXnoy6t0FIKBphcYohM_qWplSZpRaTaRPTXenw1jRYi7mxjtpeTJS6q5aNsreOcmjwOb1_IIhsWT-edk/s1600/state+funding+07-08.jpg" height="175" width="640" /></a></div>
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These data come from <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/financial-accounting/financial-reports/annual-financial-reports.html">the UC’s publicly available financial reports</a>, one from <a href="http://finreports.universityofcalifornia.edu/index.php?file=07-08/pdf/fullreport_08.pdf">2007-2008</a> and the other from <a href="http://finreports.universityofcalifornia.edu/index.php?file=12-13/pdf/fullreport-1213.pdf">2012-2013</a>
(for some reason, that’s the most recent report available on the site). Let’s start with the data on state funding. One thing that’s
interesting to note here is that <i>state funding is not continuously
declining</i>—in fact, it actually increased by about $400 million from
2006-2008 and again by about $200 million from 2012-2013 (as a result of Proposition 30).
Furthermore, as the text below the graph notes, “[t]he last year that
educational appropriations were above $2.9 billion was 2003.” So we
could argue that between 2003 and 2008 state funding remained more or
less constant. Obviously, the financial crisis, which hit the following
year, interrupted this trend. Still, from 2011-2012, there’s a big drop
in state funding, but the following year it begins to rise again.<br />
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In any case, the actual decline of state funding from 2008-2013 is $821 million ($1.06 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars). <br />
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So where are UC administrators getting that $460 million figure from? It probably has to do with the fact that state funding has actually continued to increase since the passage of Proposition 30 in 2012. Anyway, we’re just using the financial report data here because it’s the most easily accessible and has these convenient three-year comparisons. Either way, we're more than giving them the benefit of the doubt here on the question of state disinvestment.<br />
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Now let’s look at the change in tuition revenue (the 2013 numbers are above).<br />
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The first thing we notice is that, unlike fluctuating state appropriations, tuition revenue has steadily and consistently increased over this entire period. This is due in part to rising enrollment and in part to tuition hikes. Recall that state funding was actually increasing between 2006 and 2008, but nevertheless the regents were still raising tuition by at least 5 percent per year. <br />
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The actual increase in tuition revenue from 2008-2013 is $1.48 billion ($1.32 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars). <br />
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Over the period in question, <i>tuition revenue grew significantly more than state funding fell</i>. That extra $300 million in inflation-adjusted dollars is nearly three times as much as the proposed tuition hike will bring in. In spite of the story that administrators continue to tell, the UC’s own data show that tuition revenue has more than made up for the decline in state funding. If this were all that was going on, there should be no deficit. Of course, if you compare current levels of funding to the 1970s or 1980s, you’ll find a big difference. But you’ll also find that expenditures have increased a lot as well—among other things, the administration is <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2013/01/uc-administration-continues-to-grow.html">spending a lot more money on itself</a>. (Just the latest example: the Regents recently agreed to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-pay-20140919-story.html">give chancellors a 20 percent raise</a>.) This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive explanation, but to point out that when administrators talk about declining state funds what we should be asking them is what are they doing with all that extra money that’s rolling in.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-16307156823957198292014-11-06T20:55:00.001-08:002014-11-16T23:38:37.546-08:00They want to raise tuition again The UC Regents want to hike tuition again. At their upcoming meeting, they are <a href="http://dailybruin.com/2014/11/05/uc-regents-to-vote-on-policy-to-raise-tuition-by-5-percent/">planning</a> to vote on a new policy that, if ratified, would make 5% annual tuition increases the default for the next five years. According to Napolitano, the tuition hikes (as much as $3,400 over five years) would go forward unless the state government increases UC's budget by amounts to be named later.<br />
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The Regents are trying to preempt what was supposed to be a four-year tuition freeze (spanning 2012/13 through 2015/16). They are threatening to end what has been a brief span without tuition increases and to again make annual tuition hikes the new normal.<br />
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The Regents' strategy is fairly evident. In announcing the new tuition policy only two weeks before their meeting, they are hoping to establish the policy before mass student and worker opposition can materialize. And in making the decision to hike tuition contingent upon state inaction, they are trying to redirect students' focus to <a href="http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Re-Elected-Governor-Jerry-Brown-Talks-Next-Four-Years-281727601.html">Sacramento</a>, and to create some ambiguity about when a tuition hike ultimately would happen, so as to prevent students from establishing a clear calendar of protest.<br />
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More broadly, the Regents are trying to set themselves up for a win-win situation. Either students, workers, and our allies, through our collective actions and power, will be able to compel the state to increase UC's budget and to stave off hikes; or we won't, and the Regents will get their money anyway in the form of higher undergrad tuitions.<br />
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We know from recent experience what higher tuitions would mean:<br />
<a href="https://libcom.org/files/pamphlet%20debt%20pdf.pdf">More</a> debt, which <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/245793689/Curtis-Marez-Seeing-in-the-Red-Looking-at-Student-Debt">falls</a> especially heavily on women and people of color.<br />
<a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-uc-privatization-intensifies-class.html">Fewer</a> working class students and students of color <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-free-speech-movement-and-unfinished.html">enrolling</a> at the UCs.<br />
More students exhausted from second, third, and fourth jobs.<br />
<a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/10/free-speech-and-free-uc.html">Fewer </a>low-income students finishing college.<br />
<a href="http://clearsighted.com/ucscfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/07_Meister3.pdf">A ripple effect </a>throughout the higher education system, pushing more working class students and students of color into fraudulent for-profit colleges. <br />
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These are the stakes. This is why it is critical that each of us does what we can to prevent these tuition hikes from happening. And while the Regents are trying to surprise and disorient us, their plans to hike tuition will not succeed if students, workers, and our allies take sufficiently powerful collective actions in the coming weeks and months. We have the necessary capacities, political experience, and social bonds. We just have to use them.<br />
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It starts with us showing up at the Regents' meeting in San Francisco on November 19th and 20th and calling against tuition hikes. Regardless of what happens at the meeting, and whether we are able to prevent the Regents from voting, a strong turnout, combined with actions and mass education on the campuses, will set the tone for the coming months and will give us confidence.<br />
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A potential tuition hike is something that all students deserve to know about. Graduate student instructors and professors have a responsibility to discuss the potential hike in our classes, to give students time to talk together about how they would be affected by tuition hikes, to assure students that their participation in any actions will be seen favorably, and to provide students with relevant information and resources, including potentially the UC Student Association's <a href="http://ucsa.org/action-alerts/sign-our-petition/">petition</a> against fee hikes or some of the documents linked above. Students, for their part, can organize teach-ins in dorms, co-ops, and meetings, and can ask professors to make time for announcements about upcoming political actions at the beginning of classes.<br />
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This kind of mass education is critically important. But it isn't enough. Only by acting collectively to interrupt business as usual on our campuses and throughout the state will we have the power to block tuition hikes. In taking collective action, students and workers can draw from past experiences. We might plan mass assemblies for the days surrounding the Regents' vote, as well as cascading building take-overs in the days after. We might take the opportunity at these assemblies to call for a student strike against tuition hikes for the winter quarter / spring semester.<br />
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UCSA has already taken a strong position demanding tuition rollbacks; will they endorse and help build for the kinds of collective actions that will be required to realize this demand? Will our unions, co-ops, dorms, cultural organizations, student government parties, and other groups rise to the challenge to stop another round of proposed tuition hikes? It is up to each of us to push our organizations beyond where they've gone in the past, and to build bonds of struggle that are broad, powerful, and enduring enough to win.<br />
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Here are some of the immediate next steps at Berkeley:<br />
<br />
-- Tuesday the 18th, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/672647662833736/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">mass rally</a> and forum to challenge the fee hikes: 12:30 on Sproul.<br />
-- Wednesday the 19th, students and workers from all the UCs are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/908025175876397/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">going to UCSF</a> to protest at the Regents meeting. We're encouraging people to go early in the morning, so that we can set up picket lines and potentially delay or cancel the meeting. You can sign up for space on a bus <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rAXT0Hcz5PhsG6YVs4xu6pGaEjbgOiByMP0maR_w0R0/viewform?c=0&w=1">here</a>.<br />
-- Also on Wednesday the 19th, there will be a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/585834101521605/?notif_t=plan_user_joined">general assembly</a> / update / planning next steps meeting at 5pm on Sproul.<br />
<br />
See you at the Regents' meeting. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-61518719229442529092014-10-02T16:38:00.000-07:002014-10-07T16:14:13.111-07:00After the Freeze: UC Privatization since 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOlEHgMQ3g6arNBrfeTGR4Ycu5XZndnuX6mWVL4ILf8eSbkvWMWH13NYXj1C9Aurzt1BNUBL4hGmXuVCI7nytzI8oTGDljAuCHZz5i6bc-Rlmlt9gMbmCNuMU_f-Dx46NkE2FSHgeuaCrQ/s1600/10661719_10101464372782002_6890884990892516581_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOlEHgMQ3g6arNBrfeTGR4Ycu5XZndnuX6mWVL4ILf8eSbkvWMWH13NYXj1C9Aurzt1BNUBL4hGmXuVCI7nytzI8oTGDljAuCHZz5i6bc-Rlmlt9gMbmCNuMU_f-Dx46NkE2FSHgeuaCrQ/s1600/10661719_10101464372782002_6890884990892516581_o.jpg" height="412" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>Talk delivered by Amanda Armstrong at the Oct. 1 Berkeley Faculty Association panel, "The Operation of the Machine: UC Then and Now."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m going to be
talking today about the operation of the UC machine <i>then</i>, versus its
operation <i>now</i>. But not <i>then</i> as in 1965. More like <i>then</i> as in 2009. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I still have
<a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2013/02/managements-backup-plans.html">vivid memories</a> from fall 2009—a semester when students, workers, and professors
built assemblies, walked out of classes, and took direct actions to challenge austerity
measures being imposed by the newly-appointed UC President, Mark Yudof. These austerity
measures included a 32% tuition increase, furloughs for faculty and staff, and
layoffs of over 2,000 service workers across the UC system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">At one of the
first walkout planning meetings I attended that fall, people were talking about
something called the “<a href="http://cucfa.org/news/tuition_bonds.php">Meister report</a>,” which I later learned was named after
its author, UC Santa Cruz Professor Bob Meister. The Report talked about how UC
administrators were able to take out low-interest construction bonds because
they essentially pledged to Moody’s and other rating agencies that they would
raise student tuition if necessary to pay back the bonds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Meister
Report challenged the official story of the 2009 tuition hikes, which claimed
that the hikes were necessary given the state’s defunding of public education. The
report suggested that, in hiking tuition so drastically, UC administrators weren’t
only making up for state defunding – they were also showing bond rating
agencies that they had the political will and capacity to deliver steep fee
hikes if necessary. And they were protecting their ability to carry on with
construction projects, even if this meant trimming funds for basic instruction
and saddling students with more debt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this way, the
Meister Report opened up questions about how and in whose interests UC
administrators were managing the money they did have, and about why so many
construction projects were moving forward even at a moment of financial crisis.
2009 was thus defined by the <a href="http://wewanteverything.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/communique-from-an-absent-future/">politicization</a> both of UC real estate development
and of rising student debt levels; it was also a period of <a href="http://labornotes.org/2009/09/multi-union-coalition-uc-strikes-back-devastating-cuts">significant political</a> <a href="http://libcom.org/library/after-fall-communiques-occupied-california">mobilization</a>. Even so, we did not succeed in stopping the fee hikes,
or otherwise reversing austerity on a large scale. There were some minor
victories though: at Berkeley, some of the demands of those who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISZrR7qE-Oc">occupied Wheeler Hall</a> on November 20<sup>th</sup> were realized. The University renewed
its essentially no-cost lease to the Rochdale co-op, and a number of custodial
workers who had been laid off were rehired. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The larger
political victory came in 2011 and 2012. Facing another round of steep fee
hikes, students <a href="http://www.reclamationsjournal.org/blog/?ha_exhibit=writings-of-campus-occupy-anti-privatization-movements-fall-2011">linked their organizing</a> against privatization to the larger
occupy movement. We set up encampments on the campuses, and, after acts of
police violence, held massive strikes at Berkeley and Davis. The movement
broadened through the spring, with people in all sectors of education marching
to the capitol building in Sacramento and occupying it, in order to build
support for progressive taxation and for the refunding of public education and
social services. Ultimately, <a href="http://labornotes.org/2012/03/california-unions-compromise-millionaires-tax">a ballot initiative</a> for progressive taxation
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/prop-30-passes-california-education_n_2087931.html">passed</a> and, with guarantees of more state funding, the regents agreed to freeze
in-state tuition for at least four years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since the
political victory of 2012, some things have changed. In the aftermath of the
in-state tuition freeze, the priorities and practices of UC administrators have
mutated somewhat, which, I want to suggest, presents an altered political
context, and some ambiguities, for those of us interested in challenging
University privatization. To begin to get a sense of this new terrain, we can
look at recent bond rating reports and UC financial documents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This year, two
rating agencies, <a href="https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-University-of-California-to-Aa2-and-assigns-Aa2--PR_294817">Moodys</a> and <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-downgrades-university-california-general-213100854.html">Fitch</a>, downgraded the UC’s bond rating. In explaining
their decision, Moodys noted that, while “</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">The
university's debt doubled over the last eight years,…. Political and public
scrutiny of the rising cost of higher education will constrain UC's ability to
grow net tuition revenue.” They continued: “The university's relatively low
cost compared to other market leading universities and expansive geographic
draw of students help offset these pressures.” In other words, UC administrators
aren’t politically able to raise enough tuition revenue to offset their debts, but
at least they can make money on out-of-state tuition, and maybe sometime soon
they’ll be able to raise in-state tuition as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">These bond rating reports, in addition to
vindicating Bob Meister’s analysis from 2009, help clarify and explain a couple
strategies recently undertaken by UC administrators—strategies that are spelled
out fairly explicitly in <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/241743125/2014-UC-Financial-Documents">UC’s financial documents</a>. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">First</i></b>: In the absence of
a political context conducive to across-the-board tuition hikes, administrators
have nevertheless tried to increase tuition and fee revenues by admitting more
out of state students and by increasing other costs students have to pay
(including for housing and healthcare). And <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Second</i></b>: In an attempt to
decrease their debt levels, administrators have begun to aggressively promote
the privatization of development. Instead of generally taking on debt to
construct buildings themselves, they are now often working to rent out university-owned
land to developers who are willing to build, and in some cases manage, dorms,
labs, and other facilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">In what follows, I will discuss these two administrative
strategies, as well as some of their possible political implications.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">First</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">, on UC administrators’ recent attempts to salvage tuition
and fee income. This really varies by campus, and I’m going to focus mostly on
Berkeley. Following the crisis of 2009, Berkeley administrators started
actively recruiting out of state and international students, who paid more in
tuition. In the last couple years, as the cost of out-of-state tuition has
risen to almost three times that of in-state tuition, administrators continued
to admit progressively more out-of-state students. <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/04/18/campus-announces-2013-14-freshman-admissions-decisions/">Last year</a>, a third of new
admits came from outside of California.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://studentunionofmichigan.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/unpacking-the-myths-of-financial-aid/">Like other public universities</a>, Berkeley has started “leveraging” student aid to compete to
enroll higher-income, out-of-state students. The new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://financialaid.berkeley.edu/middle-class-access-plan">Middle Class Access Plan</a></i>, the cutoff for which was just raised to
include those from families making up to $150,000, leverages relatively small
grants in exchange for the higher return of out-of-state tuition revenues. Berkeley
has also <a href="http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/springrates.html">selectively</a> <a href="http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/rates.html">increased</a> housing costs since 2012, raising rents
dramatically on the most desirable housing options, while keeping other rents
relatively flat. This follows a period of dramatic rent hikes; between <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/UC-Berkeley-s-lack-of-services-leaves-many-2923526.php">2001</a> and
<a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2011/09/21/campus-room-and-board-among-costliest/">2011</a>, room and board rates nearly doubled. Finally, as part of the
restructuring of SHIP in 2013, Berkeley <a href="http://uhs.berkeley.edu/home/news/berkeleyship.shtml">raised healthcare premiums</a> by thirteen
percent for undergraduates and twenty percent for graduate students—a cost
increase that mostly falls on grad students in professional schools, whose tuition
rates have also continued to increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thinking
politically about this situation, it’s worth saying initially that a politics
organized around the principles of racial justice, class equality, and affordable
public education remain critical. Since 2009, the admission and enrollment
rates of black students have <a href="http://legacy-its.ucop.edu/uwnews/stat/">declined</a> <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/freshman-admission-data-2014/">even further</a> <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23516740/affirmative-action-ban-at-uc-15-years-later">than</a> in the immediate
aftermath of Proposition 209. Over this period, the class composition of the
student body has also been shifting; there are <a href="http://www.cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/publications/docs/ROPS-JD-GT-PoorRich-10-8-08.pdf">relatively</a> <a href="http://diversity.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/UCB-Ethnic-and-Income-Diversity.pdf">fewer</a> <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2014/04/03/uc-college-board-partner-recruit-low-income-students/">low-income students</a> but significantly more from the highest income brackets. Since 2001,
the costs borne by all students have continued to rise, even for those
receiving the maximum support from Pell Grants and the Blue and Gold plan. For these
and other reasons, it’s critical that we continue to target the race and class
exclusions that are only becoming more entrenched in the admissions process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But I think we
also should be thoughtful about how politically to address the fact that the <a href="http://hechingerreport.org/content/residents-crowded-college-state-foreign-students_16363/">bulk of new tuition</a> and fee revenues has been coming from out-of-state and
international students, who now make up a greater percentage of the student
body and have the potential to take on a greater role—as either protagonists or
antagonists—of any student movement against privatization that might reemerge.
Perhaps advocating for across the board rent and tuition reductions, including
for out-of-state tuition, would be a generally compelling way to address
affordability issues, which would push back as well against UC administrators’ post-2012
strategy for increasing tuition and fee revenues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> second </b>post-2012 administrative
strategy concerns the privatization of development. In June 2012, right around
the time the Regents announced that they would freeze in-state tuition if
Proposition 30 passed, Berkeley housing administrators <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2012/06/05/uc-berkeley-to-collaborate-with-private-developers-to-build-student-housing/">announced</a> that, in order
to limit their construction-related debt, they would begin seeking out private
developers to build new dorms. This kind of privatization of dorm construction
had been happening for some time at Irvine and Davis. And Berkeley had done
something similar with the Blum Center, as well as in partnering with BP to
fund the construction of the Energy Biosciences Institute building on Hearst
and Oxford. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just in the last
couple of years though, the privatization of construction has significantly
intensified across the UC system. The UC Office of the President recently
posted on their website <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/real-estate-services/_files/documents/ppp_at_uc.pdf">documents</a> outlining the various partnerships, or rent
agreements, the campuses are looking to make with private developers. At
Berkeley, housing administrators announced that the Martinez commons would be
the final dorm funded and built in-house, and they recently <a href="http://www.dailycal.org/2014/05/05/negotiations-redevelopment-bowles-hall-underway/">leased</a> Bowles Hall
to a private entity interested in redeveloping the building. They are <a href="http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/reso/RFQ/RFQ%20For%20Developer-Channing%20Ellsworth-1-12-12-Published.pdf">working now</a> on finding a developer interested in building and managing a new dorm on
Ellsworth and Channing. The Berkeley rent stabilization board has <a href="http://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Rent_Stabilization_Board/Level_3_-_General/7.a.4_Letter%20to%20U.C.%20Berkeley%20re%20student%20housing.pdf">expressed concern</a> that such privately developed and managed dorms could further drive up
student rents, especially when other privately-run dorms, such as the
newly-constructed <a href="http://www.berkeleymet.com/rent-now/">Metropolitan</a> on Dana and Durant, charge rents higher than the
cost of room and board. Construction workers’ unions have also raised concerns
about the fact that, unlike building projects on campus, these development
projects <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/real-estate-services/_files/documents/ppp_at_uc.pdf">won’t be bound</a> by state prevailing wage laws, and so could involve
more dangerous and exploitative building practices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">UC Berkeley
administrators have also been working to make arrangements with private firms
for the development of portions of the Gill Tract, in Albany. So far, the
efforts of <a href="http://occupythefarm.org/">Occupy the Farm</a> have stalled this development, and have put on the
agenda the conversion of the Gill tract into space for
community-based farming, research, and education. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Berkeley
administrators, including the <a href="http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/12/17/vice-chancellor-for-real-estate/">newly appointed</a> Vice Chancellor of real estate
Robert Lalanne, are also working on <a href="http://vcaf.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/02.06.14%20AFLG%20meeting_0.pdf">coordinating</a> a massive development project
on 109 acres of land owned by the University in Richmond Bay. They are saying this
project will involve private construction and management of some of the
research facilities, and recently published an “<a href="http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/RFQ%20Infrastructure%20Master%20Plan%20FINAL%20-%20RFS%201-30-14%20(3).pdf">Infrastructure Master Plan</a>,”
outlining ways for private companies to buy space and influence at the Richmond
Bay campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A coalition of
labor and community groups has issued a number of <a href="http://calprogressivecoalition.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/cal-disorientation-guide-20141.pdf">demands</a> around this
development project including the payment of prevailing wages to construction
workers, the promise that all service workers employed in the facilities will
be represented by AFSCME, the opening up of space for community-based and community-driven
research, that those profiting from the project help fund affordable housing in
Richmond, and that formerly incarcerated people be hired for some of the
construction and other work set to occur. These are demands that students and
workers on campus can help amplify. And in general, I think it’s imperative
that we respond to UC’s efforts to privatize construction by building relations
of solidarity with local communities and making the case for a kind of public
knowledge making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I can imagine
some ambiguities and difficulties that might accompany such a project, aside
from just the myriad practical challenges of coalition building and of building
power sufficient to interrupt administrative agendas. It might also be hard to
know when to oppose new development outright and when to try and direct it to
less damaging, more accessible and public-oriented ends. And there’s a question
as well about federal research money, which is public in one sense but is often
linked to military or other state interests. In a <a href="http://vcaf.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/02.06.14%20AFLG%20meeting_0.pdf">power-point presentation</a> last
spring, Robert Lalanne, the Vice Chancellor of real estate, noted that drone
development and testing is part of the research agenda for Richmond Bay. Given
the entailments of much federal research, how can we envision and struggle for
a kind of public knowledge making that is resolutely anti-militarist?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Any renewed movement
against university privatization will need to work through these ambiguities
and difficulties. But if the last six years have shown us anything, it’s that
concerted action on the part of students, workers, and instructors can
fundamentally shift the operations of the university, and can block the worst
effects of university privatization, if not reverse this process outright. So
there is reason to try, and to hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-60598791348399074652014-10-01T14:47:00.000-07:002014-10-01T14:47:27.947-07:00UC Irvine Chancellor Gillman gets on the Civility Bandwagon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Free Speech and Civility</h2>
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<a class="uiLinkSubtle" href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/uci-campus-organizations-core/free-speech-and-civility/837438072932983">October 1, 2014 at 10:17am</a><span class="timelineUnitContainer"></span></div>
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To the Anteater community:<br /><br />As
we prepare to start an exciting new academic year I want to share some
thoughts on free speech and civility on college campuses. I deeply
believe that it is possible to have robust free speech while still being
civil to one another and treating each other with mutual respect.<br /><br />Freedom
of speech is a bedrock value of our constitutional system and at the
core of this university’s central mission. Courts have recognized that
First Amendment principles “acquire a special significance in the
university setting, where the free and unfettered interplay of competing
views is essential to the institution’s educational mission.” The
University of California is also committed to upholding and preserving
principles of academic freedom, which for the faculty comprises freedom
of inquiry and research, freedom of teaching, and freedom of expression
and publication, with related duties of professional care and the
requirements of competent scholarship.<br /><br />It is in the nature of
freedom of speech that we will sometimes be exposed to viewpoints,
arguments, or forms of expression that make us uncomfortable or even
offend us. It is in precisely these circumstances that free speech often
plays its most vital function, especially in an educational context.
Throughout history speech that challenges conventional wisdom has been a
driving force for progress. Speech that makes us uncomfortable may
force us to reconsider our own strongly held views – in fact, a
willingness to reconsider strongly held views is one of the reasons why
people pursue higher education. Hearing offensive views provides
opportunities for those sentiments to be engaged and rebutted.<br /><br />Of
course, freedom of speech is not and cannot be absolute. Threats,
harassment, “fighting words,” incitement, obscenity, and defamatory
speech are categories of speech that are not protected. Freedom of
speech does not mean a right to say anything at any place and any time;
there can and must be restrictions on the time, place, and manner of
speech, but the campus is committed to ensuring the availability of
places for speeches and protests.<br /><br />Beyond the issue of what one
has the right to do is the much more interesting and important question
of what is the right thing to do.<br /><br />We live during a period of
increased division and incivility in our politics and public discourse.
It is of value to society if there is a place where people decide that
they will come together in the spirit of inquiry and discovery, and will
work together to embrace the virtues of a scholarly community: rigorous
inquiry, evidence-based reasoning, logical argumentation,
experimentation, fair-minded assessments of competing perspectives,
balanced judgment, ongoing skepticism, and a willingness to reassess
one’s perspective in light of new evidence and arguments.<br /><br />These
beliefs and practices – these scholarly norms – are inextricably linked
to other values, including a genuine desire to engage competing
perspectives and learn from those who have had different experiences or
who hold different views, and a commitment to resolving (or at least
better understanding) disagreement through reasoned and sustained
conversation, debate, and the acquisition of new knowledge.<br /><br />If
our commitment to freedom and democracy leads us to defend the rights of
free speech, our commitment to scholarly inquiry and education leads us
to create norms of civility. We as an academic community cannot do our
distinctive work in the world without establishing norms and practices
that enable us to learn from each other in an atmosphere of positive
engagement and mutual respect. When we work through our differences we
should do so in a way that sheds more light than heat.<br /><br />My hope
and goal is that this year, and every year, all of us will remain civil
to one another, especially when we passionately disagree. We strive for
this because such an environment is conducive to sharing and critically
examining knowledge and values, and to furthering the search for wisdom –
the very purposes we sought to pursue when we decided to join this
remarkable community.<br /><br />I wish you all an enlightening year.<br />
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<span><i>Sent by Howard Gillman, UC Irvine Chancellor</i></span><br />
<i>On Wednesday, October 1, 2014</i><br />
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<i>Please
stop by the Campus Organizations Poster Room for a Free Speech Brochure
brought to you by Office of Campus Organizations, Office of Student
Conduct, and Student Affairs.</i></div>
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chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04029664527838156448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-64281885119361719612014-09-12T12:23:00.000-07:002014-09-12T12:23:07.673-07:00Dirks Just Won't Shut Up About Civility, Seems Surprised We Care<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From: <span class="gmail_sendername">Nicholas Dirks Chancellor</span><br />
Date: <span class="gI">Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 12:08 PM</span><br />
Subject: Civility and Free Speech<br />
To: "Faculty; Staff; Students"<br />
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Every fall for the last many years, we have issued statements
concerning the virtue of civility on campus. This principle is one of
several that Berkeley staff, students, faculty, and alumni themselves
developed and today regard as “fundamental to our mission of teaching,
research and public service.” To quote further from our “principles of
community”: “We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and
dialogue that elicits the full spectrum of views held by our varied
communities. We respect the differences as well as the commonalities
that bring us together and call for civility and respect in our personal
interactions.” For a full list of these stated principles, please see <a href="http://berkeley.edu/about/principles.shtml" target="_blank">http://berkeley.edu/about/<wbr></wbr>principles.shtml</a>.</div>
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In this year’s email, I extended this notion of civility to another
crucial element of Berkeley’s identity, namely our unflinching
commitment to free speech — a principle this campus will spend much of
this fall celebrating in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the
Free Speech Movement.</div>
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My message was intended to re-affirm values that have for years
been understood as foundational to this campus community. As I also
noted in my message, these values can exist in tension with each other,
and there are continuing and serious debates about fundamental issues
related to them. In invoking my hope that commitments to civility and to
freedom of speech can complement each other, I did not mean to suggest
any constraint on freedom of speech, nor did I mean to compromise in any
way our commitment to academic freedom, as defined both by this campus
and the American Association of University Professors. (For the AAUP’s
Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, please see <a href="http://www.aaup.org/issues/academic-freedom" target="_blank">http://www.aaup.org/<wbr></wbr>issues/academic-freedom</a>.)</div>
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I did, however, express my conviction that in the ongoing debates
on campus about these and other issues we might collectively see the
value of real engagement on divisive issues across different
perspectives and opinions. By “real engagement” I mean openness to, and
respect for, the different viewpoints that make up our campus community.
I remain hopeful that our debates will be both productive and robust
not only to further mutual understanding but also for the sake of our
overriding intellectual mission.</div>
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Sincerely,</div>
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Nicholas B. Dirks</div>
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Chancellor</div>
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<em>If you are a manager who supervises Cal employees without email access, please circulate this information to all.</em><br />
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<strong>Please do not reply to this message</strong><br />
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chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04029664527838156448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243675294290376991.post-24564098253178013892014-09-10T09:22:00.000-07:002014-09-14T15:59:13.393-07:00The End of Free Speech: On the Civility of Nicholas DirksNick Dirks took the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Free Speech Movement to maneuver for control of the campus as political space. His <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2014/09/from-free-speech-movement-to-reign-of.html">“civility letter,”</a> as incoherent and historically inept a document as one could imagine, has already been well-diagnosed by various sources including <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-order-of-civility.html">Remaking the University</a>, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/08/berkeleys-faux-free-speech/">Counterpunch</a>, and here at <a href="http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2014/09/policing-civility.html">ReclaimUC</a>. That lattermost assessment was particularly clear-minded in showing that free speech has been not an ideal but a site of political struggle. While paying it lip-service in the abstract, university administrations (and not these alone) have as a matter of custom and practice sought to curtail the concrete use of free speech, and further concrete struggles have been required to preserve it. <br />
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Dirks sets up a series of oppositions the boundaries of which we must attend with vigor and zeal, including — in the most bizarre moment — that “between free speech and political advocacy.” It’s one of the great spit-take moments of administrative palaver, splitting the difference between non sequitur and nonsense. It makes your brain freeze. My anonymous colleague here offers a pretty sensible explication of a pretty crazy sentence: to understand it as a rhetorical strategy, not a truth claim. <br />
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I don’t think he’s stupid. I think he wants to create a campus climate where we accept that “free speech and political advocacy” are two different things, and where we fight over the difference. I think he’s smart enough to understand that political advocacy is explicitly protected speech—that it’s very specifically the form of protected speech which both the Free Speech Movement and the First Amendment specifically defend—and that this rhetorical gesture nudges his audience towards accepting indefensible trade-offs…to make it seem natural that free speech means the freedom to say things that are not prohibited. </blockquote>
I think this is largely correct. If I take any distance from it herein, it is only because I wish to take some distance from free speech itself — or, rather, from free speech as such. The extant rebukes to Dirks’ absurdity are quite effective at setting forth how the civility standard serves to undermine the very free speech it purports to buttress. The risk of these accounts is that, taking up an immanent critique of the letter’s logic (and by extension <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/08/25/u-illinois-officials-defend-decision-deny-job-scholar-documents-show-lobbying">the logic of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana</a> and <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/civility-israel-lobbys-new-weapon-against-free-speech-us-campuses">all the other mongers of repressive civility</a>), the critiques leave free speech as the ultimate horizon of debate and struggle. I worry that this plays into what is for Dirks et al. a broader and more pernicious strategy, both rhetorical and practical — regarding not only what counts as free speech, but what free speech itself <i>is</i>, both within and without the university. <br />
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The strategy is to treat free speech as an absolute end. In this understanding, free speech is itself both fruit and proof of freedom <i>tout court</i>. Consequently, we must at all times contemplate what might be necessary <i>as means</i> to preserve free speech <i>as end</i>. It turns out, via the peculiar pseudologic of power, that the means to this end include prohibiting certain speech. And this turns out to be a doubly desirable role for the university administration: not only is it authorized to curtail expression, but it gets to do so in the name of an abstract principle, a general ideal of social existence, divorced from any particular antagonism. In this vision the defense of free speech is a neutral and noble pursuit; it is the very opposite of taking a side, and thus of any sort of advocacy. Even if they are doing it wrong, Dirks et al. are still endeavoring to do the right thing. <br />
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This is the world stood on its head. Free speech <i>is</i> side-taking. The very reason we value free speech is because it is a means: an instrument and a condition of possibility for political struggle. Free speech is not a virtue in and of itself any more than is an umbrella. Or perhaps we might come to enjoy umbrellas for themselves, as an aesthetic or sensuous matter, were there to be no more inclement weather. Alas, it continues to rain, and worse. <br />
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Which is to say that there is an underlying fantasy to the position fomented by Nick Dirks. The only situation in which one would treat free speech as an end would be one in which there were no fundamental problems: no iniquities, immiseration, exploitation. No need for free speech as means. So we might say Dirks is speaking from the position of campus-as-utopia, a campus of nothing but speech, where the sun always shines and all other issues have been resolved happily for all. A campus wherein there was no privatized public education, no massive debt- and labor-loads for students, no shitty working conditions for campus workers, no cops being called in to beat or pepper-spray students and faculty into the hospital. No struggle over BDS, no systematic racism, no burying of rape statistics and accompanying leniency for perpetrators — struggles in which the administration is an aggressive antagonist, a side. <br />
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In this Panglossian vision, the absolute deference to civility makes perfect sense. Except, in one of those funny turns, there would be no need for such deference. There would be nothing about which to be uncivil. <br />
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This paradox is an expression of, among other things, the character of our moment. For most of history, it has been perfectly well understood that “free speech” and “political advocacy” offer not an opposition but an identity: they are names for side-taking in real antagonisms. In what situation, then, do they seem to stand apart from each other? Necessarily in a situation where there is something at stake, something that power needs urgently to dissimulate. It is when side-taking lurches toward political crisis that power will endeavor to sequester free speech from that taking of sides. <br />
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In this regard, the Dirks letter is not a historian’s betrayal of history, but <i>a sign of the present as one of political possibility</i> — and, in particular, a sign of the significance of the confrontation over Palestine, Israel, and the fissure on campuses and elsewhere between fundraising practices and liberation struggles. In this and accompanying fights, free speech will be only one of the means we will need at our disposal. Reclaim UC!http://www.blogger.com/profile/05829354530668279576noreply@blogger.com0