Members of a UC union held a protest on Bancroft Way at Telegraph on Jan. 31. Photo: Ted Friedman University of California employees held a demonstration today on Bancroft Way at Telegraph on the fringe of the Cal campus to protest what they see as unfair pay, medical and retirement benefits. The protest was organized […]
Mark Yudof
Cal Chancellor Birgeneau to step down by year end
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced today that he will step down from the chancellorship at the end of this calendar year. Birgeneau has been chancellor since September, 2004. His term was dominated by both financial struggles, as state funding of the University of California system was steadily squeezed, and controversy over […]
Berkeley orders 2 cannabis collectives to shut down
The Perfect Plants Patients Group on Sacramento Street in Berkeley has been ordered to move out The city of Berkeley has issued “cease and desist” orders to two medical cannabis collectives, leading one to shut its doors. The Forty Acres Medical Marijuana Growers Collective at 1820 San Pablo Avenue stopped operations in late January after Berkeley Code […]
Chancellor apologizes for Occupy Cal police response
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau Chancellor Robert Birgeneau issued an apology today for police tactics during Occupy Cal protests on November 9 on campus. In a recording made while en route to spending Thanksgiving with his children and grandchildren on the East Coast, Birgeneau said he took full responsibility for the events that day and would do “his […]
Cal Chancellor calls on Silicon Valley to help with funding
Cal Chancellor Robert Birgeneau (center) flanked by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Harry Le Grande (right), and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer (left), as well as Associate Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs Claire Holmes, at a press conference today on campus UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said it’s time for corporate California to step […]
UC students to see fees — and aid — increase
UC Berkeley students protest fee hikes By Rachel Gross Wednesday may have been the more eventful day of the University of California’s Board of Regents Meeting — marked by several hundred student protesters, arrests and pepper-spraying by police — but the meat of the meeting’s decisions came on Thursday. The Regents, meeting at UC’s Mission Bay […]
Magnes collections get new downtown Berkeley home
Construction on a new facility to hold the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at the Bancroft Library will start in a week. UC Berkeley held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday night for the collection, which will be housed in a building at 2121 Allston Way, near Oxford Street. UC President Mark Yudof, UC Berkeley […]
Comment: Does anyone else have protest fatigue?
When I heard the news on Wednesday that: 1) The organization World Can’t Wait will be picketing the Berkeley Law School graduation at the Greek Theater on Friday to protest the presence of John Yoo on the faculty; 2) State Senator Gloria Romero won’t be attending the Latino students’ graduation to protest the fact that […]
Towel-folding robot FTW*
A staggering number of pioneering scientific advances emerge from Berkeley, as we document from time to time. But it seems that the advance the world was waiting for is a towel-folding robot, which we pointed to in a slightly off-hand manner last week. In my persistent search on Google News and Twitter for mentions of […]
Getting into UC Berkeley is harder than ever — so hard that UC Riverside may recruit you
UC President Mark Yudof In an attempt to raise more funds during an era of unprecedented cutbacks, the UC system is planning on admitting more students from out of state than ever before, since those students have to pay a higher tuition. That means fewer in-state students will be admitted to their first-choice campuses. To […]
Protesters attack home of UC Chancellor as he sleeps
A broken light in front of chancellor’s home (Courtesy Noah Berger, AP) A broken light in front of chancellor’s home (Courtesy Noah Berger, AP) State and university officials are condemning a Friday night attack on the home of the UC Berkeley Chancellor. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the 11:15 pm incident, in which eight people were arrested, […]
Yudof on furloughs
University of California president Mark Yudof met on Wednesday with the faculty of UCLA to explain his furlough policy, among other things. As part of the university system’s budget cuts, faculty and staff are required to take between 10 and 26 days off without pay over the next year. The original plan was to allow […]