The “OTHER” Friday Letter
Don’t be fooled by the ASUCR’s fake “Take a Stand” campaign, an attempt at co-opting real protest.
This is the real UNGUIDED protest.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
December 9, 2011
Undercover Dog
We have a dog too; it sniffs out bullshit and hypocrisy, especially coming from administrators. You might be able to fool some people, but you can’t fool Undercover Dog. She has superpowers that let her see the fascist connotations of paternalistic protest guidelines, the fakery of administrative declarations of support for free speech, and the increasing squeeze on students’ right to dissent.
She’s exhausted because the work never ends. If you see her in the library, make sure to give her lots of cookies. She’s not just a stress reliever, she’s a revolutionary. She lifts the veil of duplicity and manipulation.
Underdog Dog isn’t afraid to affirm publicly the right to free speech and assembly, and Undercover Dog would sign the Pledge to ReFund California.
Dear students, here’s a good way to take some time off from your exams. Join Undercover Dog in the fight against hypocrisy and the defunding of public education.
Sign this petition demanding the abolition of the outrageous “Protest Guidelines.” http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/say-no-to-ucr-protest-guidelines/
On January 12, come to a Teach-In on the Master Plan.
On January 17-19, participate in protests during the Regents’ meeting at UCR. Even if the meeting is postponed or moved, there will still be events.
You will hear more from us.
Enjoy the holiday break and stay radical!
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
This week, in response to a threatened occupation by Occupy UCR, the administration promulgated a draft set of “Protest Guidelines.” http://deanofstudents.ucr.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/Policies_Procedures/protest_draft.pdf
We think they are ridiculous and have our own farcical interpretation idea of what the rules really say:
Your Voice Doesn’t Matter. Don’t make an Impact.
How to have a failed protest at UCR
FREE SPEECH IS NOT WELCOME HERE
Regardless of your message, the University of California, Riverside distains your voice. We do not serve as a public venue for the open and free exchange of ideas, and we do not support your right to protest.
RULES + PROTEST = Oxymoron [really, you think?]
“Following rules” goes against the nature of a protest [so why would we?]. Follow laws and UCR polices so your voice can be repressed. If violations occur, the protest can be shut down, and participants can be subject to campus and/or legal sanctions. [not really, but that’s what they want you to think]
Everyone in the administration wants that, so plan ahead with UCR to make sure they can control you.
We propose this set of rules instead:
101 BASICS – Protest Doʼs and Donʼts…
DON’T…
- Follow the checklist …
- Plan ahead with UCR… To plan your protest or other scheduled UCR event, DON’T consult with the Dean of Students Office.
- UCR wants to control or limit what you have to say – they just want to help make it compliant and docile.
- Schedule your protest time and place…
- Follow UCR public assembly policies…
- Have a UCR representative at your protest… [although they’ll show up anyway]
DO…
- Camp overnight or hold overnight events
- Respect people or property
- Disrupt classes
- Disrupt university business
- Respect the rights of others
- Hold a protest without planning and scheduling ahead with UCR
- Forget to use and follow the checklist
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
What they call disruption, we call free speech.
Meanwhile, the Trustees of the California State University system held meetings, in part to discuss a tuition proposal that will raise tuition another $498. To protest the tuition increase, students, faculty, labor unions, and community organizations (including several dozen UCR students, staff and faculty) joined together to speak with one voice against the tuition increase and calling on the Trustees to sign the ReFund California Pledge.
Protests against the Trustees successfully disrupted the meeting briefly, leading to confrontations between police and demonstrators. Police used pepper spray indiscriminately. A glass door was shattered, perhaps by the police. 4 demonstrators were arrested. The Trustees have approved the $498 or 9% tuition increase. This increase means that some students will be priced out of their education, will have to work more, or even give us the dream of a college degree.
Yesterday, the California Faculty Association organized a faculty strike at CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU East Bay. Read the RFA statement of support of the CSU strikes.
All these groups are fighting to defend quality, accessible, affordable higher education in California, and their struggle is linked to the assault on the public good and the growing inequalities across America. We applaud their courage and leadership and stand in solidarity with them. Be prepared for more actions.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
The “Make Banks Pay” actions on November 9 were organized by Refund California, a state-wide coalition of students, educators, workers, homeowners, community members and faith leaders working to “make Wall Street banks pay for destroying jobs and neighborhoods with their greedy, irresponsible and predatory business practices.” http://www.makebankspaycalifornia.com/
This week is ReFund Public Education Action Week, and Refund California has organized actions in support initiatives to raise revenue for public education. On November 16, protestors are going to the CSU Trustees’ and UC Regents’ meetings to protest against the tuition increases and the increasing privatization of California higher education.
ReFund California has sent an open letter to the boards of California public colleges and universities asking them to pledge to “make Wall Street pay for refunding public education.” http://www.makebankspaycalifornia.com/open_letter
The Re-Fund California Pledge
To the people of California,
As an education leader, I pledge to do everything in my power to make Wall Street corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share for essential services and affordable, equitable public education from pre-K through post doctoral. I pledge to support:
- Increasing income taxes on California’s wealthiest.
- Closing Proposition 13’s corporate property tax loophole.
- Implementing a federal sales tax on Wall Street financial transactions.
- Reducing underwater mortgage debt to Wall Street to improve the economy.
- Reversing tuition increases, layoffs, and cuts to public education and essential services – ensuring good jobs that provide healthcare and a dignified retirement.”
We believe that Chancellor White and other UCR administrators should sign this pledge and commit to fight for re-funding public education in California. What do they have to lose?
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
We’re Still Occupied by OCCUPY
Cities are getting annoyed because the Occupy sites are unsanitary, loud, attract homeless people, kill the grass and make these places look messy.
But the Occupy movement is more than a little annoyed by the loss of our jobs, our homes and our savings, the veterans who are living under bridges, the inequities in income and wealth, the trillions of dollars that Wall Street has stolen from the American people, the billions of dollars that have disappeared from the pockets of the 99%, the heavy burden of student loan debt that is destroying the future of young people, the government policies that subsidize and enable Big Finance to steal with impunity, theft of livelihood, etc. etc. etc.
Austerity for the poor, socialism for the rich.
The privatization of UC, CSU and Community Colleges also takes resources from the 99%, redistributing more money from the bottom to the top. The students, workers and faculty pay the price for these austerity plans. The salaries of UC executives and consultants continue to soar as tuition rises, the quality of instruction goes down, workers’ salaries stagnate or decline, unionized jobs disappear, services are reduced, and benefits are eroded. This produces the impoverishment of both students and workers, in the interest of what?
Occupy Riverside: Main and University in downtown Riverside, 24/7
Upcoming actions:
- In response to the brutal dispersal of the Occupy Oakland site, there will be a General Strike in Oakland on November 3.
- Warehouse Workers United Rising to the Challenge! Learn more about how the logistics industry impacts our community. November 3, 6- 8 PM, HMNSS 1500.
- Bank Transfer Day, November 5: take your money out of a major bank and put it in a credit union or small bank.
- Protest the tuition increases November 9-16, 2011. Look for more actions on November 9 and November 16.
To put this into a global perspective, here is a message of support from Egyptian protestors to Occupy Wall Street. http://occupyca.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/letter-from-cairo/
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
June 10, 2011
Report Card
Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Upper Administrative Posts: F
With the appointment of Dallas Rabenstein as Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor, this administration’s high positions (Provost, Vice Provost, Dean, etc.) are held almost exclusively by white males. Just a few years ago, under Chancellor France Cordova, the
majority of upper administrative posts were held by women. Perhaps we should just be grateful that Tom Campbell isn’t
Provost.
Budget Transparency: F
The Chancellor’s recent “Town Hall” meeting on the budget underscored the complete lack of real transparency about budget decisions regarding this year’s $50 million in cuts. Rather than giving a comprehensive picture of how each College is handling its budget cuts, rather than giving us real numbers of staff losing their jobs, courses not being taught, students who are dropping out or delaying graduation, lecturers being laid off, or other meaningful information, we got the usual platitudes and generalities from the erstwhile “Pete.” Lack of transparency on the budget breeds distrust of the administration and erodes a sense of a shared purpose.
A Credible Plan for Funding the Medical School: F
The national accreditation committee refused recently to give UCR’s medical school a preliminary accreditation
because of a lack of state funding. http://www.pe.com/localnews/highereducation/stories/PE_News_Local_D_medschool09.35bad82.html
The administration used smoke and mirrors to make it look like the med school was adequately funded, but this didn’t impress the accreditation committee. We still wonder where the money ($500 million) is coming from and what’s being cut to fund a school that will have 30 students.
Protecting Staff Members from Budget Cuts: F
Experienced, dedicated staff members are suffering loss or reclassification of their jobs under new merged administrative units and cuts to the budgets of departments and other units. Administrative positions at the upper level seem to be immune from these cuts,
but the staff that manage the daily workings of UCR are losing their jobs or being forced to reapply for them. They are not expendable, they are essential members of the University and deserve better treatment.
Maintaining the Quality and Quantity of Student Instruction: F
This year we’re seen fewer classes offered, larger classes with fewer TAs, less rigorous coursework, and the disappearance of courses in certain areas (like foreign languages). Students are paying more as quality goes down, a lousy outcome of privatization. Now, students are facing a potential 40% increase in tuition if Governor Brown has to resort to an “all cuts” budget.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
May 27, 2011
The Budget, Again
We have some questions for the Chancellor that we hope he’ll answer at his Town Hall Meeting next Friday, June 3, 12:10 to 1:30 p.m. in HUB 302.
How many students have dropped out because they can’t afford to go to UCR?
How many courses are being cut?
How many TAs are being cut?
How many Lecturers are being cut?
How many retiring or leaving faculty are not being replaced?
How many staff are being cut?
Why is there no staff member on the Budget Committee?
What are the cuts to academic units versus non-academic units?
What are the cuts to administrative units?
What is STIP, who gets it, and why was it used for the Medical School?
Where are we getting $124 million for 3 years of funding for the Medical School?
If Governor Brown’s proposed tax extensions fail to pass and UC’s budget is cut by another $500 million under an “all cuts” budget, President Yudof has indicated that UC will have to raise tuition by another 32%, in addition to the 8% anticipated next fall. This 40% increase would put the burden of financing UC on the backs of students, who have already absorbed massive increases in tuition and now provide more of UC’s funding than the State of California.
Under this plan, we will see drastic changes in the University that will make it less accessible and affordable to many Californians and erode its educational mission. And the students will bear the cost of California’s failure to fund higher education adequately.
Students are fighting back by organizing political pressure on a local Legislator. On Friday, May 27, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM, they plan a press conference at the University Village office of State Assemblyman Brian Nestande (1223 University Ave Riverside, CA 92507). The purpose of the press conference is to persuade Assemblyman Nestande to support tax extensions, protect education and safety net programs. Come to this event and convince Nestande to put the tax extensions to a vote by the California people.
And go to the Town Hall and ask Chancellor White your questions about the budget!
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
May 13, 2011
Wrap-up of Current News and Events
The Southern California Education Reclamation!
On May 15, UCR is hosting The Southern California Education Reclamation! conference on educating, motivating and empowering people to take back our education system and build stronger communities. The conference will focus on different forms of activism, leadership, organizing, and building solidarity. Speakers and workshop leaders include Bill Hetrick, Ed Gomez, Piya Chatterjee, Ellen Reese, and Pablo Murillo. The conference will also feature live entertainment, music and spoken word performances. Please register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RWHLDQT.
Irvine 11
Today, May 13, the Irvine 11 will be returning to court, where their attorneys will argue their motion opposing the unsealing of the grand jury transcripts and another motion asking that the Court restrain the prosecution from making public statements. The DA’s office has repeatedly made public statements that only heighten public condemnation of the Irvine 11, essentially trying to try the case in the media. Attorneys for the Irvine 11 will argue to the Court on Friday that the OC DA’s office be restrained from making further comments in order to ensure that the Irvine 11 receive a fair trial.
Changing Universities: UC Considering Raising Tuition 40%
http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/2011/05/uc-considering-raising-tuition-40.html
Academic Workers for a Democratic Union (AWDU) win statewide offices in UAW 2865 elections
http://ucgradstrike.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/official-awdu-statement-on-historic-win/
Remaking the University: We Need UC Uncut
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/05/we-need-uc-uncut.html
LA Times: University of California weighs varying tuitions at its ten campuses
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-tuition-20110509,0,5070335.story
Peter Krapp (UC Irvine): Charging varying tuition would threaten UC’s character
Wendy Brown (UC Berkeley): Why is UC Borrowing $7 Million to Fund the On-Line Education Pilot Project?
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-is-uc-borrowing-7-million-to-fund.html
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
May 6, 2011
New Forms of Activism and Dissent
There are upcoming events that give us a chance to engage with activism outside the usual rallies and protests.
On May 15th, UCR is hosting a conference — The Southern California Education Reclamation! — on educating, motivating and empowering people to take back our education system and build stronger communities. The conference will focus on different forms of activism, leadership, organizing, and building solidarity. Speakers and workshop leaders include Bill Hetrick, Ed Gomez, Piya Chatterjee, Ellen Reese, and Pablo Murillo. The conference will also feature live entertainment, music and spoken word performances. The workshops include:
- The Media: Your Best Friend
- Getting out the Vote: Registering and Mobilizing our Community
- Imagining Radical Education
- Union Organizing
- Critical Race Theory and Class Separation and Inequity
- Art For the Movement
- Sustainability: More than Going Green!
- Escalation Planning
- Community Medicine
- Knowing the System and Knowing Your Rights
- CA Dream Act
- Affects on HS Students.. And More
Please register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RWHLDQT.
On Wednesday, May 11, there will be a fundraiser for the conference from 7:00- 11:00 PM at Division 9 Gallery, 3485 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92501 (downtown Riverside). Suggested $5 donation, food and great local bands and poets.
We’ll keep you informed about other, future events.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
April 29, 2011
Undercover?
It’s really too easy to poke fun at the spectacle of UCR’s Chancellor Timothy White dressed up as “Pete,” who posed as an assistant chemistry professor, track coach, library worker and tour guide for the reality TV show “Undercover Boss.” It certainly has attracted lots of press, which can only be the reason that White and his advisors thought this stunt was a good idea. But some of the press hasn’t been so positive. In recent days, activist blogs have lit up with derisive posts about what a joke it would be to have this guy as your Chancellor.
We don’t find the joke so funny. Rather than submit us to this embarrassment, we would prefer that White concentrate on the $50 million budget gap that is forcing staff layoffs and work time reductions, huge class size increases, decreases in student and academic support, reductions in faculty by attrition, mergers of academic units, and other draconian measures that further erode UCR’s educational quality. Or the sharp drop in UCR’s freshman admissions offers to Californians and the 56% rise in out-of-state and foreign admissions, which means that fewer Californians are gaining access to a UCR degree. Or the increasing privatization of UC education in the form of tuition increases. Or Regent-nominee David Crane’s attack on the right of UC employees to bargain collectively for decent wages, working conditions and benefits. Or address any of the other problems that threaten our educational mission and achievements.
We wonder about what else at UCR is “undercover.” There’s a notable lack of transparency and shared decision-making about funding for the Medical School, for example. According to a recent presentation made to the chairs of CHASS departments, the Medical School will cost $124 million per year within 3 years, and the funding sources are not certain. The Med School’s funding dwarfs our current $50 million budget shortfall, which is causing so much pain on campus right now. Where will that $124 million come from? Will we face additional future cuts to fund the Medical School?
We welcome any opportunity for the administration to get in touch with the realities of teaching, learning and working at UCR. But we hardly think taking on the jobs of professors, staff, and students for a few minutes for the camera is equivalent to how hard we really work under the conditions that are placed on us. And we don’t think you need to go “undercover” to discover that UCR’s professors, students and staff do an extraordinary job even in these highly stressful times.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
April 8, 2011
Exhaustion
We’re at a point where people are tired, they feel hopeless, apathetic, demoralized. Budget cuts, tuition increases, big classes, lack of access… it all seems like such old news. People are taking a break or slowing down on activism or just dropping out.
The constant barrage of new issues and new crises has taken over our lives, but not in a good way. It takes a toll on our ability to keep motivated and involved.
We ask ourselves, how can we keep up our energy and find a balance between our “normal” lives and our activism? But isn’t this our normal life? Is there really a difference or should there be?
Here are a few of our favorite activist quotes to help counter this springtime exhaustion:
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history. Gandhi
Your silence will not protect you. Audrey Lourd
Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. Martin Luther King Jr.
Be the change you want to see. Gandhi
If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But, by all means keep moving. Martin Luther King Jr.
We are capping the knees of that cultural drive to make heroes when the real work is done by community, by people helping each other out. Tui Gordon
Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours. Cesar Chavez
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
Keep up your spirits, keep critical, keep engaged!
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
April 1, 2011
We Are All Workers
Monday, April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest tragedies in our country’s history. In 1968, Dr. King was killed in Memphis, where he had gone to support a strike by sanitation workers protesting unequal wages and working conditions. King believed that “all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.” Throughout his career, King championed workers who resisted discrimination and exploitation and allied the civil rights movement with the labor movement. In 1961, AFL-CIO conference, he declared that “Our needs are identical with labor’s needs – decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, and conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community.”
Yesterday, March 31 was Cesar Chavez’s birthday. Chavez, a migrant worker, organizer and civil rights activist, founded the United State’s first successful farm workers union, United Farmworkers. Chavez transformed the lives of thousands of farm workers across the country. He organized and led a national fight against enormously powerful farmers and corporations in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Chavez said, “You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who has pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”
Today, King’s and Chavez’s advocacy for labor seems more urgently needed than ever. Public labor unions are under attack from an alliance of right-wing ideologues, business interests and Republican leaders. Under the guise of filling budget gaps, Republican politicians are attempting to cut public employees’ pensions and benefits and roll back workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. This agenda has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility (no state is truly “broke”) and everything to do with the erosion of workers’ ability to make a decent living and bargain for a secure future. In our society, the race to the bottom breeds envy of anyone who has a pension, who has guaranteed wages, who joins with other workers to resist exploitation. As the protests in Wisconsin showed, however, the labor movement and its values are far from obsolete. Unfortunately, UC has a highly troubled history of labor relations, exemplified by the administration’s current refusal to bargain in good faith with CUE (Coalition of University Employees) on a new contract. This is an affront to the UC community. As King and Chavez recognized, workers’ rights are the foundation of a just society.
We believe the assault on public employee unions is simply the other side of the defunding of public education: this is a strategy to take away whatever improves the lives of the non-rich.
April 4 is a national day of action to support unions and preserve labor rights. There will be a vigil in downtown Riverside at 7 p.m. Look for actions by unions and student groups at UCR. On April 5th, a Fight Back Teach-In hosted by Frances Fox Piven and Cornell West will feature a live-stream and focus on Austerity, Debt, Corporate Greed and What You Can Do About It. http://fightbackteachin.org. On April 7th, there will be a teach-out at 12pm in front of Hinderaker in solidarity with the unions in Wisconsin and here, locally, as the fight continues.
Honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, and remember, we are all workers.
Yours Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
March 16, 2011
Special Finals Edition
What’s coming up?
In case you don’t have enough to do, here are some important upcoming events and actions.
Finals Week
Wednesday, March 16: AFSCME action to protest pension cuts proposed by UC.
Pentland parking lot between A&I, Lothian, Pentland, and the Medical Center
Friday, March 18: Opening of the UCR Medical School- see where your money is going
Legislative visits organized by CSUSB
Spring Quarter
April 4: Stand Up for Workers and Public Education National Day of Action
April 15: Arraignment of the Irvine 11, Orange County
April 23: Southern California Organizing Conference to Defend Public Education, UCR
Upcoming event in April on the Irvine 11, the criminalization of dissent and repression of freedom of speech (date to be determined)
Expect to see more “Other” Friday letters next quarter. Stay creative, stay critical!
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
March 2nd: Speaking Truth to Power
The March 2nd Day of Action was not frivolous complaining but was a critical assessment of the people in “power.” Speaker after speaker questioned the priorities that the state has established. Stating that putting money before people will not be tolerated by us, that we are onto the games that they are pulling, and that we have taken off the blindfolds that they (the authority) have placed around our eyes and are no longer afraid to speak about the injustices that we face. We are no longer afraid to be critical and question the actions of the authorities.
We see the oppression of dissent and free speech everywhere. For example, the Irvine 11 (including three UCR students) face criminal charges by the Orange County District Attorney because they exercised their freedom of speech to disrupt a speech that the Israeli ambassador was giving. They were within their right to free speech, and Ambassador Oren finished his speech, but this is another way the authority is trying to break down people from speaking out and creating such a fear to even speak up for their rights.
Whether we are faculty, staff, or students, it is one struggle. It is one fight to create a society that fulfills its duty to properly serve and protect its people. We stood in unity, on March 2nd, with all the injustices that have been occurring around the world. We stood there to tell the people of the world to be afraid no longer and speak truth to power because as one united force, we will be unstoppable.
All speakers recognized that education (not necessarily institutionalized) is the key to preserving a society that thrives and succeeds. An educated society makes for a more efficient and functional democratic society. We asked everyone to invest in the future because that’s where we’re headed. We asked people to start controlling our own present so we can control our future.
Yours Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
February 25, 2011
The Need To Speak Out
We’re inspired by the demonstrations in Wisconsin, Libya, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Puerto Rico and wherever people are standing up for their rights and speaking truth to power. There are simple ways we can follow their example right here. You don’t have to be an organizer to get involved and speak out. You can come to events, and join with others in demonstrating your concern. As Howard Zinn said, “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
On March 2, come to the events of the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education and Stop the Budget Cuts. The Day of Action protests the $1.4 billion budget cuts proposed by Governor Jerry Brown and the erosion of public education. Budget cuts degrade the quality of education by decreasing student services and increasing class size, while tuition hikes and layoffs force the cost of the recession onto students and teachers and off the financial institutions that caused the recession in the first place.
Just do it, come to the rally!
Yours Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
February 18, 2011
Construction not Instruction?
Charles Schwartz, emeritus faculty at UCB, has found what he calls the “$4 Billion Mystery at UCOP.” This is the gap between what the State allocated for instruction at UC and what’s been spent. (see his graph below) This seems pretty straightforward. Schwartz has asked UC President Yudof and the UCOP financial “brain trust” to account for this gap, but has yet to receive an answer. While waiting for a response, Schwartz has further analyzed data from public sources and discovered that the money has been taken from the University’s instructional budget.
We compare Schwartz’s graph to another from the blog Remaking the University, which shows actual funding in red and what would have been full funding in green. While the actual funding is erratic, the gap between State funding and instructional spending is consistent. We wonder if this is a coincidence. Or is instructional funding going to, say, construction? This is what Bob Meister has found when looking at how tuition fees are being used: they have been pledged to back construction bonds. http://www.cucfa.org/news/2009_oct11.php
http://universityprobe.org/2011/02/4-billion-mystery-at-ucop/
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/01/pay-even-more-to-get-even-less.html
We too have been waiting (sort of) patiently for the response from UCOP. The silence from UCOP about UC’s budget is typical of a lack of transparency in general, which raises questions about the integrity of the system and its management. For example, the role of the University in the prosecution of the Irvine 11 should be questioned. More about this soon.
Yours Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
February 11, 2011
People Have the Power
We hear a lot of talk about “apathy” but is it really apathy? Do students, faculty, and staff really not care that we’re being bullied by the Regents and Administrators? Do we not care that tuition is continuously increasing by unreasonable rates, that we are losing our jobs and benefits? Angus Johnston seems to think it’s not apathy.
From StudentActivism.net:
“A lot of what’s taken for apathy is actually, I think, despair. It’s a nagging, grinding, chronic despair that leads a person to think that what’s wrong will always be wrong and that they can’t play any part in changing it. It’s not apathy, because apathy would mean that they didn’t care. They do care, often, but they’re resigned to things the way they are because they think they’re powerless.”
For these individuals we provide you a quote by Howard Zinn:
“If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places [and there are so many] where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
If we look at all of the actions that are occurring around the world from Egypt to England to Puerto Rico, we see a common struggle to gain true democracy and if they can do it, there is no reason we can’t do it as well. As a collective unit we would be unstoppable. We just have to remember that we won’t win instantly, and that’s okay, but we have to keep pushing the authorities until they cannot take it anymore. We understand that it is exhausting to constantly ask for something but if we don’t, then we will never get what we want, what we deserve.
Taken from Social Justice Alliance’s testimony blanket.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
http://freeucr.org
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
February 4, 2011
Suppression of Dissent
Across UC, dissenters and activists are being punished harshly. Chalking, civil disobedience, peaceful protests, occupations, virtual and physical sit-ins, and other forms of dissent are being criminalized. While the Egyptian people are claiming their right to free speech, we see a pattern of its repression here at home.
From Change.org:
11 UC students [including 3 from UCR] likely face felony conspiracy charges for staging a non-violent demonstration in protest of a lecture from a figure they disagreed with. These charges are the same ones used in the 1960’s against civil rights organizers, where misdemeanor offenses were turned into felonies because participants allegedly “conspired to commit a misdemeanor.”
Two UC students face charges from the Nov. Regents meeting, where UCPD officer Jared Kemper pulled a loaded gun on unarmed student and worker demonstrators. In one case, the evidence was so flimsy that the District Attorney requested to push back the court date of a UC Berkeley undergrad because there was insufficient evidence. Another student is charged with beating officer Kemper, even though television footage clearly shows that no such thing occurred.
19 UC Irvine students face criminal charges for a sit-in that occurred in 2009 and at least 9 students have been detained by UCPD after chalking about police brutality and tuition increases, while students and workers at UC Berkeley have been cited with campus conduct violations by UCPD officers for merely possessing fliers about the actions of UCPD.
In July, a UC Berkeley student who had her hand crushed by a police officer during a demonstration, an injury so severe that it required reconstructive surgery and led to the permanent loss of her full hand use, was told by the UCPD police review board that the UCPD had acted in a “proper, lawful, and appropriate” manner. The board failed to mail her their decision, leaving her unable to appeal.
Etc.
These tactics are being used [by the authorities] to silence people and produce a fear of dissent. The reaction shows fear on the part of the authorities, which means, the dissent is working. In the face of these practices, it is not the time to remain silent. We need to speak out and stand up for our right to free speech. Sign the petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-the-uc-to-stop-criminalizing-and-brutalizing-free-speech and support free speech.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
January 28, 2011
What Can We Do?
Students, faculty and staff may feel overwhelmed and hopeless about the current situation at UCR and in UC generally. What can we do about the seemingly endless tuition increases, state budget cuts, diminishing quality of education, privatization… the list could go on and on.
On Tuesday, Cary Nelson, the President of the American Association of University Professors, spoke about what faculty can do during this time of crisis, but his principles can apply to everyone. He talked about the difference activism can make if people work together and, most importantly, talk to each other. Fear is so ingrained in us that we don’t even want to talk about issues.
Nelson called for faculty to talk to students, to make coalitions across the campus, to speak truth to power, to highlight both the inequities and the absurdies promulgated by the administration, and hold it accountable. He asked us to support fair wages and benefits for all employees, tenure for all instructors, unions and their actions, true shared governance, and full funding for public education at all levels. We also need to oppose campus speech codes that repress freedom of speech, dubious financial emergencies that become excuses for program changes, high athletic and administrative salaries out of proportion with those of the faculty and staff, and conflicts of interest.
There are other things we can do. March 2 is the next statewide Day of Action. Student organizations are working in coalition on a series of events leading up to March 2. There have already been some important events, such as “Artquake” (January 26) and “UCR Community: ‘Hanging By A Thread’” (January 27), a film and panel discussion of the truth about funding at UC and UCR.
We think that if we can work together, we can tackle the problems and share the burden of responsibility. It’s time to rock the boat. Complacency is not an option; it only gives those in power more power. As Nelson said, fear is rampant; it paralyzes us when we become afraid of losing our jobs, or losing tenure, or losing access to education.
Check the Free UCR Alliance web site for more actions and get ready to shake things up!
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
January 21, 2011
As we try to make sense of how a potential $35-$40 million budget cut might affect UCR, we are hearing two very different things from Governor Brown, and from our Chancellor.
As noted in a Sacramento Bee editorial last week: “Brown isn’t accepting the usual solutions for how the cuts get done. The UC and CSU systems, he insists in his budget, will not rely on increasing fees and cutting enrollments.”
(http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/15/3325369/brown-asks-higher-ed-to-be-more.html):
Contrast that with the tone that Chancellor Tim White set in his last Friday letter:
… the magnitude of this budget reduction will most certainly negatively affect the student learning experience. In the past few years, during other budget reductions, we have done everything possible to avoid affecting students; this time around I deeply regret that I don’t yet see a viable alternative. At UCR we have done lipectomies and ostectomies, and are now forced to engage in myectomies.
The use of a medical metaphor is a telling, and unfortunate, example of the kind of budget planning that is eroding the quality of education and research at UCR. Clearly, student instruction is in far greater peril if the Chancellor decides to go “full steam ahead” with the medical school, rather than to wait two years for the economic picture in California to improve, with more private donations and public funding as the state’s coffers grow.
In making a determination on the consequences of discretionary spending by the Chancellor (using Short Term Investment Pool or STIP funds), we need to consider the costs of diverting money away from existing, essential programs in student instruction and research. And the Chancellor cannot use his rationalization that we are moving to new areas of excellence. We are de-funding existing areas of proven excellence, to fund new areas that are risky and unproven. And students, staff, and programs are suffering.
Last year, we saw rising tuition being directed to uses unconnected to instruction, as the number of graduate instructors got slashed, and students could not get into lectures and sections. With classes bursting at the seams in some departments and TAs overworked, it is unconscionable to focus on luring lab faculty with $1 million startup packages. Such a strategy may make sense in two years time, but not now.
Before taking UCR past the point of no return on the medical school, we ask the Chancellor to lay out cash-flow projections for the next 5 to 10 years involving the Medical School and the various other schools and colleges on campus. Absent such an exercise, we substitute blind faith for evidence, to the potential destruction of much that is good at UC Riverside.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of UCR students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
January 14, 2011
Jerry Brown’s Budget Proposal
The clock on the Bell Tower is broken. Is this new symbol of UCR?
Jerry Brown’s proposed 2011-12 budget would take $500 million out of UC, a 20% cut in funding. As Mark Yudof pointed out in his response, this budget will mark the first time that tuition will contribute more to the UC budget than state funding. That means that Democratic governor Jerry Brown is accelerating the privatization process by putting a higher financial burden on students in the form of tuition. He proposes to cut $500 million without raising tuition, but where will it come from? Probably from instruction. This cut would put us back where we started before last year’s protests.
Why are students being so passive now? Students in Puerto Rico are on strike a $800 tuition increase. But we’re not. Students should take this seriously. If the $500 million were made up by tuition increases, every undergraduate would have to pay $4300 more, bringing tuition to $16,900 for 2011-12. If tuition isn’t raised, class sizes will continue to balloon, there will be fewer classes, fewer professors, and the quality of a UC education will decline further. You’ll pay much more for much less. This could happen.
In this scenario, students are being played off the poor. What are our priorities? We need to tax the rich and reform Proposition 13.
Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
January 7, 2011
The Free UCR Alliance is a coalition of students, staff and faculty that has met weekly since the Day of Action on September 24, 2009. This weekly letter offers alternative ideas, information and opinions not always found in official publications.
We’ll start with the all-too-familiar topic of “diversity.” What does diversity mean anyway? We saw what diversity really means at UCR with Tom Campbell’s brief candidacy for EVC/Provost. Just to recap, Tom Campbell is a Republican politician and academic who supports Arizona AB 1070 (the infamous anti-immigrant legislation) and has taken some anti-immigration positions.
The administration throws around the word “diversity” carelessly, but it turns out the campus really cares about the issue. Campbell’s candidacy for the second most powerful administrative position at UCR represented a clear slap against what UCR is supposed to stand for. We hear so much about how UCR is a Hispanic Serving Institution (the first in the UC system) and about the pride we’re supposed take in this status. Yet it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone in the administration that Campbell’s support for AB1070 might be a problem for a Hispanic Serving Institution.
This contradiction was obvious to the several hundred faculty, students and staff members who signed petitions against Campbell’s candidacy, not to mention the numerous emails sent to the Chancellor protesting both Campbell and the shady search process. In fact, the way the search was handled raises fundamental questions about our ability to trust the administration.
It turns out that diversity isn’t just window dressing for many members of UCR’s community. It’s what makes UCR different from other UCs, what gives us an identity, what makes us extraordinary. People are willing to speak up and defend diversity at UCR. If the administration really understood how much diversity is part of this campus, they would practice what they preach.
Yours Sincerely,
Free UCR Alliance
FreeUCR@gmail.com
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