More racist graffiti on campus...

Police are investigating a third instance of racist graffiti on signs and buildings around the city's fraternity house district.

So far, detectives don't know who is spray-painting the hate symbols around the campus community and have no leads or witnesses to the crimes, said police Sgt. Steve Odom.

Police discovered a swastika and Celtic cross, associated with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, on an apartment building near campus. The words "White Power" were beside the symbols.

Earlier this week, the same symbols appeared on a garage four blocks away, the same street where a sign for an African American student cooperative was covered with similar racist graffiti.

Four blocks away would place it near Telegraph, assuming it's near campus. Anyone know exactly where this is?

Disturbing that this is a pattern, rather then an isolated incident.
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The new banner is courtesy of Phil from Phatutopia.Email This Post!

BREAKING:

Nazi graffiti, including a swastika and Aryan Nation symbology, have been spraypainted on buildings on Prospect, including the African-American co-op house.

Berkeley Police Sgt. Steve Odom said someone spray-painted a swastika and a symbol for the racist prison group Aryan Nation -- a cross inside a circle -- on a housing sign outside the African American Theme House, a Berkeley student cooperative association residence on the 2300 block of Prospect Street.

Earlier, police were called to investigate similar graffiti spray-painted on a garage door on the 2400 block of Prospect. In that case, the house is occupied by a white family, who had no idea why they were singled out, Odom said.

I live on 2422 Prospect, about two houses away. It's always nice to turn on the TV at home and see your street on the News.

Everyone in the African-American house is pissed, but few clues as to who did the spraypainting. If found, whoever did it will be prosecuted.

Odom said the spray painting definitely is a hate crime and the perpetrator will be prosecuted. This goes far beyond a fraternity prank, he said. Both incidents apparently occurred shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Interesting how precisely the spray painting is timed. That might indicate that police have some idea who was in the area at the time or someone might've seen something. Prospect is a very quiet street anyway, and it's even more so around Winter Break.

Also, whoever did this did their homework. The African-American house is not something a bunch of skinheads would stumble upon. It's fairly out of the way, up by the stadium, where few people go. To know about it either means someone went looking online for prominent African-American targets in Berkeley, or knows the area.

Hateful stuff.
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Links:

Calwatch has an e-mail with complete coverage of the Regents meeting that ended with higher student fees, including voting record, points of discussion, and so forth. Scroll one down, past the 'stories of the year' piece.

Critical Mass has been covering the Dwyer incident extensively. I can't speak to her theory that it's all a plot to institute gender diversity and sexual harassment policies. But she does have interesting stuff on Berdahl's involvement in the new search for a new Dean.

It was a blogger, incidentally, who revealed the name of the woman accusing Dwyer, Jennifer Reisch. Here's his summary of her career. You'll remember Steven Sharansky as the guy who had his camera ripped from him by a particularly clueless guy during the Barak speech. Email This Post!

Coach Tedford has signed a new Contract to keep him at Cal until 2007.Email This Post!

It's been confirmed that Ms. Chin will continue as the Sex on Tuesday Columnist.Email This Post!

Calstuff's winter plans:

I'm home from the 20th to probably the 28th, then going to LA for a week or so. (Woohoo!) Should be back in Berkeley by the 5th-6th, having moved into my new room at the House. I'll keep an eye on the Trib and Chron for all of ya.

Calstuff's one year anniversary is on January 3rd. Email This Post!

The Planet will be back next semester, under the aegis of Berkeley politicos the O'Malleys.

Disturbing, revealing sentence:

Other papers, including the Bay Guardian, will serve as role models for the new Berkeley Daily Planet, the O'Malleys said in a press release.

Three alt-weeklys to choose from. There's the local East Bay Express, an excellent alt-weekly, with consistent investigative journalism and insider scoops. There's the SF Weekly, which has a quirky political voice and great Arts/Entertainment coverage. Then there's the Bay Guardian, the absolutely boring Progressive agitprop rag that put 'Public Power' on the cover for about five weeks leading into the election. The Weekly mocks the Guardian every week for being tedious + falling circulation numbers.

Also revealing: this isn't a business, it's a 'public service.'

Ruh-roh.Email This Post!

Word on next semester's Daily Cal Columnists...

I'm Thursday. We knew that. I'll also be writing about HUMOR THINGS on rare occasion because I get tired of bitching about something every week, and students seem to enjoy them.

Looks like Ms. Chin will continue to be the Sex on Tuesday girl, mainly for lack of anyone very good applying. As I've said before, I always enjoy watching potential women get excited about doing it, then realize this'll be the number one hit for their name on Google for years to come.

More interesting is the potential new political Columnists. The Daily Cal is considering both Mr. Jose Lopez, former AAVP and ASUC Presidential Candidate, and Mr. Andy Katz, City Commissioner and District 8 Candidate. The question behind Mr. Katz is if he'll turn his wealth of City and State contacts into an insider network of information, or if he'll use a Column as a Progressive propaganda front. The former would be fantastic. I haven't seen Mr. Lopez's writing, but he could be the next Arian White, who I always thought was one of the DC's best columnists. Been awhile since the DC had an intelligent Progressive/activist writer, either way.

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Word is that the Regents agreed to raise Student Fees to cope with the brutal budget shortfall.

Meanwhile, UC regents meeting in San Francisco took a similar action, raising student fees by $135 per quarter starting this spring. For the year, that means an increase of about $400, or just over 11 percent. Undergraduates now pay about $4,000 a year.

Not sure how that translates for cool people like us who're on the semester system. Vice-President Kashmiri of the Graduate Assembly lobbyed against it, as did Mr. Katz.

In San Francisco, Mo Kashmiri, a student at UC Berkeley's Boalt law school, said he didn't know how he'd come up with the $400 increase he'll be facing next year.

"Obviously we're really upset," he said. "This is the worst time for them to possibly raise fees. I have no idea how I am going to pay for this."

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I'm working on Daily Cal Column Topics for Spring. Any suggestions? Ideas so far:

ASUC Elections
Peer Advising/ Regular advising sucks?
Grade inflation
Asian political involvement
Tom Bates: wanker?
City, University relations
State funding stuff
Leadership Clique
Daily Cal bias
Housing-- Frat thing
Funny Piece
Funny Piece
Whatever outrage happens along
Lack of prominent alumni 4 Cal

I kinda feel like I'm running out of things to go off on without repeating myself. I can't really do any more pieces on Jews/Palestinians/Left Wing folks unless something new comes along. Maybe one more on how Demographics has killed activism at Cal.Email This Post!

GO BEAR!


This is what a naked bear looks like.Email This Post!

Here's an interesting archive of Berkeley's homepages, from the early days of 1996. The switch to the current 'superyellow' version apparently happened around March/May of 2000. Email This Post!

Can you believe it's supposed to rain through TUESDAY?

For many of you, I'm sure this is just a mild inconveniance. I, on the other hand, sleep in the attic of a Frat House. There's two little flue/window things that cannot be closed, so the wind is always moving through it. And I'm about two yards from the roof, so the pitter-patter of rain sounds like a steady, loud drumbeat.

Buh.Email This Post!

Jon Carroll has a column on Mayor Bates in the Chron. It's pretty lame.Email This Post!

Progcal reports that my boss, former AAVP Catherine Ahn, will be the new AAVP of the Graduate Assembly. Cool!Email This Post!

A Cal student double majoring in EECS and Business has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. First Cal win since 1989.Email This Post!

Mr. and Ms. O'Malley are planning to bring back the Daily Planet, possibly very soon. I'd jump for joy, except these are not people I trust. Ms. O'Malley is on the Berkeley Landmarks Commission, also known as a pit of pure evil where anti-Developers plot ways to slow development by other means. Here's a story-- from the Planet-- about the famed Flower Shop house renovation blocked by the BLC.

But here's the truly amazing statement, but a Commission member:
Tim Kelly, an architectural consultant hired by the developers, agreed with a previous historical resources report that said the Victorian failed to qualify as a “structure of merit” because it had undergone so many changes.

“It’s history, but not significant history,” said Kelly, who pointed out that stucco had been laid on the building and that much of it had been rebuilt after a fire in the 1940s.

Commissioner Becky O’Malley, on the other hand, said the renovations added to Victorian’s significance.

“If you have a building that has changed over time, it in itself is part of the historical record,” she said.

The first problem with that: it's a complete Catch-22. Don't renovate your old Victorian? Then it's an old landmark and certainly worthy to be frozen. Renovated it extensively? Shoot, that just makes it even more historical! Landmark that puppy!

And if Ms. O'Malley feels that renovations and changes to historical structures make them even more valuable, then why shut off any possibility of changing it by designating it historical? By her own logic, wouldn't she want the building to be a living, breathing piece of architecture instead of putting it in stasis forever?

Amazing people.

Ms O'Malley's plans for the Planet are:

The new paper would focus on a creating a wide community base, covering city issues, local high school sports and expand city arts coverage, Wagley said.

Ms. Wagley-- last seen screwing Mr. Katz over by not endorsing him to preserve her own political purity-- is also involved.

Not to say that this paper will become an anti-Developer Patrick Kennedy screed. There are encouraging signs, such as ending the pointless AP wire stories. But I'm cautious.Email This Post!

More on the Bates restitution. It's not stingy. $250 fine to the DA. $500 to the Daily Cal, which well covers any purely financial loss the paper suffered. On the ethical level, he'll be pushing for legislation to codify the consequences of newspaper thefts.

In response to the recent theft and a request by Lin, Bates agreed to propose a city ordinance and support state legislation specifically making the theft of free newspapers a crime.

And speaking to schoolchildren about it, although no one will care about that one.

Furthermore, Bates said he plans to speak to Berkeley public school students to help them understand that "impulsive actions have lasting consequences that can profoundly affect the rest of their lives."

"I want to help students understand the importance of their decisions, and that they are responsible for their actions," Bates said in a statement Thursday.

If this was just Bates throwing the papers away, this would probably do it for me in terms of restitution. But now there's a much more serious charge levelled against him: that he conspired with political allies to spin this story several weeks before the police confronted him. That's worse then the actual thefts. If you want to be conspiratorial, you could say that these restitutions are designed to pull attention away from that other charge. So I'm still a skeptic.

I think I'm going to ask Bates for an interview for next semester's Kevin-column.

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I take one damned Final and all of Berkeley goes out and does stuff. Email This Post!

See you later.

My stint on Calstuff has come to and end, at least for a while. Over break and next semester I will post on Potatochucker, and during finals I won't be posting at all. If Kevin grants me access, however, I make some cameos.

I just posted on PC about Trent Lott a post which I hope utterly proves he is a closet racist and should step down.

So, I'll leave Calstuff with this gloomy note. Have you seen the latest Jack in the Box commericals? They feature Jack's son asking him the scary question: what makes boys different from girls. The problem? Little jack is wearing a Stanford hat! Little bastard.

-McMikeEmail This Post!

The Patriot sends word that Bates has been charged with an infraction: $250 fine.

That's it.Email This Post!

Team Squelch narrowly won last week's Bear's Lair Trivia night, besting Team Rally Comm by one point and beating Team Grad Students in a tiebreaking drinkoff. After tonight's match, the 12.18 Finale will be for a $100 cash prize!

Teams need five people. See you there!

UPDATE: Team Squelch narrowly lost tonight to a viciously tough field. Fourth place by two points. The Bartenders were wishy-washy about whether or not there'll be one next week after all.. I'll let you know.Email This Post!

The East Bay Express has a stinging attack on Bates, making two points that Defenders of Bates haven't really addressed. The first is that the appeal of Bates was that he was better then Dean, better then all of the dirty Berkeley politicos. The second is that the problem isn't that Bates stole the papers so much as he lied about it for a month afterwards.

The EBE also has explosive allegations that Bates not only told his political allies about it, but formulated a media spin plan for the eventual day when the cops would confront him(!)

According to a source close to the Bates organization, the mayor contacted key campaign supporters three weeks ago and warned them that, sooner or later he would have to own up to what he did. His eventual apology displays a Clintonesque bad faith that seems the very essence of calculation. Note the passive language in his admission that "a number of Daily Cal newspapers were placed in recycling and trash bins during the day." Or his obvious effort to spread the blame around when he says, "I apologize on behalf of myself and my supporters for our involvement in this activity." These aren't the tactics of an exhausted man losing control of his brain's impulse center.

The first level of badness was stealing. Then lying. But surely there's a place in moral purgatory for an 'honest politician' whose first response to doing something illegal and wrong is to say to himself 'How can I get out of this without consequences by manipulating the media and my own supporters?'Email This Post!

Looking for somewhere to live next semester?

Think about the Alpha Delta Phi boarding house!

Rent for the semester is a cheap $3300, or approximately $750 a month. And where in an apartment this would just get you lodging and a few utilities, at ADPhi this gets you:

1. Professional cook five days a week! Breakfast/lunch to order. Sample dinner: Salmon with almond glaze.
2. Free, fast DSL line
3. Access to one of the few pools/hot tubs in Berkeley
4. Dryer/Washer
5. ALL utilities paid for
6. Interesting living environment
7. Quiet library/study room
8. FREE Parking

All this just three blocks from campus, on quiet Prospect Street. (2422 Prospect)

Interested? E-mail me at ked@uclink.berkeley.edu or call 510.206.3709

Act now! Rooms going fast!Email This Post!

The Chron says the DA will decide on Thursday or Friday whether or not to go after Mayor Bates.Email This Post!

The Patriot has their coverage of the first Bates Council meeting up within 4 hours of the event, along with zoomable, non-crappy pictures! Ten points to Patriot!

There's three stories emerging from this, as far as I can tell. The first is the remarkable level of shoulder shrugging from Bates and his political allies about the 'unfortunate matter.' The Patriot saves the money quote for last, but I'll give you it first.

Bates added that although his lawyers suggest that a free paper can be legally thrown away, he “(doesn’t) want to argue that.”

“I may have been legally correct, but I have not been morally correct,” he said. “Whatever the (Alameda County) District Attorney comes up with, I will live by.”

The hell you will. If the DA decides to spank you good, you'll most likely come back with lawyers and argue fair usage of free newspapers. His reaction should be a wakeup call to all those who've been arguing that Mayor Bates will make restitution somehow, because he's that kind of guy. He's going to do nothing of the sort. In fact, he's been arguing that serving as mayor is somehow is punishment; his way of making things right. To continue the boring GWB parallel, if G-Dub got to serve as President to recompense his electoral shadiness, wouldn't we all be so pleased.

Bates' allies-- with the very notable exception of Mr. Worthington-- have been very vocal in how comfortable they are with all this, and how they'd probably do the same thing.

“Everyone that’s running for election has done the same dirty things; he just got caught. Why should he have to pay?” said Councilmember Margaret Breland.

Councilmember Linda Maio said of the theft that “everybody makes mistakes,” adding she considers Bates “a partner in my work for affordable housing.”

There's also yesterday's Shirek aide quote that 'I stole thousands when I thought they were going to attack Maudelle.'

The second story is how the Moderates have decided not to press this too harshly. Probably they're waiting for the DA to act, as Councilmember Wozniak states. But former Mayor Dean was nowhere in sight last night. Although I may've been looking too high.

The final story may be nothing, or it may be everything. The Progressives are backing away from Bates' proposal of a 'Rules Committee' to decide what gets put on the Council agenda. Since this was virtually Bates' only platform item, besides the pointless Education summit, perhaps the Progressives have decided that it's time for Mayor Bates to learn who still calls the shots on the City Council. Councilman Worthington backed down from running for mayor, but 'interest in defeating Shirley Dean' is not the same thing as 'interest in giving up control of the City Council to some new guy.' Time will tell if this is the case.Email This Post!

I'm back from the Bates protests. Arrived at 6:20, all decked out for journalism. Had my camera, santa hat, flask, and everything. (I don't actually drink from the flask, but I feel like a war-hardened correspondant when I have it with me.)

Two separate protests. One was organized by about 20 or so middle-aged white people. They looked like experienced protestors, queuing up to give statements to the news folks and all carrying various signs. That one broke up by 6:45 or so to get some of the few remaining seats in the City Council room. That's a tiny room, incidentally.

The other protest was Students for Ethical Leadership. SEL was organized by Mr. Arsen Kitch, widely known as the blonde, dreamy looking member of Berkeley College Republicans. Hence, most of the attendees were Republicans, about 20 again.

Here's some crappy pictures I took. Why are these things always at night, when my photography skills are at their most meager?





News media dominated the attendance. All major local networks were there, plus **CNN**. Both the Patriot and the Daily Cal were there, with almost all of the latter's Editorial Board attending. Fun moment when the dapper Channel 5 guy directed the SEL protest to get on the steps behind him 'if they wanted to be on TV.' I saw Councilman Wozniak walk in, and an upbeat Mr. Katz hanging around outside. The meeting was so packed that Mr. Worthington had to push through to get in the doors, which were closed to anyone new coming in.

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I got an e-mail from 'Students for an Ethical Leadership.' It was sent to a diverse but oddly chosen group of 'student leaders.'

This isn't about politics. This isn't moderates vs. progressives. Students of all political persuasions are coming together to demand justice- and demand Mayor Bates resign. If he doesn't do the honorable thing- we'll be inaugurating a petition drive to recall the Mayor.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

We will be having a kick off protest tomorrow evening at Mayor Bates first city council meeting.

Please start to gather at City Hall tomorrow, Tuesday, December 10th, (ON MLK across from the Civic Center Park) around 6 - 630 PM. There will be signs and other materials provided.

The meeting begins at 7 PM, we'd like as many of us to pack the chambers and address the council, demanding resignation.

We know it is during finals, but if you can, please spare an hour or two to affect positive change in our community. Please do your part to get the word out.

Just please e-mail this out to your lists and help get people involved. We can't stand by idly while Mayor Bates tramples our free speech.

We will be joined by many members of the community, from Dean to former Bates supporters. Please take the time to get people involved, and get students out there!

Media will be there to help spread our message and make it resonate

Any questions, e-mail back and we'll get them answered!

-STUDENTS FOR ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

I just have one: who the hell are you people? My best guess is they're outsiders to Berkeley, since anyone wanting to actually build a protest has to do better then e-mail a few 'student leaders' anonymously urging them to show up. Esp. when that group includes both the heads of BAMN and IAC.

But who wants to go as independent observers? It'd be fun to get a blogging crew together to see Mayor Bates in action.Email This Post!

ASUC Elections Chair and Squelch Webmaster Tommaso Sciortino has succeeded Kenny Byerly as Squelch Editor-in-ChiefEmail This Post!

Mr. Sexton's account of Daily Cal bias made the WSJ's Best of the Web Today, under the title 'Sharia, Berkeley style.'

The Daily Cal has reacted to these charges in usual style: officious silence, in a 'We shall not deign to respond to the scandalmongering Republican press' sort of way. Alright, not my style, but a time-honored strategy. Especially when the real motivations, in my opinion, hardly do credit to the Daily Cal either. (To recap, a complex mixture of distrust of Sexton, worries over only Republicans witnessing the stealings, and fear of libel.)

But of course, this strategy is only useful when the Daily Cal truly maintains silence. Instead, there've been sniping e-mails, anonymous blog comments, etc. All of which undermine EIC Lin's ability to shape the Daily Cal's response if he chooses to do so. It also leads to newsroom controversy, as everyone plays whispered guessing games over which staffer or alum wrote which anonymous opinion piece. Email This Post!

The LA Times has a sympathetic but hardly exculpatory portrait of former Boalt Dean Dwyer. Gist: he's a hard-luck child, a dazzling intellect, and also an overly charming walking disaster in relationships with a history of seducing younger women and bragging about it.

Dwyer's marriage to Beltran ended in divorce when "he fell in love with someone else," Beltran said softly. She said she did not know whether his new interest at the time was a student. Beltran referred to herself as Dwyer's second wife, and his colleagues at Boalt also said she was his second wife, but she was actually his third. His brother Andy said that John's first marriage was to a Kentucky women he met in college. Asked about this Sunday, Beltran said John had implored her to keep his short first marriage a secret. The second wife declined to be interviewed.

The underlying parallel is with Clinton, which appears to be reasonably accurate.

Of course, none of this says all that much about the allegations made against him. Still waiting for more details on that one.Email This Post!

Patriot EIC Sexton has a long j'accuse against the Daily Cal's handling of the Bates story. Most interesting part: someone in the News Room is apparently leaking to the Patriot... a big no-no.

What’s more, when the news team returned to the newsroom on November 4th, after a cursory investigation of the crime, they speculated that my Republican friends and I had orchestrated the whole thing to try and bring down the liberal Bates, a source inside the newsroom tells the Patriot.

Regardless of Sexton's conclusion-- probably correct!-- that the Daily Cal screwed up by not printing the Bates accusation, any article about the Daily Cal's handling of the Bates story that doesn't mention the big glaring influence that Mr. Sexton was is useless.

In subsequent conversations, the editors have stated fear of a libel suit also factored into the decision. But even the most freshman reporter knows the defense for libel is that reported information be “provably true.” Certainly that four witnesses said they saw Bates do it was provably true. As a police officer said on Nov. 4th, rarely are there four eyewitnesses to a crime.

In not reporting Bates’ theft of the newspapers in a timely manner, the Daily Cal let its readers down, and lost credibility as a source of reliable, timely news.

Why doesn't Mr. Sexton mention his own role in the Daily Cal's decision? It doesn't necessarily reflect badly on him, or largely distract from his charge that being Republican was a prime factor. Certainly it's a complicating factor, but considering the big role it played, it needs to be mentioned for the story to be correct...Email This Post!

Interesting discussion on KALX about Axe Rally stuff. Mano has it. Interesting parts: Rally Comm has not been notified of any investigation, as is standard practice. The Administration's cooperation with the Rally was extensive. SJP, which has handled this parallel very skillfully, is allying themselves with Rally Comm's position while at the same time making sure this stays in the news. Very impressive job by SJP in helping to create this big headache for the University. Email This Post!

Dancing Bear-- wasn't I supposed to have killed that one?-- is back, with several new posts and feedback options.Email This Post!

The APPLE party had their midyear conference. On the agenda: a long-discussed possible merger with Student Action, advanced by former Senator Frankenstein and cautiously supported by myself.

Not to overly bore readers with the minutae of party politics, but the essence of the deal was this: Student Action was interested in removing the irritation of a 'Reformist party,' distracting voters as well as gaining an effective Engineering party with actual ties to the Engineering community. APPLE would hypothetically gain some votes on slating decisions at the Executive level, plus two APPLE members running for Executive spots this spring. SA would promise to reform some of their shadier practices, and the Engineering party would be run by APPLE loyalists insulated from SA higher-ups.

The major worry from APPLE was that SA would quickly take control of all major decisions and absorb the Engineering part back into the fold. I argued that since Party Chair Mills had no serious interest in building the party and commanded little loyalty from APPLE Senators, this was a next-best option to probable death, especially since we would probably have APPLE people in Exec spots next year.

Long story short on the negotiations: they foundered on the rocks of old mutual distrust. By the time the vote was held on Saturday, it was generally a dead issue. The party instead pushed for a third option: handing the party over to Mr. Paganini, who established the Engineering party. Email This Post!

TooCool has the rap songs of SJP's Will Youmans. Too cool.Email This Post!

Back from Tahoe.

I haven't been able to track how the Bates story is moving Nationally, but it at least made the NY Times. Presumably a bunch of other places, too.

Some dumb Columnist claims we don't have a student newspaper anymore. It's the PLANET that folded. (Midway down)

Good blogging commentary all around. Calwatch, Clam, Bearly, Beetle esp...Email This Post!

Mayor Bates has:

1) Committed theft of a thousand or so papers because they endorsed his political opponent.
2) Told his political allies, who conspired to keep quiet about it.
3) Lied about whether or not he did it.
4) Tried to keep students from reading something he disagreed with.
5) Only apologized when he was caught.

How can this be considered 'a strike against him?' This is a combination of larceny, lying, arrogance, and censorship. And yet his political allies are going to defend him, when anybody else doing this would've been hung from the highest tree.

Bates' strongest political ally in the run up to the election, Councilmember Kriss Worthington, called the newspapers' destruction "stupid behavior." But Worthington stood by Bates.

"Getting rid of the mayor because of this would basically be the same as capital punishment," Worthington said.

Way to be ideologically pure, Mr. Worthington. And bravo on the analogy. The hypocrisy of the Progressives in advocating Free Speech but standing behind their man is blatant. This is especially so in a Candidate who presented himself as an honest, nonpartisan alternative to the dirty, anything-goes battle of Berkeley politics.

Email This Post!

Mayor Bates has admitted to stealing about a thousand Daily Cals. The Patriot had the story first, but it has omissions.

“When we went to the Daily Cal with the story, the editor told us that they could not print the story with only four witnesses, since we are all Republicans. He told us that we weren’t credible since we presumably had an ideological bias against Bates,” explained Irvin. “I’m agitated that the Daily Cal implied that just because I’m a Republican I would lie to further my own beliefs.”

This wasn't it at all, although the real reason is hardly to the Daily Cal's credit either.

Mr. Sexton, at the time a Patriot staff writer, called in the paper thefts, which immediately put the Daily Cal on edge. (To remind everybody, Mr. Sexton lost a bitter battle to become Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Cal last year, and has been a vocal critic of them since moving to the Patriot.)

Down on the scene, nobody but the Republicans seemed to have seen these thefts. This includes those who were much nearer the trash can the Daily Cals were found in, as well as students like the ROTC recruiters that would hardly have a reason to love Mr. Bates. Not only that, but only Mr. Sexton was really firm on seeing Daily Cals go in the trash at the hands. The Daily Cal felt the other three were kinda wishy-washy on if they actually saw Bates throw them away. Bates denied it.

There's no end to how insane the idea is that Bates would throw away stacks of Daily Cals. He was in the middle of a very crowded Sproul Plaza, where hundreds of students could've spotted him. He was in the middle of a very tough election fight with Dean, where any issue he gave her she would've beat him into the ground with. Also, anyone with any knowledge of Berkeley politics knows that the Daily Cal almost always picks the loser in any close election race. Being endorsed is the kiss of death. So its not like Dean getting their endorsement would've swung thousands of student votes her way.

In fact, Bates' supporters can only explain him tossing the papers as a moment of temporary insanity.

Spring said she believed Bates was overwhelmed by the stress of the campaign.

"He was very exhausted from the election, getting very little sleep, and he just blew it," Spring said. "He let his emotions take over."

Faced with a crazy situation, the Daily Cal considered an equally crazy one: that this was a deliberate plot by Mr. Sexton and his Republican cronies to embarass the Daily Cal by libeling Berkeley's likely next mayor, as well as trash a political opponent of theirs. Almost all Republicans supported Dean. A libel suit is not something a financially strapped newspaper looks forward to. 'After all,' the Daily Cal thought, 'how could the Republicans be the only ones to see this in crowded Sproul Plaza? Bates is tall. He draws the eye.'

Both were crazy, so the Daily Cal gave up, noting only that papers were thrown away in a 'News in Brief.' Lin filed charges with UCPD, but they batting 0/100 on solving paper thefts, so that was little hope. It was left to UCPD and the Patriot to pursue the story. And now we're here.Email This Post!

Column.

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BREAKING NEWS: The Administration revealed that they are starting an investigation into possible class disruptions by Rally Committee during the Axe Rally.

When the Daily Cal does a story on this, keep in mind that Calstuff broke it.

I'm not surprised by this, although I'm sure many are. It's the logical extension of the University's maybe/maybe not zero tolerance policy, as was noted by Mano in his account of yesterday's forum.

Anyway, the only question one should now ask about ZT is whether or not its a ZT for SJP, or a ZT for disruption of classes in general, as the University maintains. Folks at the forum talked some about Rally Com. From the reaction, my guess is SJA will go after Rally Com (Berdahl left that option open and made it seem likely) to make themselves look consistent. I still contend that the logical inconsistencies in the new code (the professors did a really good job pointing these out), the harsh enforcement by the administration (they are already punishing roberto and he hasnt been found guilty, and this is one example of many) and the acknowledgement of outside pressure on the administration (urging a crack down on the pro-Palestinian message) is more than enough to suggest that ZT was aimed - originally - at hurting SJP.

However, important note: Dean Kenney argues that there hasn't been a shift in policy at all, and that disruption of academic yahda yahda has always been harshly prosecuted. The main difference with the SJP case, in her view, is the severity of it and that the University had a chance to warn the participants beforehand. In saying there was a new policy, 'Berdahl misspoke.'

Of course, it's very possible that the investigation won't result in charges. There are several differences between the two incidents that could hold weight in a hearing. First, Rally Comm sought permission from the University beforehand, and was operating under the assumption that this was an 'approved presentation,' if that means anything. Heck, berkeley.edu has a positive writeup of the rally. In contrast, SJP was acting knowing that they were breaking the rules. They may also get credit for lesser severity of possible disruptions, and even unstated credit for this being historical. Politically speaking, prosecuting Rally Comm for displaying the axe would be an absolute disaster in terms of alumni and PR.

They could also drop the investigation for lack of evidence: unless Professors both come forward and name names, it'll be difficult to accurately identify exactly who entered lecture halls.

Of course, all these things could also be ignored. Who knows?Email This Post!

Mr. Yim might be quoting me today. I'm not sure.

As described by columnist Kevin Deenihan in "________," UC Berkeley's public image as some hotbed of political protest and radical activism is a misconception.

This is probably a ref to my 'Berkeley and the Media' column.. Best guess is that he couldn't remember the column title, left the blank spot as a placeholder for the editors to catch, and they didn't.

UPDATE: Mr. Hillman writes in that the line is actually a joke that all my columns are the same. Oh. A prize of $1 and a hug to anyone who got that when they first read it.

So far I've written:
1 on racial self-segregation
1 on the Greek alcohol moratorium
2 on the media's perception of Berkeley
2 on aspects of the ASUC
1 on the District 8 campaign
1 on Literary funding
1 on how I'd run the University
1 on Stanfurd sucking
2 on the Hernandez case

Overall, 4 columns of 12 dealing with activism at Berkeley. Of those, one is a straight humor piece. One has more to do with Republicans manipulating the media. Two are about the Administration's 'protestor policy.' And one of those two hasn't been published yet.

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It's over. CalWatch has commentary.Email This Post!

Rory reports that Mr. Manley has resigned as BCR President, effective as of the end of this semester.Email This Post!

Hugo publishes the bi-annual Hugo Awards for Achievements in Cal Blogging.Email This Post!

Former Planet staffer Wolf whines a bit about the Planet folding. He blames readers.

A professor at UC Berkeley's journalism school rattled off the barrage of frustrated e-mails she got from Berkeley "intelligentsia" when the Daily Planet closed. This is horrendous, they said. We need a rag of our own, they said.

But how many of these folks trundled down to the corner to pick up a copy of the Daily Planet five days a week? Maybe the five who were quoted therein on a given day. Otherwise, these people drove their Volvos over bridges to San Francisco or down Telegraph Ave. to Oakland where they cracked open the real newspaper to read about Gov. Gray Davis and President Bush and Jacques Chirac and the Philippines and Iraq.

How about the Planet's shoddy journalism during the Devona Era, including poor writing, copy editing, and the occasional story run twice in the same paper? Or a local paper that covered only three things: zoning fights, High School battles, and City politics? Or a local paper that inexplicably ran boring wire National stories in a town used to reading the New York Times? Mr. Wolf only gives one sentence to these things, and refuses to consider the idea that they might be the reasons readers aren't reading.

Blame advertising or editing or bad design or the lack of home delivery for the demise of daily city journalism in Berkeley. But don't forget to throw in the readers.

Hey, maybe readers are connected to these things. Yow.
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The Patriot has a new Editor-in-Chief. Mr. James Gallagher has handed the reins over to Mr. Steve Sexton.

UPDATE: Former Daily Cal Rebel Ben Barron has signed on to head up the Patriot's News department. He pledges a strict focus on news, with ideology kept on the other side of the wall. Mr. Barron:

I admire Fox News' style: a separation of news and opinion... I will not let bias of any kind alter the content of our news articles, which means I'll give fair weight to all sides. I'm here to offer reliable news articles and to train patriot writers, and I'll let the rest of the publication take over from there.

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A blogger and Cal Alum has been researching the Dwyer case. So far she seems convinced that this is merely an excuse to change Boalt's sexual discrimination policy. But she comes up with some interesting background on the laywer involved, Laura Stevens.

I have been wondering what the goal of the accusation, made two years after the fact, truly is. And I have been wondering, too, what the lawyer hopes to gain by feeding the media prurient detail in order to discredit the dean's claim. The story is that the student did not file charges while she was still enrolled at Boalt because she wanted to preserve anonymity and feared retaliation. Okay--but what makes her think her identity is going to stay secret when her lawyer is encouraging the press to circulate graphic details of Dwyer's alleged assault? What is she really after? If she wanted justice, it would seem that she got it when Dwyer resigned in a cloud of repentant shame. If she wanted anonymity, it would seem that she would not use the media to press the point about whether the encounter was or was not "consensual." Dwyer is out of a job, he is humiliated, and somehow, miraculously, the identity of the accuser is still not public. And yet, she and her lawyer press on.

A clue to what they are after appears in Florida's Herald Tribune this morning. Here is the lawyer, Laura Stevens:

Stevens said Berkeley is obligated to "train and educate the whole community about this social phenomenon of sexual abuse and heighten people's interest in the subject in a positive way to prevent it, to create an environment that is likely to prevent it and likely to aid a victim in a positive way if it still does occur. That has not happened and that's what we want to have happen."

Next on the docket: a push for mandatory sensitivity training at Berkeley.

Hardly seems proven, although the 'what does she want?' part raises an interesting question. Perhaps this will fade away now that Dwyer has been punished. Perhaps the former student will sue.

But I doubt their tactics have been designed to elicit changes in sexual harassment policy. Perhaps it's a pet project of the lawyer tacked on to this case, but sexual assault of the rape-variant that the person describes does not lead to 'This is due to poor sexual culture training for incoming Deans.' I just can't imagine, with the severity of the charges, that that would be the objective. Especially when considerable cash damages and multiple lawsuits could be in the offing.

However, claiming that the University's poor policies are partly responsible for the attack makes the University culpable.. and this would be a very lucrative drum to bang in any lawsuits. I doubt Dwyer has all that much money, but Boalt Hall certainly does, and who could fault an assaulted law student for taking the Institution that sheltered Dwyer to the bank? I would.Email This Post!

This Berkeley High semi-blog is interesting.Email This Post!

The Chron has the scoop on the other side of the 'consensual sex incident' in the Dwyer scandal. (Thanks to Calstuff Correspondant RP). It's lurid.

But Stevens, a Berkeley lawyer who was in Amsterdam on Sunday night, said in a press release and phone interview that there was nothing consensual about what happened that night two years ago. She said Dwyer hooked up late one night with a group of students who had spent a celebratory night drinking. After the woman got separated from her friends, Dwyer offered to give her a ride home to her Oakland apartment, Stevens said.

While he used her bathroom, the woman, who was intoxicated, passed out on her bed, Stevens said. When she woke up, she discovered that her panty hose had been removed, her skirt pushed up around her waist and her shirt pushed up to her neck. Dwyer was on top of her with his hand inside her vagina, the lawyer said.

Ew.

On the legal side, there's details on why the woman waited so long to file

Stevens said the student decided to withhold lodging a formal complaint until after she graduated in May.

After graduating and completing the bar exam, she hired an attorney and filed a formal complaint with the university on Oct. 11 under the school's faculty code of conduct.

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Cookie Goddess locates the stolen IAC banner.Email This Post!

Debra Saunders has a column on the Hernandez case. (Link thanks to Rory.) The meat is in the discussion of the Student Conduct rescheduling, which she supports.

Hernandez claims the Alameda County District Attorney's office exonerated him when it dropped criminal charges. The "factual finding of innocence" has a "higher burden of proof than an acquittal," Hernandez wrote.

That's news to Deputy District Attorney Stuart Hing. Hing didn't see any public interest in the county paying to try to jail Cal students. When the students grow up, Hing wants them to be able to tell prospective employers that they have clean records. He arranged a plea bargain whereby the students could make that claim -- after paying a fine that shows that they did wrong. There were three levels of fines, Hing noted; BUT only one student -- Hernandez -- paid the highest fine, because he "bit (one police officer) and tried to bite another officer."

Hernandez denies biting a cop. He says he paid the highest fine because "my case involved assault and battery charges, which entail more work and court costs."

U.C. attorney Mike Smith said because of the plea bargain, the Student Conduct Committee has to hold new hearings. Smith acknowledges that it's not easy politically to enforce the rules.

But this has nothing to do with the issue at hand, which is whether or not SJA bungled the case and violated Hernandez's rights as a student. That'll be the topic of Friday's column.

Oh, speaking of which, it looks like I'll be a Columnist next semester after all. My Mom put the situation best. 'Kevin, even if you have more free time because you aren't a Columnist, do you really think you'll use it to study?' Touche, Mom.


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It's the Holidays, which means I have an excuse to wear my Santa hat every moment of every day. This year's Santa hat is graciously provided by the ASUC.

Since the Calstuff Trivia Contest is on hiatus, we'll have a different challenge. The first person to catch me not wearing my Santa hat gets a Calstuff favor. You actually have to come up and tag me to win. Email This Post!

I'm back from vacation.

No new word on the resignation of Boalt Hall Dean Dwyer. The best article is actually in the Chron, which gives a little bit of the background behind the scandal.

Professor John Dwyer issued a statement saying he will leave his posts as dean and professor at the school "with profound sadness" because of the harassment complaint filed Oct. 11 by a female former law student.

His resignation is effective Jan. 1.

University officials said they began an internal investigation as soon as the charges were brought to their attention. They declined to give any details about what the woman alleged.

Remarkably, it appears the University successfully kept the allegations quiet since they were originally brought in early October. At least Mo Kashmiri, a Boalt student and Graduate Assembly officer, didn't seem to have any inside scoop. (Or he didn't want to say anything.)

Mo Kashmiri, a Boalt third-year student active in campus politics, said he was relieved Dwyer had resigned. "He's been very resistant to diversifying the faculty and the student body."

If someone in his position was unaware, then it's pretty safe to assume nobody had any idea.



So there's a host of unanswered questions: why is Dwyer only resigning now? Who brought the allegations? Why were they only made now?

UPDATE: Yeah, the Times story is better. Although it requires an incredible pain in the ass registration to read.Email This Post!