The Contra Costa Times says in this article that the university will be announcing the plans for a renovation of Memorial Stadium on Thursday. Details are sparse right now. From what is known is the cost of the stadium will run anywhere between $160 million to $180 million. Earthquake retrofitting will definitely be the top priority, as the stadium currently resides on the Hayward fault.

Fundraising is cited as the main reason for doing this, as Chancellor Birgeneau and others believe that it will help in the university's ability to gather funds from alumni. It also shows a commitment to Coach Jeff Tedford, who had various escape clauses in his contract if a new facility was not built.Email This Post!

Question of the Week: Classroom Antics
Today's question is, "What is the craziest/weirdest thing that has occurred while you were in class at Berkeley?

My answer would be from my freshman year during a history final (very good class on the intellectial history of the United States from the Civil War to the present taught by David Hollinger). Midway through the final, someone leaves the room and then I just hear this terrible wretching/heaving from outside as the person violently throws up. It wasn't even a very hard test.
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Update on Supporting Iraqi Democracy
The original post with the details about what I am talking about is directly below this one.
As far as I can tell, the steps necessary is to find a group that can:

a) pick what day to do this (I would suggest either Tuesday or Wedesday)
b) get blue sharpies or some other marking device
c) print out quarter sheet flyers to give to people, and larger flyers to post describing what is going on
d) have a table set up on Sproul where people can be encouraged to participate, and have their fingers marked
e) identify some type of (apolitical) charity operating in Iraq, such as the Red Cross or an organization attempting to buy textbooks for Iraqi schools or something similar that donations could be collected for

Anyone involved in a group that could step up and help make this happen, please contact me. I've tried to get in touch with some of the likely suspects, and hopefully some of them will be interested. This doesn't seem like a lot of work, and could be a popular campuswide event. Is there anything that I'm forgetting, and does anyone have any other ideas of how to make this work?

This is the top photo on Drudge Report right now:


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Solidarity with Iraqi Elections
As most people are (hopefully) aware, Iraq recently finished voting in the first (relatively) free and fair election held there in decades. They are in a tenuous position between democracy and a return to some form of authoritarianism or anarchy, and I recently found an interesting way to help show support for the people there who are struggling for democracy over at Andrew Sullivan's blog:

A reader suggests the following as a spontaneous people-power act of solidarity with the voters in Iraq:

You have a pretty decent megaphone, I've got an idea for you and the rest of the blogosphere. Why not ask people to wear blue marker on their index fingers this week, as a sign of solidarity and a tip of the hat to the courage of the Iraqis today?

The blue marker is a reference to the indelible ink placed on voters fingers to prevent fraud by voting multiple times. I think this would be a great one day activity in Berkeley (Tuesday or Wednesday maybe), although it would require the backing of some groups on campus. I'll be e-mailing a link to this post to the CalDems and BCR, some ASUC officials, and if anyone else knows other groups who might support this, please pass on the word (the ROTC or some Arab/Muslim groups on campus?).

This event would:
a) help show solidarity with those struggling to achieve democracy
b) instill a sense of democratic activism that could promote voting by Berkeley students in future U.S. elections (I guess this could be considered a negative for conservative groups on campus)
c) play against type, showing that Berkeley isn't some America hating marxist outpost hoping for our efforts in Iraq to fail
d) and probably be good for some other reasons as well.

This would be something remarkably easy to organize, so hopefully someone or some group can step in to help make it happen. Additional thoughts here.
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Campanile Trivia
I stumbled across an article about Sather Tower with some interesting information, and I figured I would pass it on for those people who are curious about various aspects of the campus. Here is one thing that was new to me:

Myth No. 2: The Campanile is the favorite jumping-off site for campus suicides. (Not true: That unhappy distinction belongs to nearby Barrows Hall.)

I thought it was Evans myself.

In other news, I have been swamped recently, as a number of different activities have all conspired to create a crapload of work for me at the same time, so I will be blogging at a slower pace until Tuesday. Also, sorry about skipping Silly Picture Friday, it will definitely be back next week.
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Update/Correction on Bookswap Theft
Rebecca Brown of CalJunket has brought it to my attention that a previous report on CalStuff on the amount of money stolen at the Bookswap was inaccurate. The new estimate is that somewhere between $6,000 to $8,000 was stolen, not $10,000 to $30,000. That being said, Brown's condescending tone and own misstatements, in a post about accuracy in news reporting were completely unwarranted. CalStuff depends on the faith our reader's place in the accuracy of the information we provide, and I would like to respond to some of her specific claims. This post is lengthy, but it is a confusing topic, and I would like to set the record straight.

1) Brown states:

I hope that the good people of CalStuff and the Daily Californian will kindly explain that less than $8,000 was stolen from the Bookswap with as much fervor as these pseudo-sources claimed that $30,000 was stolen. [emphasis mine]

CalStuff never reported that $30,000 was stolen. The references I made to the amount of money stolen was to say first "ASUC President Misha Leybovich has informed me that between 10,000 and 30,000 dollars were stolen." and then I added later, "I would imagine that to receive insurance for an event like the Bookswap you would have to promise not to leave a box contained 10,000 dollars sitting on Sproul complete unguarded." I never claimed that $30,000 was stolen.

2) Brown also said:

Andy in turn got this figure from Misha almost immediately after the theft was reported and before Misha had even had a moment to look at the receipts and envelopes.

This is once again untrue. I first learned about the theft on Thursday night. I held off on posting at that time, because I could not find any reliable information on what had happened. I waited all through Friday as well, until I saw Misha at dinner that night. I spoke to him at that time, and according to Misha, it was still unclear the extent of the loss (this is more than 24 hours after the theft occurred.) Once again, I held off on posting. Mid-day Saturday I posted a brief comment breaking the news of the theft at the Bookswap, with no indication of how much money was stolen (because no one had yet given me an estimate). In fact, I specifically said, "I spoke with Misha a little while ago, and they are in the middle of figuring out how many books were exchanged, how much money was taken, and other details for the event. CalStuff will have an update later tonight with these details as they become available." I had no intention of throwing out wild estimates without taking the time for an accurate assessment.

Finally, after speaking to Misha again on Saturday, after he had spent a considerable amount of time going over the information available (and Misha can confirm that he along with others spent a considerable amount of time trying to ascertain the details of what had happened), I posted a report on CalStuff containing the estimate that he provided for me: "ASUC President Misha Leybovich has informed me that between 10,000 and 30,000 dollars were stolen."

My report on the estimate of what was stolen was not posted until over 48 hours after the theft occurred, not "almost immediately after the theft was reported and before Misha had even had a moment to look at the receipts and envelopes." as Rebecca claimed.

3) She then adds in a personal insult:

Less than a day after Andy had spoken with Misha, our office had been able to determine the more accurate and significantly lower figure. Thanks to laziness on behalf of both news outlets, the larger (and very wrong) number has been repeated to the extent that it has become popular "fact" among students, or at least among students who comment on CalStuff. [emphasis mine]

Once again, I would dispute her charge. Between the time the theft occurred and when I reported the estimate of between $10,000 and $30,000, I attempted to find out information from sources at the Daily Cal (who were completely unhelpful at providing information to me), an ASUC source who provided me with some useful information, Misha, on multiple occasions, and I even had an IM conversation about the results of the Bookswap with Rebecca herself, although at the time she did not seem aware the theft had occurred (or else didn't want to reveal any information about it to me.)

The inclusion of an exaggerated estimate about the amount of money that was stolen was not based on laziness. The reason behind that mistake on CalStuff was that a source of mine (Misha) gave me inaccurate information about how much money was stolen. Being misled (completely without malice, I'm sure) by a source, is not laziness. I am glad to correct the record on this matter, as this post prominently does, but I think it is unfair of Rebecca to fault me for the inacurate information that appeared on CalStuff.

I would argue that if the information about how much money had actually been stolen was available so long ago, why did no one tell me? After this post, which contained my follow up thoughts to the Bookswap theft, I was done reporting on the story. Around that time, Rebecca is claiming that she was aware I had made a mistake in estimating the amount of money stolen. She also claims that Misha knew he had provided me with inaccurate information. As far as I can tell, she seems to be claiming I should follow up with the sources I use to report in order to make sure they haven't provided me with any misleading information.

I would argue the burden is on her and Misha to get the word out. CalStuff can print nearly instantaneous retractions/corrections (which I would be happy to do), and the Daily Cal could run a correction the next day. Instead, Misha never informed me that he had given me misleading information, and Rebecca did not inform me until over a week after the theft occurred that I had misstated the amount that was stolen.

She states, "CalStuff and the Daily Cal have an obligation to run follow-up articles that disclose the true numbers." as if that is something I would disagree with. I completely agree, I just don't understand why she waited so long to tell me that I had erred.

As far as disclosure goes, I'm largely in the same boat as Rebecca, as I'm a paid employee of the Daily Cal, and a friend of all the parties involved in this storyEmail This Post!

Your Base are Belong to Us
An interesting article on blogging has the headline "Ignore Blogs at Your Peril". I stumbled across it because Orville Schell, dean of the UC Berkeley's graduate school of journalism is quoted. This part of the article summarizes the emerging role of blogs quite well:

The bloggers aren't quite overrunning the newsroom, but they are engaging established media in keyboard-to-keyboard combat that's benefiting public discourse and making the journalism "franchises" more accountable.
Orville Schell, dean of the UC Berkeley's graduate school of journalism, calls it the fracturing of "The Roman Empire that was mass media" into a near-feudal period where centres of power and influence are more diffuse...
Web publishers and bloggers are already stealing readers, advertisers and classifieds. Particularly for young people, journalism has become, in the words of NYU professor and PressThink.org blogger Jay Rosen, more of a conversation than a lecture.

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Dog Bites Man
And Berkeley is trending more liberal.

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Reader's Representative Column
Friday's Daily Cal will include my first column as the new Reader's Representative. What is a Reader's Rep, you ask? Read the column; I explain everything.

For those of you interested in how my writing for the Daily Cal will affect CalStuff, the short answer is not at all. They don't care what I write over here on CalStuff, and I'm not planning on doing anything particularly different, except that I won't ever report anything on CalStuff that I learned while hanging out in the Daily Cal office.

The more complicated answer is that there will probably be less commentary on CalStuff of me writing about Daily Cal matters. Kevin occasionally covered office politics or pseudo scandals that occurred on the Daily Cal, and I won't be mentioning that stuff. If there is something significant to comment about concerning the Daily Cal, I'll just write a Reader's Rep column about it (or I'm sure Beetle will be more than capable of lending his own wit and snark to the matter). And if there is something insignificant to write about, then I probably shouldn't be writing about it anyway.

You can reach me via readersrep@dailycal.org or leave a message here with any comments about the column. Here is a taste:

If a complaint about an article raises a legitimate concern about the reporting, I will write a column commenting on the article and explain what might be inappropriate about it. Through my position, I will hold The Daily Californian accountable for the objective and fair coverage that they would like to produce. I have been assured of editorial independence, and I have no qualms about chastising the Daily Cal if they deserve it.

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University Seeking Greek Advisor
Rob Maneson, former Greek Advisor in the Office of Student Life left his position last semester and a replacement is being sought. Ideally they wanted someone for the beginning of the spring semester, but it looks like they won't have anyone hired until mid-February at the earliest.

OSL is encouraging students to take part in the process by helping to interview prospective replacements. [I say we hire the pizza delivery guy who applied last time they needed to fill the position.]

The Greek Advisors, with their ability to influence Greek policy, are some of the most important employees working out of OSL. For those of us who remember the moratorium, having a Greek Advisor committed to respecting Greek independence is a necessity. Greeks are not only a sizable percentage of the student population, but they also provide the infrastructure for a lot of the social environment at Berkeley.

I haven't received any indication of Birgeneau's feelings toward fraternities and sororities, and his benign neglect seems preferable to the (mild) hostility that Berdahl was rumored to have toward the Greek system.

On a purely personal note, I got to know Rob while he was here, and my interactions with him were always characterized by extreme competence and genuine concern for Greeks at Berkeley. I hope his replacement is able to serve as ably as he did.
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Berkeley Blogosphere in Bloom
With school back in session and students getting back into the Berkeley groove after acclimating through the first week of classes, a number of Berkeley bloggers are back at work. Here are some of other student blogs besides CalStuff that are worth a visit.

1) "Frat" Life: After taking some time off over break, the anonymous fraternity blogger is back with plenty to say. After calling out the IFC/Panhellenic group on facebook for using the group description "we OWN the Greek community... yeah, that's right, we said it" the sorority woman behind the group responded to his concerns and said she would be changing the profile for the group.

2) California Patriot Blog: Everyone's favorite right wing campus magazine has a blog as well, where you can find analysis on topics like the recently released freshman survey data and a condemnation of ethnic studies programs. They also have passed on the truly awesome news that The Onion is going to start distributing paper copies in Berkeley soon.

3) California Patriot Watch: It's half standard liberal commentary, and half California Patriot Criticism.

4) Beetle Beat: This irreverent old-timer mixes Daily Cal criticisms with adequate doses of snark directed at those less intelligent people around us who need a stern chastising.

5) Cal Politik: A combination of "rants and raves" about various Berkeley subjects, such as the closest relative to a hippopotamus and Boalt privatization.

6) Res Ipsa Loquitur: "Current Berkeley students and alumni unite to expose campus nonsense and support conservative causes." Recent posts on overcoming anti-male bias at Berkeley and idenitty politics in La Raza.

Am I missing any other student bloggers?Email This Post!

**BREAKING** - Senator Jenn Chon Resigns

Citing a re-evaluation of her priorities and the desire to attend Evangelical training, Senator Chon of Student Action resigned at this evening's meeting. Next week will see the swearing in of Betty Duong of CalSERVE, who is next in line for the position. Duong is a former senator from De Anza College, and has done a lot of work in APASD in Cesar Chavez.

The shift leaves this situation in the Senate:

11 Student Action
6 CalSERVE
1 DAAP
1 SQUELCH!
1 Int'l/Out of State Party

This will put SA in a little more pinched position as far as ramming through legislation as had happened in the gap between now and Senator Terre's resignation.Email This Post!

UC Berkeley has settled a class-action suit with a group of disabled students, who complained of numerous places being inaccessible to them. The settlement (HTML summary or PDF full version), which is still waiting for final approval in March, will involve improvements such as:

-New, more accessible shuttle buses with wheelchair lifts. Shelters will also be added to bus stops to protect people from bad weather.
-An electric cart service will be available for climbing hills and emergency evacuations.
-More signs inside and outside of buildings, with Braille and raised lettering for the vision impaired.
-A new emergency campus evacuation policy with employees available to help the disabled.

If approved, the settlement should be complete within 14 years. That's almost around the time for the Long Range Development Plan to be completed, pending another possible lawsuit with the city of Berkeley (see this post).
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The California public colleges (as well as others across the nation) are looking for a way to stem the tide of illegal file-sharing on their high-speed networks in order to prevent potential lawsuits. Some colleges, including UC Berkeley, offer legal music services at a discounted price to students and soon, as this article from the UCSD Guardian says, possibly all of the UC campuses. The UC has been talking to a couple of providers of legal downloading including Napster and Real Rhapsody.

Rhapsody, though, has not been very successful here at Berkeley (see Daily Cal article). Some of the people that I've talked to about it give the service great reviews. However, it like many other legal services don't have many of the features needed to beat file sharing programs like, namely:

-Universal compatibility with MP3 players- Only one legal service (iTunes, which has yet to set a deal with any college) supports the Ipod and that service doesn't support other MP3 players. MP3s from any file-sharing service, though, can be played on nearly any gadget.
-Huge Song Libraries- Sure they can offer more than a million tracks, but there are considerably more songs on any file-sharing network.
-More file types to download-The legal services don't offer many movies (Rhapsody and Napster don't offer any) or other any other kind of files for that matter.
-No cost-Paying .99 cents a song or $2 dollars a month sounds cheap, but it's really expensive compared to paying nothing a song per month.

All in all, the legal services will need some compelling content to justify the price.Email This Post!

Daily Cal Article On Bookswap, My Additional Comments
The Daily Cal contributes some interesting information about the Bookswap theft, including:
- Apparently the event was so badly managed and records and receipts so incomplete it will be difficult to figure out how much was actually stolen.

- Insurance may not cover the stolen money. Personally, I would imagine that to receive insurance for an event like the Bookswap you would have to promise not to leave a box contained 10,000 dollars sitting on Sproul complete unguarded. It's not entirely clear why there is doubt over whether or not the event is covered by insurance, and the confusion over whether or not it is covered indicates that there is not a clear insurance policy in place that can be consulted.

-There isn't enough money in the contingency fund to cover even the minimum amount that may have been stolen (and there is no indication that President Leybovish could get away with raiding these funds even if he wanted to).

-Leybovich: “Had it not been for this mishap, it would have been awesome.” Um, yeah.

-There may have been a webcam pointed at Sproul at the time the theft occurred.

Allowing a theft like this to occur, by leaving tens of thousands of dollars on Sproul Plaza unguarded, strikes me as completely beyond the pale. Any large scale event like this is likely to run into some difficulties, many of which are easy to condemn in hindsight. This screw-up is not something that can be excused in this manner, and represents a truly irresponsible act by those in charge of the Bookswap. Email This Post!

Another Reason To Hate Texas

Apparently, the "Hook 'Em Horns" symbol doesn't go over so well in foreign countries. The Norwegian press picked up this picture of President Bush giving the horns to the UT Marching Band in the Inauguration Parade. It seems some countries believe it's a satanic symbol.

I guess it might've been worse if Bush tried to imitate a bear paw for the Cal Band (insert mental picture here). That might've been worse for foreign policy. Or, if we had actually insulted a real country, that could have been potentially harmful.Email This Post!

Question of the Week: Scandal!
Introducing a new CalStuff feature: Every Monday we'll have a new prompt for you to respond to.

Today's question is, What is the biggest scandal that you think has occurred at UC Berkeley in the last 4 years? This can be a scandal involving students or administrators or linked to the school in some other way.

Although leaving an unguarded box of 10,000 dollars on Sproul Plaza is definitely up there in terms of a scandal (more on this soon), my answer would have to be the recent (apparently true) allegations that a Boalt Hall Dean sexually assaulted a student.

Previous question of the week about Birgeneau here.Email This Post!

Bookswap Update: Lots of Money Stolen!
More details are emerging on the Bookswap theft. ASUC President Misha Leybovich has informed me that between 10,000 and 30,000 dollars were stolen. Leybovich has also promised that all participants will get their money back for any books that were sold.

Other than the theft, the bookswap was a rousing success, with thousand of books dropped off and a number of students participating. The theft may have been possible because the bookswap became "understaffed and overwhelmed" on Thursday, according to Leybovich. The decision was made on Tuesday to extend the bookswap an extra day due to the huge popularity of the event, but it left things hectic and improperly managed for the final day.

It is not clear yet where Leybovich will recover the funds from to reimburse students, but if he tries to get the money from unallocated funds from the ASUC, I would suspect senators might try to sue to block that move.

The police are investigating this matter, while Leybovich himself said he would like to "have a little chat" with whoever was responsible.

Previous bookswap post here.Email This Post!

Silly Picture Friday: Happy Happy Happy
The return of Silly Picture Friday, late like usual. Today's picture is one of my favorite campus personalities, Happy Happy Happy dude. He beats out Yeshua, but loses to Stoney. Click to see the image larger:


Before I took this picture HHH dude said something about it being so sad that China kills millions of people, so I asked him why he says "Happy Happy Happy" all the time if something like that is so sad, and he said it's because it gets people's attention.

Maybe he has his wits more about him than I give him credit for...Email This Post!

*Breaking* Bookswap Money Stolen
The ASUC bookswap was the victim of a theft on Thursday as it was winding down. It is unknown at this time who stole the money, or how much was stolen (although Thursday was the day that students could return to pick up the cash for their sold books, so potentially quite a lot could have been taken).

I spoke with Misha a little while ago, and they are in the middle of figuring out how many books were exchanged, how much money was taken, and other details for the event. CalStuff will have an update later tonight with these details as they become available. Anyone with any additional information on this incident or details of their own bookswapping experience is encouraged to comment.
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More CalStuff Advertising
CalStuff is now featuring an advertisement for the Ninja Card. If you were planning on getting a Ninja Card, we would apprecaite it if you would use the link on the right sidebar. They have lowered the price down to 8 dollars, and there are a bunch of great deals. Go check it out.

We are also now featuring a pro bono advertisement for FireFox. We think it's such a good browser that we're happy to shill for them for free.
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Berkeley Science News Round-Up
Being a Political Science major, I rarely venture near any science classes here at Berkeley, but I often find a lot of the research going on quite fascinating. Berkeley professors are doing some wild and crazy stuff with lasers and robots and other fancy stuff (sometimes I get a little bit worried about that whole "machines enslaving the human race" thing, but then I realize Will Smith will be around to save us). Ever so often I'll be posting a collection of recent science-related articles that feature Berkeley.

P.S. I always do my best to find articles that don't require any type of log-in or password to access, but sometimes newspapers will only have their articles available for a certain amount of time, and then you need to register with their site (almost always for free). If you ever get a link like that, I recommend using bugmenot.com. It's an easy to use website that has log-in names and passwords for almost every newspaper.

1. Regents approve bidding for Lawrence Berkeley national lab The saga continues. I hope we get it.

2. UC-Berkeley Researchers Using Nanotechnology To Study Environment Some fancy nanotechnology used to study nuclear waste disposal (with some scanning transmission x-ray microscopes, computerized tomography, and supercomputer modeling thrown in).

3. How the brain tunes out odors Brain scans are being used to determine how our brain deals with the constant over-abundance of smells we encounter.

4. Listening for ET Information on the researchers at UC Berkeley's Hat Creek radio observatory most likely to be listening if we ever hear from aliens.

5. Scientists begin to decode secrets of empathy "Researchers gather at Cal to learn latest on the mind, identity"Email This Post!

Faster CalStuff

*Update:*Some minor changes have been made to the layout and have improved the speed slightly. All of your suggestions were greatly appreciated. If the changes didn't help that much, then place a comment. We still however hope that you do any of the steps numbered below (particularly #1), as it will help your overall Internet browsing.-Allen

Some readers have very politely noted that CalStuff has been loading slowly. We are working to find ways to improve this, and I have some suggestions on things you can do.

1. Get FireFox (it's free). FireFox is an insanely better browser than Internet Explorer, for a multitude of reasons (tabbed browsing!). And one of the many things it does better than IE is load CalStuff substantially quicker (and most other web sites too). Even if you only read CalStuff once a month, you should still get FireFox 'cause it's so good.

2. Also, from people I've talked to, it is specifically IE version 5.? that causes trouble, and the newer version supposedly loads quicker, so if you don't have IE 6.0 yet, then I would recommend looking into that as well.
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Bookswap Extended Through Thursday
One more day of bookswapping, so go get not ripped off if you're so inclined.

Here some details on how things have gone so far from the ASUC Student Activities Group Advisor:

The 5th semesterly ASUC Bookswap has been a smashing success so far,
with over 2000 books processed and over 500 sold in only 2 days!

I wonder if extending things for another day had anything to do with this(confused bookswappers) or this (lack of manpower for Wednesday).

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Sensationalism Much?
The Berkeley Daily Planet has published their report of the anti-terrorism rally, complete with the midleading headline, "Bombed Jerusalem Bus Exhibit Sparks Heated Exchange, Melée"

A melée to me connotates something like, "Confused, hand-to-hand fighting in a pitched battle" or "A violent free-for-all." Even the secondary definition, "A confused tumultuous mingling" doesn't seem to fit their description of the event (here is the parts of the article that the headline could be describing):

While protesters kept to their side of the street during the majority of the event, a small group gathered at one corner of the park to confront the people waving Israeli and American flags. A yelling match ensued but Berkeley police broke it up and protesters crossed back.
Later in the afternoon, another small group of protesters with Palestinian flags marched towards the bus rally. They were immediately confronted, while the Berkeley police rushed to get between the two sides. Several people again engaged in yelling matches, and at one point punches were thrown.

As the article notes, two people were handcuffed for punching each other. I've seen bigger fights than that by fraternity members trying to get position on a keg.
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Embarrasing Moments in Public Relations
Someone belonging to the ASUC group on Thefacebook recently sent this message:

Subject:	Chemical Principles by Zumdahl (5th edition)
Message:	if anyone of you is taking chem 1b this sem, i have the book (good as new) w/ the prs transmitter and eduspace guide. just message me back if you are interested

Maybe she didn't get the memo about the bookswap...

The Daily Cal has their article on the bookswap. Things seem to be going well, although there are some criticisms of how things have been run so far. A fuller picture of how successful the bookswap has been will be evident on Wednesday.
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Chancellor Biergeneau Starts a Blog
Our esteemed Chancellor has begun blogging. Go check it out. I would like to offer a hearty CalStuff welcome and say we look forward to his thoughts on his experiences here at Berkeley.

His comments on his experiences at various jobs before he came to Berkeley are particularly poignant.
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So much for the City and the University "playing nice".

Following up our previous Long Range Development post, the UC Regents approved the plan 6-0. Meanwhile, as this article from the SF Chronicle mentions, the city has already authorized a lawsuit against the University last week, claiming the plan was approved despite "despite strong opposition from a unanimous Berkeley City Council, 21 members of the state Legislature, the Sierra Club, representatives from the Associated Students of UC Berkeley, community groups, and many others."

Meanwhile, this also marks the last Regents meeting for the controversial Ward Connerly, a frequent target of such student groups as BAMN. He is most famous for his anti-affirmative action stance and successfully lobbied for race not to be used in college admissions with Proposition 209. Connerly now looks to take on the University of Michigan's admissions practices.
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"Matt Leinart" left a comment linking to a Fan Blogs post about how hard it was for high school football players to get into a particular college. They link to an article in the Orlando Sentinel ranking colleges on a four level scale.

For the Pac 10 Schools:

Buckle down: Stanford

Semi-tough: UCLA

Semi-easy: Arizona, California, Oregon, USC, Washington

All in: Arizona State, Oregon State, Washington State

Quite surprising to see a school with such high admissions standards to seem "semi-easy" to athletes (though we have posted about how Cal was using football players to bring up diversity numbers). This article does, however, seem very arbitrary in a few ways. For one, words like "semi-easy" and "semi-tough" do not say a whole lot about anything. Another, the rankings don't work the same for all the conferences, so "semi-easy" may be ranked "buckle down" in another conference. These problems lead to an article that was an oversimplification of something tough to assess.Email This Post!

Distributed Bookswap Report
Since I wasn't able to stop by the Bookswap myself, I was hoping the Daily Cal would do a little write-up to let me know how things went. Since they haven't yet (or aren't planning on it), if you stopped by today, or if you do in the future, leave a comment with a report of how things went. Were there lots of books? Was it well organized? Did you buy anything, and did you save a lot of money? Should this be repeated in the future, or should the ASUC work on developing an online system? Anything else?

I'll be on campus all day tomorrow with class, so I'll stop by too to see how things are going.
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Question of the Week: Birgeneau
Introducing a new CalStuff feature: Every Monday we'll have a new prompt for you to respond to. Sometimes these questions will be inconsequential, while sometimes I might be scheming to make use of your suggestions in the future. For example, if I ever interview Birgeneau I'll be sure to read over your responses here.

Today's question: What would be the one question you would ask Birgeneau if you had the opportunity?

Mine would be, What is your biggest regret about your tenure at the University of Toronto?
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Boalt Tuition and Privatization
For those interested in the subject, Brian Leiter has information on increasing fees for state law schools and some of the ramifications of these fee increases.

Previous thoughts by CalStuff, and also from cal politik.

(link via The Volokh Conspiracy)

Update: The Boalt Dean himself has something in the LATimes. Here is what he's addressing:

But we do need to think about substantive structural changes in the way we do business. To understand how I view the future here at Boalt Hall, it is important to distinguish between our mission, our governance and our financing.

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More on Today's Terrorism Rally
The Patriot Blog is collecting links to coverage of the event, including lots of photos.
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Bombed Israeli Bus In MLK Jr. Park
Earlier today was the rally against terrorism featuring a bus that had been blown up by a suicide bomber in Israel. I showed up late enough that I missed the minor excitement of the day, when an apparent protestor of the event got into an argument with someone from the vigil and ended up getting in a fight with him, and the police spokesman confirmed to me there had been one incident of battery, with the person cited and released.

I talked to one of the organizers of the rally, who told me he thought there were about 700 people on the pro-Israel, anti-terrorism, bus vigil side, and a spokesperson from the pro-Palestinian counter-protest (I'm assuming the people protesting the bus weren't actually pro-terrorism, although I imagine some of them had a "the oppressed must resist the occupation by any means necessary" approach) said he thought they had around 200 people. Former Mayor Dean spoke, and there was a statement read on behalf of Mayor Bates.

Here is what the bus looked like:

For the rest of my photographs from the rally, you can see them here, and watch them in a slide show.

KTVU has a report on the rally, with a quotation that I think can serve as a consensus for the majority of the people on both sides of this conflict:

"I oppose terrorism," she said. "Although I believe the Palestinians deserve a state, I don't agree with their means to achieve it. I don't think you should strap bombs on kids and send them out to kill other kids."

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It's BookSwappin' Time!
It's the start of a new semester, and the that means time for another ASUC bookswap. Here is thefacebook message I received from ASUC President Misha Leybovich:

5th semesterly ASUC Bookswap: Mon-Wed!

Come and save money by buying, selling and trading textbooks with other students.
ASUC Student Store will also be participating with their Low Price Guarantee and buyback.

Monday - Wednesday, January 17-19
9 am - 3 pm
Sproul Plaza

IMPORTANT CHANGE FROM LAST SEMESTER:
To sell: Bring your book, drop it off, we'll sell it for you, come back later to pick up $$$
To buy: Just show up with a class list and some cash

for more info ...
email: bookswap@asuc.org
web: one.berkeley.edu

This semester will be different in that students can drop off their books in the morning, and then come back later and either pick up their books if they haven't been sold, sell them to the ASUC bookstore, or pick up the money if someone bought the books. I'm cautiously optimistic about this, and if it goes well it could be a substantial benefit to students.

Students looking for a better deal selling or buying books than any bookstores could offer, go check it out.
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ASUC Student Legal Clinic Effectively Put On Hold
At the end of last semester there was a dispute between the various leadership elements of the ASUC Student Legal Clinic (SLC). A contemporary Daily Cal article summarized the antagonism that was occurring:

Minal Mehta, a co-director of the Student Legal Clinic—which provides legal counseling for students and city residents—is asking the Judicial Council to nullify the group’s constitution after co-director Joanna Jones allegedly rewrote it without obtaining proper approval.

The clinic’s original constitution mandated that any revisions must be approved by both co-directors and the group’s advisor.

Mehta further alleges that Jones’ revised constitution eliminates Mehta’s co-director position and establishes one executive director instead of two co-directors.

The Judicial Council released their ruling today (see below for a link to the ruling), in which they agreed with Mehta, and ruled that the SLC is not operating under the constitution that was approved for them, in violation of sponsorship guidelines, so all their ASUC funds have been frozen and they no longer are allowed to use Eshleman Hall until a new constitution is approved.

The SLC is now homeless, and I imagine penniless if most of their money comes from the ASUC, which means they are out of business until the ASUC approves a new Constitution for them. I have no idea how difficult that will be considering the potential ongoing feud between the leadership.

I assume this will also make some people angry with the Judicial Council (probably the same people who were angry with the council last spring during the election when they felt the JC was too powerful and able to interfere in various election related matters). Although I don't like the idea that the Judicial Council has the right to interfere in the internal matters of a campus organization, as long as a group receives ASUC funding then they must be held accountable to ASUC regulations, including with their constitution, and if the ASUC won't intervene to revoke sponshorship then it falls to the JC to make sure everything works according to plan.

Mehta vs. Jones.docEmail This Post!

Heller Lounge To Reopen

With all the arguing, Heller Lounge is set to re-open on Tuesday, January 18 - but as what? It isn't a Multicultural Center yet, since the MOU hasn't been formally accepted by the Senate. It certainly isn't the "Millenium Room" anymore. A representative from the Publication Center, who is currently administrating the area, stated that the Lounge is in a "sort of purgatory", not really anything except dead space right now, but open to the public.

Anyway, this leaves some questions as to what the hell is happening and who the hell is in charge, but since there are over 100 comments in the last string, you all can discuss them - I'll get my fill at Wednesday's Senate meeting,Email This Post!

Berkeley Liberals Do Berkeley Liberal Thing
The ubiquitous yellow Livestrong bracelets have a little blue-haired stepchild, thanks to the efforts of some Berkeley residents. The San Mateo Times has details:

University of California, Berkeley, law student Chris Busselle, his wife and his longtime friend didn't realize they were catching a tiger by the tail when they brainstormed ways to keep Democratic morale and activism high after President Bush was re-elected and Republican Congressional majorities widened.

They decided to start a Web site, www.thinkblue2008.com, on which they would sell blue rubber bracelets — like the popular yellow "Livestrong" bands hawked by cycling champion Lance Armstrong's foundation for cancer patients — bearing the next presidential election's date and an admonition to "Think Blue."

CalDems grabbed 500 of them, so expect to start seeing them around campus. (Save one for me, please. Thanks.)

*Update* The conservatives are red-banding it up now, also. You can get red bracelets at www.thinkred2008.com. (I'd like one of those too, if BCR ends up distributing them like the CalDems.)
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New Berkeley Commercial
During the Holiday Bowl, Berkeley debuted a new commercial. Information on the spot and a link to watch the video can be found over at the Berkeley NewsCenter.

Fun fact: The guy behind it came up with the "Got Milk?" advertisements.
(link via Berkeley LiveJournal)
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Bombed Israeli Bus Coming to Berkeley
This Sunday, the 16th, the remains of a bus struck by a suicide bomber will be displayed at Martin Luther King Jr. Park from noon until 3 pm. The AP has details on the exhibit, as well as a planned counter-vigil:

Barbara Lubin, executive director of the Berkeley group Middle East Children's Alliance, which provides aid to Iraqi and Palestinian families, sees the real purpose of the exhibit as "perpetuating the idea that Palestinians are terrorists."

Lubin is organizing a silent "Vigil for Global Justice," to be held across the street from the Sunday rally.

SJP is also mentioned in the article, although there isn't any word on whether or not they will also be making an appearance. I'll be back in Berkeley, and I plan on attending to try to gauge the crowd size and take some photos. For more information on Bus 19, here is a contemporary newspaper article from the CS Monitor.

This will be a powerful symbol in the continuing conflict between supporters of Israel and the Palestinians here in Berkeley. My one comment for now, is that I can't imagine why the organizers of this decided to hold the exhibit on the Sunday before school begins, when hardly any students will be around. This would have been much more widely seen if it was held during the semester. I will have more thoughts after the rally is held.

Commenters, please do not feel the need to wage an argument over the broader Middle East conflict in comments, but instead try to stick to discussion about this specific event.
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California Budget Released
Gov. Schwarzenegger (the only guy whose name is harder to spell then our new Chancellor) has released his new budget. Details are all over the place, including this SD Union-Tribune article:

*Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget provides an across-the-board boost in funding for higher-education institutions and has been welcomed by educators who have struggled with years of large cuts.

*California's public college students would benefit from more class offerings, and faculty and staff will catch up on salaries that have lagged behind those at competing institutions.

*While many educators reacted positively to the higher-education budget, student leaders yesterday criticized it for including student fee increases and a potential cut for outreach, which provides college preparatory programs.

*Two months ago, the governing boards for the UC and CSU systems approved 8 percent fee hikes for undergrads and 10 percent increases for graduate students for next year.

*UC undergrads will pay annual fees of $6,770, while CSU undergrads will pay about $3,100. Among peer institutions, UC and CSU student fees are lower than average, though they have been steadily increasing.

*State funding for UC, CSU and community colleges would increase between 5 percent and 5.5 percent over 2004-05.

Instead of offering my own commentary on whether this is good or bad for students/the state/UC Berkeley/education in California, I wanted to see if there were two CalStuff readers interested in doing a little point/counterpoint on this. I figure there will be some takers, as you guys have already begun arguing about it in the comments to an entirely unrelated post.

You can either e-mail me or send me an IM if I'm online (or else call dibs in comments, but include a way for me to reach you), and let me know whether you want to argue the "conservative" or "liberal" side. If I've heard by one person from each side by around 10 o'clock tonight, I'll let the two people know it's on, and then you should have something written by Thursday night to post. Post should be around 200 words, and I'll let you post under a pseudonym, if you desire.

Update: Between when I started this post and finished it, Ben put something up below. Because of all the previous interest in a budget post, now you guys can have two. Enjoy! Opportunity for guest submissions is still on.
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2005 Budget Breakdown

Just the facts:

The preliminary 2005 budget has been proposed to the California legislature. Some early numbers -

* The discretionary fund is based on a 6.8% increase in tax revenue without a raise in taxes.
* State funding to the UCs will increase 5.3%.
* Student fees in the UCs will increase an estimated 8%.
* UC Outreach funding has been reduced to $29.3 million from $85 million just five years ago.

Whether these numbers stick remains to be seen. There are many issues remaining to resolve, including:

* The desire of many legislators to install a spending cap to balance the budget.
* Charges that the budget withholds over a billion dollars from K-12 education under the provisions of Proposition 98.
* Active lobbying from the business sector for a commercial tax cut to boost the local economy.

As far as UC lobbying, it doesn't look like there will be much fighting from higher education officials. UC President Robert Dynes called the budget plan "welcome", according to the SF Chronicle. However, cuts to the financial aid and outreach programs (approx. $17 million) will probably be contested on several fronts.Email This Post!

CalStuff: Model Blog?

At least according to the UCSD Guardian. From an article published last week:

"Speaking of average men, much of last quarter’s campus politics was covered by pundits running UCSD-centric Web logs and online forums. Far too much space has already been dedicated to promoting these egotists, so I won’t bother with much here. Suffice it to say that it’s great when students start paying attention to their campus. Good for all those anonymous bloggers getting us riled up, even if they’ll never approach the quality of http://calstuff.blogspot.com, UC Berkeley’s most prominent student-run blog."

Sorry for anyone who is offended by our title of "most prominent student-run blog". On the subject of UCSD blogs, though, I think the hardest part for aspiring writers would be thinking up a snappy name. Somehow, the "Triton Times Online" doesn't cover it. At least it would cover everything "under the sea"! Get it? Cause the Triton is that ocean thing... never mind.Email This Post!

Calstuff Steps On More Toes
Seriously, How Important Is A Trademark, Anyway?

Apparently, we at Calstuff violated some trademark regulations. We received this letter earlier this week from the UCB administration:

I am writing you as a representative of the Office of Marketing and Management of Trademarks (OMMT). Your name appears as part of the "Contact" section of Calstuff.blogspot.com. OMMT is the office responsible for managing and protecting University of California, Berkeley trademarks.

You may not know, but the Cal script logo is a federally registered trademark, and the Campanile is also a trademark of the campus. Your Web site is using the campus' trademarks without authorization. Since your group has no official affiliation with the University, we would like to ask you to take the following steps:

1) Change "Cal" to a form other than script (block would be fine)
2) Add a disclaimer at the top of the page to the effect that: "Calstuff.blogspot.com and/or the opinions expressed are not affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley."

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
J-- G--------

Hmm... well, we know the "Cal script logo" is copyrighted. However, our banner, while similar to the official logo, is really not close enough to the real Cal logo to warrant university oversight. Why they're splitting hairs on this is not really clear.



Meanwhile, as a gesture of good faith, we did add the disclaimer they requested. You may have noticed it in the left hand corner of the screen. Hopefully, this is the end of the dispute, and we at CalStuff have not decided what further action we will take.Email This Post!

New Dorms Finally Opened
It's not exactly news to anyone who has been around Berkeley recently that they were building some new housing. Now, students are moving in, and the NewsCenter article has plenty of pictures for those interested in what the two new buildings look like (the answer is, very very nice).

Best part of the article is the names of the two new dorms: "Katherine A. Towle Hall and Yoritada Wada Hall" [Say that 5 times fast...]




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Berkeley Student Lives Through Tsunami
UC Berkeley student Lea Kreidie was scuba diving near Thailand when the Tsunami struck. She wrote a personal account of her experience for NewsCenter:

Underwater, things immediately seemed a bit strange. The few fish that we saw seemed to be hiding under us instead of swimming away like they usually did. Even the look on my instructor's face was not that of his normal relaxed state. All of a sudden, my friend started bumping into me. "She usually has control," I thought to myself. "What's going on?" But I just forgot about it for a split second. Then, before we knew it, one of our friends was pushed with a strong force, and at that second we all got pushed.

It's a well written account of a truly momentous event.

Any additional information on any Berkeley students who had personal experiences with the tsunami or who know of any Berkeley based responses (included planned philanthropy activities for the start of school) is appreciated.
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Today in Hong Kong is apparently the opening day of or Where is Mama’s Boy? (or Ngor ah ma fat jai won as it is listed at IMDB), William Hung's new comedy film. He is apparently playing a poor villager who's singing talent is discovered and must help protect a woman from her evil sister (how I don't know).

The Cal Patriot Blog has posted more details on the film.Email This Post!

On Naked Dorms and Classes Regarding Porn

The Cal Patriot Blog has cited a column written by a parent of a Wesleyan student, describing the blatant liberal bias there. This brings up old conversations on the biases at Berkeley, but not rightfully so.

I am not saying that Wesleyan isn’t a liberal school. Heck, even now, they’re probably more liberal than Berkeley, and more activist in their beliefs as well. There is no student Republican group as far as I can see. It seems to be a campus devoid of any conservative train of thought.

But Wesleyan can’t be called the Berkeley of the East, and right-wingers here can’t point to this as the inevitable path for this campus, because Wesleyan is a private university. Just like Bob Jones, private schools inevitably have a great potential to have blatant biases in their teaching. It’s the privilege of paying money to go to a private educator – by supporting the academic program, you support the beliefs promoted by the program.

Obviously, this theory runs into problems with a public university like Berkeley. All taxpayers support these schools, and there is an accepted demand for a universally fair education. But who determines that “fair” education? The state legislature, which is fairly Democratic? The governor, who is “Republican”? The students, who are decidedly liberal? The faculty, who might be even more liberal than the students? The student union, which seemingly has the most reign over its student groups?

It’s also important note that there are many other public universities that have conservative biases. Try any US military academy. Or, if you prefer the peaceful path, look at schools in the Deep South, like those in Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, etc. Saying that there are no conservative public universities in this country is utterly incorrect.

Ultimately, there are two conclusions to this mini-rant:

1) Bias is unavoidable in higher education. The purpose of the university is not to pump young minds full of knowledge, like middle school and high school. It is an environment to fully develop critical thinking skills, test old theories of life and politics, and evolve new ones if the old ones fail. The only way this can happen is if new ideas and schools of thought are constantly reintroduced, whether they are liberal, conservative, socialist, libertarian, or anarchist. It’s important to avoid extremists who allow their ideas to get in the way of their education, and to make sure all groups are represented on this campus. It’s also important to make sure all groups are represented to some extent on campus.

2) Conservative students attending Berkeley get the best education out of anyone. It’s a baptism of fire – if you really think you know your stuff, and know how to defend it, your beliefs are strengthened immensely. If not, you learn new ideas, and incorporate them into your old ones. That’s what learning is all about.
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"UC Berkeley" and "California"
I was watching the USC beat-down with a friend of mine who attends a small private college in the South, and he informed me that he runs into a startlingly large number of people who do not realize that super-nerdy academic powerhouse UC Berkeley is the same thing as sometimes sports powerhouse (football now, formerly basketball) Cal or California.

This meshes with my own personal experience of meeting people who almost certainly follow college football (and have heard of California), but when I mentioned I go to Berkeley, they would ask me where that is, or say they had never heard of it.

I mention this because of previous fears expressed on CalStuff (I couldn't locate the post) about the tradeoff of gaining a reputation as a bad-ass sports school in lowering our reputation as a premier academic institution. Apparently we can do both, as the largely out of country people who hold Berkeley in such high esteem probably don't associate our sports program with the school, and vice versa for our in country sports fans. Email This Post!

The University has released the final draft of the Long Range Development Plan yesterday. The plan calls for a 2.2 million square feet, featuring the new Tien Center for East Asian Studies and quite possibly a hotel/conference center and university museum project on the blocks west of campus. The plan still awaits approval by the UC Regents, who will hear it on the 18th.

Meanwhile, mayor Tom Bates has said he will fight the expansion. His major concerns include problems with increased traffic and uncertainty about where the buildings will be built and how they will affect quality of life in those regions.

More on this can be found in this article from the SF Chronicle.Email This Post!

Local Berkeley Tsunami Efforts
Following along with the previous post about Berkeleyan's involvement with the tsunami effort, if anyone has any information on student groups that are raising money or students who are traveling to the affected areas to assist with the recovery, please leave a comment or shoot us an e-mail. Also, if any students were in the area and have first hand accounts of what they say or experienced, we would like to talk to you as well.

CalStuff would be happy to bring attention to any local fundraising efforts or students who are engaging in some other type of action related to the tsunami.
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Berkeley and the Tsunami
With a disaster as large as the recent tsunami, it is inevitable that there will be some local Berkeley connections. Recently, Chancellor Birgeneau sent out a campus e-mail voicing concern over the tragedy and offering some thoughts on the role Berkeley could play:

As I write this, campus leaders are actively engaged in finding an appropriate role for UC Berkeley in the international relief effort. We will report on this at a later date. The enormity of the present disaster illustrates the real-world importance of the work we do here at Berkeley.

I would like to encourage all readers to offer any suggestions they may have on what steps we should take. The e-mail from the Birge mentioned "our world famous Berkeley Seismological Laboratory developed a new early warning system to notify emergency responders within minutes of an earthquake, of the location, the magnitude and the likelihood of a tsunami".

I think Berkeley could play a meaningful role in helping to prevent tragedies like this in the future by setting up some form of partnership which would help get this technology installed in the hard-hit areas of South Asian as well as other areas that might not have the capital to finance a large scale project, such as that which currently protects the United States. For a previous example of what this effort could look like, this CalStuff post has information on a partnership being formed between a Berkeley researcher and a non-profit working to create a low cost cure for malaria.

In further celebration of journalistic provincialism, here are some links to stories about the tsunami which feature Berkeley:
1) Survivors share tsunami horror story: Vacationers sure 'we were watching people die' as wave hit nearby atoll (SFChronicle) Excellent account of the personal angle behind much of the destruction including touching imagery on the destruction that surrounded a Berkeley couple vacationing in Thailand.

2) Bay Area donors digging deep -- but chaos still plagues distribution (SFChronicle) Local fundraising, including Amoeba's efforts, "At Berkeley's Amoeba Records, there is a twist to the donations. Clerks are offering patrons a dollar off on their purchase -- if they kick it in the relief donation container on the counter."

3) Berkeley Couple Takes Dramatic Tsunami Pictures (CBS5) A video shot by the couple featured in the first article above.

4) Stanford student nearly drowned in tsunami (The Desert Sun) Information about Patrick Hsu, a Berkeley undergrad/Stanford MBA student who disappeared in the tsunami.

5) 15 Americans reported dead in Asian tsunami (SJ Mercury) Information on Lea Kreidie who was scuba diving when the tsunami struck.Email This Post!

After speculating about the possibility of Rodgers going pro, it now looks offical.

From the AP article:

"I just feel like it's too big of an opportunity to pass up," Rodgers said Monday. "I'm looking forward to competing with the other quarterbacks for a chance to make an NFL team, and I'm fulfilling a childhood dream."

We here would all like to say good luck to Rodgers.Email This Post!

An article in the LA Times describes a plan by Christopher Edley Jr, the first year dean of Boalt Law School, to privatize the school. Edley says doing this will allow Boalt to make decisions without the need to seek the approval of Berkeley administration and give them the money to retain and hire more faculty. He strongly feels this will help them recover from their recent struggles, such as falling from 7th to 13th on the U.S. News rankings. Law schools at public schools like Michigan and Virginia already do this, and they remain in the top 10 of those rankings.

Cal Politik has some more analysis on the matter.Email This Post!

Silly Feuding at Its Best
In the annals of funny but meaningless pranks, a loyal Bear has pulled off a nice gag at the expense of Stanfurd. Via this entry in the Berkeley LiveJournal Community, go check out this Stanfurd webpage. Then view the source code (it should be under view) and scroll to the bottom.

If that doesn't work for you, go here to see what is hidden in the page source.

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Texas Gets Towed

Loyal CalStuff readers sent us this picture from the Rose Bowl Parade. Only two things were missing: rain clouds and a working Texas float.


This UT float broke down and had to be towed off the street.

(Hat Tip to JD for the photo)Email This Post!

Stanford Hires New Football Coach

Following the firing of Buddy Teevins and the nearing end of college football bowl season, Stanford football has hired Walt Harris from the University of Pittsburgh, who lost to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. Harris was seemingly run out of Pittsburgh after years of trying to rebuild the football program there - apparently a BCS bowl wasn't enough.

Hopefully, this helps our strength of schedule next year, as Stanford may actually win a few games. At least, maybe it'll make up for our game against Sacramento State.Email This Post!

UC Berkeley One Major Step Closer To MCC

Sources have revealed that the university administration has approved, without amendment, the Memorandum Of Understanding supported by the ASUC in its last meeting of the last semester. This MOU still needs to be formally approved by 2/3 of the ASUC Senate, a difficult feat considering the contraversy over the proposed MOU last time around.

Student Action senators that I spoke with were definitely gloating over this news when I spoke with them. They see this as a victory - that the CalSERVE senators who claimed they gutted the bill will have no choice but to support the MOU in its current form. Somehow, I don't see the process going as smoothly.

My opinion - The MOU, as it stands, is definitely not as good as it could be. There is some university accountability, but not much. But will a MCC still be successful? Yes. Programming is still being done by the professionals of the university, who actually have a clue about what the center should do.Email This Post!

Pros & Cons

The good news: It looks like Aaron Rodgers is going to stay in the Bay Area.
The bad news: It doesn't look like he is going to stay in the East Bay.

Players from within the Cal Football Team revealed before the Holiday Bowl massacre that Rodgers was planning to declare himself eligible for the draft. Early indications are that he is trying to get with the San Francisco 49ers, a team that is both close to his home (Chico, CA) and his heart (the prior team of idol Joe Montana).

Now that he's lost the Holiday Bowl, however, there may be a chance that Rodgers feels the need to prove himself. The Holiday Bowl performance was mediocre, at best, and there could be concerns over how streaky he is. This may be a base enough for him to return for that one last year.

Rodgers' replacement will likely be Joe Ayoob, San Francisco City College's award-winning QB. He is the #2 QB prospect in the state right now, and his team sits atop the state city college rankings. They call this guy the "white Michael Vick." From the article:

"CCSF has had a host of fine quarterbacks during the 28-year run of coach George Rush. In the last 13 years, nine of his QBs have gone on to play Division I-A. Yet, Rush said, "Joe is clearly the premier quarterback we've had since I've been here, and I've been here 35 years (as a player, assistant and head coach).""
Hopefully, the Bears don't miss a step in the backfield, especially with Marshawn Lynch coming back as only a sophomore.

On a similar note, it will be also interesting to see how both the loss of Rodgers and the Holiday Bowl will affect Cal's recruitment in the off-season. The team is in desperate need of a kicker and a larger secondary.Email This Post!