Students & Workers to Confront Chancellor at Public Forum

UCI protest rally organizer Dennis Lopez, 4 January 2010. Photo credit: Daniel C. Tsang © 2010.

A public forum with students and workers confronting UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake on the privatization of the UCs is slated for Wednesday 12 January 2010 at 5-6 p.m. at HIB (Humanities Instructional Bldg) 100 on the UC Irvine campus.

High on the student agenda, beyond calling for a reduction in fees and end to privatizing a UC education, is expected to be calls for Drake to control the UCI police, to ban the use of Tasers on campus and to drop charges against Sociology graduate student John Bruning. Some students even want UCI to be made a cop-free zone.

If UCI police meant to silence Bruning, a student protest leader, by arresting him late last year on dubious grounds, it has done the opposite. Bruning in an article in today's New University calls for a ban on Tasers on campus, citing a recent court decision criticizing its use.

Though he is not happy under the spotlight as a student leader whose arrest and his being dragged off by UCI police was captured on video and posted on YouTube, Bruning is likely to use his trial -- if it comes to that -- as a platform to further critique UCI's administration and police tactics. Does UCI really want to provide him such a platform? After all, UC Berkeley dropped all charges against those originally arrested outside the Berkeley Chancellor's home, after windows were broken. At UCI, Bruning is not even charged with breaking windows, just slamming his arm against a glass-paned door to the administration building. I suspect the Orange County District Attorney's office will find there are no grounds to proceed to trial.

Meanwhile unnamed individuals have been posting on campus WANTED posters of Drake and Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez, charging them with neglecting student needs among other undocumented allegations. The reward: Their salaries, the amounts of which are emblazoned at the bottom of the posters, which stayed up only hours before being removed by also unnamed individuals.

These and other WANTED posters remain online, on the so-called Communist Party Planning Committee site, targeting, in addition to Drake and Gomez, Sharon Salinger (Dean of Undergraduate Education), Assoc. Dean Caesar Sereses, Police chief Paul Henisey, officer Charles Chon, new Dean of Students Assistant Vice Chancellor Rameen Talesh, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Michael Gottfredson. The CP Planning Committee is likely a parody of the name and the WANTED posters a provocative escalation of tactics.

The fact that these wanted posters with salary numbers haven't been widely posted on campus perhaps suggests a hesitancy among the protesters, who are by no means a unified whole. We link them here to inform the public.

As for the targets, just to mention two more: Salinger is the UCI administrator who wiped out a key student services resource, SAAS, the Student Academic Advancement Services, and subsequently asserted on KUCI's Subversity show that the services, which were partially refunded by the U.S. Department of Education, would continue under another name, although the former SAAS director and staff were let go.

Talesh in a letter in today's New University, while declaring UCI's commitment to protect free speech rights, argues there is a "time and place" for student protests, but not when they disrupt classes.

The text of the student/worker endorsed statement, distributed via email originally yesterday, follows:

Dear Campus Community:

In the past 3 months, we've seen changes and decisions made at the UC system that many of us wouldn't have dreamed of. Undergraduate fees have risen 32%, faculty, staff, and campus workers have been laid off and furloughed, classes have been cut, and the library hours have been reduced. To add insult to injury, essential services on campus have also been terminated, such as Student Academic Advancement Services (which ran Summer Bridge), Counseling Center staff has been cut, and financial aid has been decreasing. We all have questions about our futures in the UC system: How will the cuts affect us? How will we continue to afford UCI? What job prospects will we have after we graduate?

In response to the growing discontent and anger over the budget cuts on campuses across the state, a broad coalition of students has organized a Public Forum at UCI to discuss the important changes affecting our university. Chancellor Drake has been invited to attend and participate, which he has agreed to do, along with other key administrators at UCI. We urge all of the UCI community -- students, workers, faculty, staff -- to attend and raise questions about the decisions being made on our behalf for the future of the University of California and public education more generally.

Sponsored by:
Black Student Union
American Indian Student Association
Asian Pacific Student Association
MEChA
Alyansa ng mga Kababayan
Radical Student Union
Worker Student Alliance
Muslim Student Union
Women and Criminal Justice Network
Incite Magazine
Defend UCI
University Council-AFT, Local 2226
AFSCME, Local 3299
UPTE
Alud, The Graduate Student Journal of the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese

Subversity Exclusive: UCI Undergraduate Dean Sharon Salinger on SAAS Closure

Photo © 2009 Daniel C. Tsang


On the 14 September 2009 Subversity Show, at 9 am on KUCI, 88.9 fm and simulcast via http://kuci.org, we air our exclusive interview with Sharon V. Salinger, Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of California. Under fire for closing an important unit on campus, SAAS (Student Academic Advancement Services), which served first-generation, low-income and disabled students, Salinger says it was budget cuts that led to the closure and layoffs of five staff members, including the SAAS director. The U.S. Department of Education recently renewed funding to UCI for the same services provided to SAAS, which closed August 31, 2009. A faculty member, with two academic advisors, will constitute the new team. The new federal grant provides more student financial aid as well as additional funding for student advisors. Salinger is hoping former SAAS student peer advisors will continue to work in the new restructured unit. Salinger is interviewed by show host Daniel C. Tsang.

SAAS supporters, meanwhile, have organized a "SAAS Love" sit-in slated for Monday 21 September 2009 and the next day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. outside the old SAAS offices. Salinger says she may bring pizza. A facebook event page has been set up: SAAS Love. The original Save SAAS at UCI Now! Facebook page continues. A video from SAAS supporters is posted here: video. OC Weekly recently covered the SAAS closure: Navel Gazing blog

Is it final? SAAS Closure: Dean sends out statement

The official word of closure from UCI Division of Undergraduate Education Sharon Salinger, emailed to "UCI Campus Community" 24 August 2009 at 6:01 pm:

Dear Colleagues, Students and Community Partners,

As a result of the unprecedented fiscal crisis facing the University
of California and the resulting permanent budget cut of 16 percent
allocated to UC Irvine Division of Undergraduate Education, a decision
was made to close Student Academic Advancement Services effective Aug.
31, 2009. Services offered by this unit including study skills
workshops, academic counseling, career planning, and tutoring will
continue under the direction of the dean of undergraduate education.

Funded in part by a grant from the US Department of Education, SAAS
programs are designed to increase retention and graduation rates of
first-generation, low-income students. Among these programs, Freshman
Summer Bridge is the most visible and engenders the most comment from
past participants for its critical role in their success at UCI and
for its lasting impact.

To minimize the effects of this closure on students, DUE plans to
partner with existing units across campus to continue services
formerly offered by the program. This restructuring plan is based upon
recommendations from an outside review team that visited UCI in spring
2008. It includes the appointment of a faculty member committed to
working with first-generation, low-income students who will be
responsible for academic oversight of Summer Bridge and other
workshops and classes. DUE will continue to partner with Summer
Session on administration and co-curricular activities for the Summer
Bridge programs. Further, if the U.S. Department of Education renews
its partnership with DUE, the restructuring will allow the
continuation of the two-unit course on Graduate Education as well as
this year's pilot program for a Transfer Summer Bridge. Moreover,
the continued partnership will result in a 62 percent increase in
Summer Bridge financial aid available annually.

DUE intends to continue to provide physical space as well as
professional staff and a peer mentor team devoted to student support.
Additionally, the Learning and Academic Resources Center within the
DUE will offer tutoring and study skills workshops for eligible
students. Watch for future announcements on the DUE website as we make
this transition.

Along with many colleagues, past and current students, and community
partners, we extend to the SAAS staff our thanks for their years of
service and their dedication to the programs: Joe Maestas, director;
Audrey Al-Hamd, associate director; Stephen Domingues, coordinator,
Summer Bridge and program development; Angelita Salas, counselor; and
Ashley Melton, administrative assistant.

The unit's closure is a regrettable consequence of these budgetary
times. DUE is confident that students still will receive excellent
support through vibrant programs and the commitment of professional
staff and faculty.