Another Left-Coast Friday

20 November 2009

Here are some images from today on the UC Berkeley campus.

Top: The flaming orange of Japanese maples on the Bechtel Terrace. The view point is from my window on the 6th floor of Davis Hall.

Right: The "4.0 Ball." To quote from the webpage UC Berkeley traditions, past and present: "The stone ball in front of the Campanile is more than a century old, but the tradition associated with it is much newer. … a few years ago — nobody knows exactly when — students began referring to the sphere as the "4.0 ball." Apparently, rubbing it right before taking an exam is good luck, along with wearing your lucky socks and getting a good night's sleep."

Left: Small bear carved in stone adorning the back of a bench immediately beneath the Campanile. This bear, and its brother at the other end of the bench, have their heads bowed in grief. The bench is a memorial to the UC Berkeley alumni and others who fought in World War I.


Right: Tomorrow is the "Big Game", the annual football contest between Stanford and Cal. The winner captures for another year "The Axe." In celebration of the contest, some of the buildings are illuminated in the school colors of blue and gold. This scene shows the main library at the center of campus.

Left: All year, we've been dealing with difficult budget conditions on campus. Faculty and staff have been furloughed. Some of the hardest hit have been the unionized support service people, such as the building maintenance personnel and the custodians. In addition, earlier this week, student fees were raised by more than 30%, which comes on top of a regular series of fee increases of about 10% per year for the past several years. This picketer was outside of Wheeler Hall this evening.

Below: Three days of action on campus culminated today in the occupation by about 40 protestors of a major campus building, Wheeler Hall. Police response was strong and ultimately in the evening the building was retaken, with the protestors cited and released. Here is a bit of the statement from Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announcing the end of the occupation. "I understand that our students are justifiably angry over the fee increases and reductions in staff necessitated by the egregious disinvestment by Sacramento in the University of California. They are not alone in this. Clearly, we cannot allow illegal occupations of our buildings and disruption of our academic programs. Today 3800 students were unable to attend class in Wheeler Hall."

Just another day in Berkeley.