Image Source: Anna Hiatt, Daily Cal

… but what about the rest of the world watching via the Internet? Here are some highlights:

Wednesday, Nov. 18

6:51 p.m.

“As hundreds of students rushed the building today where UC Regents were meeting – throwing wet red bandannas meant to look like blood – the regents’ finance committee voted to recommend a 32 percent student fee increase, setting off planned protests at several UC campuses.” [SFGate]

“The two-day meeting is being held at UCLA, where today’s session has been marked by raucous protests with at least 14 arrests. … A presentation on the budget and fee increase proposal by UC President Mark Yudof was interrupted. Police cleared the public from the hall but a group of protesters refused to leave, standing and singing ‘We Shall Overcome.’” [LA Times]

“‘We seem to be fighting each other rather than working together,’ said Regent Sherry Lansing, a former Paramount Pictures CEO, after several student outbursts had delayed the meeting. ‘This choice is not our choice. This is something that has been put on us by the Legislature and the federal government.’” [MercuryNews]

“Hundreds of students, staff and faculty massed on Sproul Plaza Wednesday for a rally denouncing student fee hikes, program cuts, layoffs and other cutbacks across the UC system. The rally, smaller than a similar protest in September, was part of a three-day strike that resulted in some class cancellations or relocations and scattered office closures.” [NewsCenter]

“English professor Bob Hass, a former U.S. poet laureate, called for higher taxes so that more money can be spent on education. Hass said California spent more money per student on education than all but one or two states before Proposition 13, which limits property tax increases, was passed in 1978. California now ranks nearly last on spending per student, he said.” [CBS5]

“I think it’s necessary to have a large number of students down there to show that it’s not just the unions, it’s the students being affected. In about eight years my daughter will be applying to school so I have to do this, you know?” [NYTimes] via Bay Area Blogs

And where oh where is Bearcardo?

“I see students really, really, really stressed out,” said Ricardo Gomez of the group Berkeley Students Against Cuts. “Not knowing whether or not they’re going to be here next semester.” [FoxReno]

Thursday, Nov. 19

10:07 a.m.

“About 30 students stormed UCLA’s Campbell Hall and barricaded the doors with chains and bike locks early this morning to protest a student fee increase that is expected to be endorsed by the University of California’s Board of Regents today.” [LA Times]

12:40 p.m.

“Dozens of students lined up early for seats inside the regents meeting, hoping for a chance at the microphone during the public comment time before today’s vote. Campus police with riot gear lined up between the loud but peaceful protesters and the entrance.” [CNN]

“Upon hearing the news about the vote to hike fees, an estimated 500 students at UCSC — some in costumes and face paint, some carrying picket signs — marched to the base of campus at Bay Drive and High Street and the west entrance on Empire Grade. They stood or sat in the middle of the road, blocking vehicles trying to enter UCSC. Police diverted traffic at several points leading to campus.” [Santa Cruz Sentinel]

2:11 p.m.

“Crossed the picket lines. In order to get my fucking education.” [Twitter]

4:06 p.m.

“Outside the meeting at UCLA where regents of the University of California raised student tuition today by 32 percent, about 1,000 students lay on the ground to symbolize what they called the death of affordable higher education, particularly for students from low-income families.” [SFGate]

“Only one member of the board, student regent Jesse Bernal, voted against the plan that UC officials said was necessary due to a recent plunge in financial aid from the state. The Los Angeles Times said the vote came with little discussion among the members and amid loud protests that could be heard in the campus meeting room.” [UPI.com]

“Some University of California regents who approved a student fee increase are trapped inside a UCLA building as protesters block the exits. The demonstrators are being confronted Thursday by lines of baton-wielding campus police, California Highway Patrol officers and metal barriers. … One person inside the building says the regents have been held there for two hours. [AP] via Google

4:29 p.m.

“UC President escorted out w police w tazers and rubber guns as students chant Shame on you.” [Twitter]

4:42 p.m.

6:43 p.m.

” … UC students should explore other means available to pay for their education: They can always go to community college like the rest of us. Screw those spoiled brat UCLA students. Hit up your rich mommies and daddies for the difference. Cry me a river. What a bunch of useless losers.” [LA Times]

Friday, Nov. 20

12:30 a.m.

“Police arrested 52 people at UC Davis after hundreds protested a 32 percent increase in undergraduate student fees on Thursday.” [KCRA]

9:04 a.m.

“UC Berkeley students took over a campus building in protest this morning, a day after the University of California regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent. An undetermined number of protesters barricaded themselves at about 6 a.m. inside Wheeler Hall, which houses the English department.” [SF Gate]

“The campus police are working to resolve a protest action that is occurring in Wheeler Hall.  Staff, faculty and students who would normally be working in Wheeler Hall  are asked to remain out of the building until further notice.  Employees who can contact their supervisors should talk to them if possible to determine whether telecommuting or relocation to another work area is an option.  Those in the building right now are advised to leave until the situation has been resolved.
Employees who remain on campus may check in at Dwinelle Plaza at 10am. for further information.
Thank you to all of the members of the campus community for your patience in this matter.” -UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau via e-mail

10:49 a.m.

Campus police continue to work to resolve the protest action at Wheeler Hall.  Campus police are striving to end the occupation of Wheeler Hall with the safety of our campus community, including all those involved in this action, as an uppermost priority.
Wheeler Hall will remain closed until further notice.  Instructors who teach in Wheeler Hall will be contacted shortly by e-mail.” -Bobby B., again, via e-mail

12:41 P.M.

From the Daily Cal and the Daily Clog’s Twitter accounts:

“UC officers taser at least two student protesters at UCLA http://bit.ly/5CYv8u”
“Photo of police barricade in front of Wheeler Hall #ucstrike #ucregents http://www.dailycal.org/image.php?id=15855″
“One of our field reporters says that the crowd in front of Wheeler Hall is talking about storming the building. #ucstrike #ucregents”
“Fire alarms at Dwinelle, Barrows, MLK, Moffitt and VLSB have gone off in the last hour; hundreds of students evacuated. #ucstrike #ucregents”
“According to one of the organizers, Breslauer has agreed to begin negotiations with them.”

11:56 p.m.

Due to a massive amount of traffic, the Clog was temporarily down for much of the day. To read our coverage of Friday’s occupation of Wheeler, go to twitter.com/thedailyclog

Expect continual updates throughout the course of the strike.

Image Source (lower): Valerie Woolard
32% Inflation in UCLA Tuition Causes Near Riots (14 Arrested, 1 Tasered) [YouTube]

Mark Yudof released a little love letter to the UC system this week. After reviewing his proposal to enlarge the role of the federal government in public education several times, we give you our reader’s digest version of his strategy:

1. Reward bleeding hearts. Gives Pell Grants to schools that “enroll the neediest students.” Payola: about $2.5 billion for university core operations.
2. Give more money to grad students. Supplements federal research awards to enhance and expand graduate programs. Requires a state or non-federal matching fund. Payola: $3 billion per year.
3. Force all UCs to fight in a Battle-to-the-Death cage match, last school standing wins a lot of money. Otherwise known as the “Race to the Top model”, this is a competition for federal funding based on “consistent enrollment of Pell recipients, additional institutional support for low and middle income families, targeted graduation rates and low loan default rates.” Potential Payola (if Darwin is on our side): $4.35 billion.
4. Funnel more money into humanities research with a competitive grant program. “Creative” state efforts to improve graduation rates rewarded with cash for the soft sciences and other disciplines often neglected by federal funding. Payola: $2.5 billion.
5. Rip off the “Build American Bonds Model”. Pension obligation bonds. Whatever that means. Payola: We’ll leave this one to the econ majors in the room.

All we can say is, if Yudof really is plotting a UC smackdown for cash grants, things are gonna get ugly.

Image Source: same_same under Creative Commons
“Exploring A New Role For Federal Government In Higher Education” [UCOP]

While Mark Yudof’s little cemetery comment to the New York Times has already tinged countless student groups with a cadaverous pallor, this graveyard romp is far from over.

In case your Halloween plans got in the way of playing “resurrection men” on Mark Yudof’s lawn earlier, or if you just want an excuse to paint your faces like skulls and yell expletives within the safety of an angry mob of 20-somethings, it’s time to look alive.

This Monday, Nov. 2, the Center for Latino Policy Research is sponsoring a day-long budget-cut-themed Dia de los Muertos celebration in MLK Student Union. The Jazz Funeral for Public Education will start its procession from Sproul Plaza at noon. If this funeral march turns out to be anything like the kind they throw in New Orleans, we’re in for a treat.

We hope Yudof will find the celebration tweet-worthy.

Image Source: The Rocketeer under Creative Commons

Oh, Mark Yudof. You are not having a good year. First all the problems with the UC system, and now this. A cemetery in your own backyard.

Yes, you read that correctly. After the long conference about the California public education crisis, a crowd of protesters were so riled up that they journeyed all the way to Yudof’s Oakland Hills home and built a “mock cemetery” on the hillside.

Why a cemetery? Well, you know, it’s “in keeping with Yudof’s recent comparison of the university to a cemetery.” In case you’ve forgotten, in an interview with the New York Times, Yudof said, “being president of the University of California is like being manager of a cemetery: there are many people under you, but no one is listening. I listen to them.”

This (unclear) comment raised the collective hackles of the people. Well, that and the fact that the UC system pays $10,000 a month for Yudof’s rent during a budget crisis.

So the protesters did what anyone would do: they went to Yudof’s house and built a cemetery. Out of paper.

This protest is in dire need of a rousing chant. How about: What do we want? To freak out Mark Yudof with an obscure reference. When do we want it? Halloween-time seems appropriate.

And well, what about it, university officials? Are you good and scared now? We wouldn’t be. Nothing can match the collective college student fear of the budget cuts. In comparison, every other fear is just our little brother lurking in the hallway with a flashlight and some red corn syrup.

Partisan position: Protestors give UC president a cemetery [Berkeley Daily Planet]
Image source: kkimpel under Creative Commons

If you didn’t know who Mark Yudof was a couple months ago, odds are you know who he is now. And if you didn’t know he was an avid and accomplished Tweetist (Tweeter?), boy have you been missing out.

But if you do know what’s up and are of the he-should-be-spending-all-his-time-focusing-on-UC philosophy, then this might not be your cup of tea.

The man’s latest excursion into the Twittersphere: (Warning: May cause mild anxiety for the aforementioned philosophers)

mark_yudof Witnessed an exciting game down in Bruin country between Cal and UCLA. Huge number of fans turned out, beautiful weather and Kosher hotdogs!

In case you haven’t heard by now, Cal won 45-26 down in the Rose Bowl this Saturday.

We’ll leave you with a WTFish Tweet to think about:

mark_yudof My new favorite Robert Altman quote: “I’m Swimming Through the Ashes of All the Bridges I’ve Burned.”

Hmm …

Image Source: Annie Liu, Daily Cal
Mark G. Yudof on [Twitter]

While he may not have made all the best calls, we’re willing to believe that the current budget disaster runs a tad deeper than some misguided  executive pay raises and management decisions.

Which is why we cringed a little bit when we read this interview with him in the New York Times.

Here’s what we took away from it:

* Yudof could give a damn about the word origins of “furlough.”
* “The stories of my compensation are greatly exaggerated.”
* He makes a mere $540,000 a year. But that “gets amplified” because people also tend to take into consideration his pension plan. Clearly, they’re just blowing things out of proportion. Right, UC also pays his rent, which is $11,750 a month. No biggie.
* Apparently he met Marg Helgenberger from C.S.I. once. We fail to see how this relates to anything.
* Getting into education was “an accident.” Poor guy just wanted to work in a law firm
* UC has no money because the voting population is getting old and wants healthcare. Them’s the breaks.
* He only participates in fundraising events when chancellors ask him to. Otherwise he’s afraid he’ll steal their thunder.

Here’s what we felt was missing:
* The “long answer” to the interviewer’s first question: “Are you pricing education beyond the reach of most students?”
* Any mention of the protests or the future of the UC

Now, maybe there’s a perfectly rational answer for all this. Maybe Yudof was playing Bejeweled while he was trying to answer the interviewer’s questions and was distracted, maybe they called him in the middle of the night while he was asleep and immediately made him answer all these questions, maybe the interviewer really just wanted to hear about Marg Helgenberger.

Whatever the reason, all we have to say is; Yudof, we don’t want to make you the scapegoat for this whole mess. So why do you keep making it so easy?

Image Source: davidhanddotnet under Creative Commons
Questions for Mark Yudof [NY Times]

UPDATE: Now with three YouTubes! See below the jump.

The UC Board of Regents are meeting today, and as part of a time-honored tradition†, Mark Yudof gives us live updates of all the exciting regentmental action going down at the UCSF campus.

Some highlights straight from his Twitter page:

*Reed: I’ve been in government for 40 years; never seen a budget cut like this. “It’s the mother of all reductions.” CA shouldn’t be #1 here.
*getting ready for public comment at the Board of Regents meeting @ UCSF. Huge crowd. No one’s happy about fee increases; that includes me.

*Lots of shouting. Be nice if everyone shouting respected the free speech rights of the rest of us. We’ll take a break until we can resume.
Regent Blum: it’s “demonstrably silly” that Board and I are blamed for what’s happening. We’ll offer a free bus ticket to Sacramento.
*telling Board If anyone has better plan than mine, I’m for it. But no one can compromise access to and quality of UC. Thanks for standing O

So the Clog’s learned a couple of things: 1) You can prove something is silly. 2) Regents like to talk, too.

†Time-honored since the previous meeting of the regents
Image Source: Skyler Reid, Daily Cal
Mark G. Yudof [Twitter]

… but now there are numbers to back that claim up!

In our previous episodes, we left  off eagerly awaiting the results of a union-sponsored, multiple-day-long, unofficial “vote of no confidence” in UC head honcho Mark Yudof. How could the vote possibly turn out?

Can union members turn around and surprise everyone with a big cheer for the greatest (or worst, if you’re of the glass-is-a-quarter-empty school of thought) UC President since Robert Dynes?

Will a resounding 110 percent of ballots be against the man? Or maybe it was Yudof’s plan all along, a la an M. Night Shyamalan twist! Poll results after the jump.

Sorry to disappoint, but there is no twist here. Out of over 10,000 ballots that were cast, around 96 percent question Yudof’s policies and actions. Which leaves us questioning who the hell the other 4 percent were.

Image Source: Tim Maloney, Daily Cal
Vote Conveys Disapproval of UC President Yudof [Daily Cal]
Earlier: Budget Woes Continued: A Letter From Catherine Cole

In it, she argues that in the turmoil of the budget cuts, Yudof & Co. (more on that later) have been making efforts to fundamentally alter the mission of the university. She brings up the possibility of staff walkouts this month if such efforts continue. This could get serious.

Here are the bullet points of her argument:

• The UC is being run too much like a business
• Pre-professional studies are taking precedence in decisions regarding the university’s future, pushing aside the liberal arts and other disciplines
• She feels Yudof is using the budget crisis to bypass existing goverance structures
• Executive pay is too high. That one’s come up a lot before.
• Instead of just focusing on retaining executives, we should focus on retaining faculty, because when was the last time we won a Nobel prize for best board meeting? (Okay, so I’m paraphrasing)
• Other universities have already spotted the golden opportunity to poach our faculty
• Furloughs could also hurt faculty research
• The budget crisis is not Yudof’s fault, but if the university loses sight of its mission now, it won’t get it back
• Most of the professors here aren’t here for the money, and they understand that the university is in a tough spot. But where’s the love, Yudof?

Now, some UC workers are already holding a vote of no confidence against Yudof as a public statement. Others, such as UC Regent Russell Gould, argue that he’s a nice guy stuck in a tough situation. Yudof, in the meantime, seems to be having a rough couple weeks, after a car blew up in front of his home.

How would you deal with the current budget disaster? Tell us in the comments.

Image Source: a.drian under Creative Commons
Cole to Students – UC Budget Context [Scribd]
UC Workers Holding No-Confidence Vote on Yudof [Daily Cal]

Of course, the physical voting at these stations isn’t as limited by time as, say, other events that call for voting. That way they’re sure to get all those papers in and not at all multiple votes from the same person coming in with a fake glasses/nose/moustache getup.

Naturally, we were curious as to what Yudof Tweeted—if anything—about this whole confidence dealie. His latest five Tweets as of this posting:

*Received royalty statement from UC Press for my 1980s book: $3.11. Need to encourage more relatives to buy copies about 4 hours ago
*Greatly saddened by passing of Sen. Kennedy. Talented legislator w bipartisan skills. Met him once & saw JKF at a campaign stop in 1960. 9:31 AM Aug 26th
*Bats have language + romantic inclinations…I knew that from Twilight & True Blood. Bela Lugosi would be pleased: http://tinyurl.com/mxzaeb 10:59 AM Aug 25th
*Thinking about ways to prepare UC for a great future, despite the budget. We’ve got top minds on UC Commission for the Future meeting soon. 2:23 PM Aug 24th
*Excellent piece in Chron of Higher Ed. puts UC’s predicament in regional perspective. Regent Russell Gould quoted: http://bit.ly/19Oqwb 9:37 AM Aug 24th

Welp, looks like nothing so far from the head honcho. But there are still a few more days while the voting continues.

Image Source: Nick Fradkin, Daily Cal
Unions Voice Dissent Against Yudof [Daily Cal]