Class Pass/Career Center Election
It’s happening right now. You can go vote if you want. I wasn’t planning on voting (because as a graduating senior I don’t feel it’s my place to decide what types of changes will be made for future students), but now that I see I can win an iPod, I guess I might as well.
For substantial criticism of either of the measures, see Beetle, and here is the CalPatriot Blog criticizing the Career Center fee. I’ll be voting no on both measures.
Speaking of the free iPods, I really wish they wouldn’t give away prizes for voting in these elections. Part of the election itself involves a requirement that at least 20% of the school vote. The barriers for voting in an online election are as low as can be, and the people who don’t have the time or energy to vote and have to be bribed into doing do must truly be completely uninformed and uncaring about the issue. To bribe those people into voting is bad for democracy, and its a form of cheating by the pro side to make sure the 20% requirement is met. [And yes, I suspect that this election will probably not be in danger of being under 20%, but this is not the first time that prizes have been offered, and I doubt it will be the last.]
I think that, technically, if you vote “abstain” on both measures then you don’t count toward the 20% quorum, and you still can enter the iPod drawing.
But practically speaking, I suspect that most people who vote just to enter the drawing will go ahead and mark either “yes” or “no”. And I totally agree with you that bribing people to vote is a bad idea even without the ‘20% rule’, and much more so with it.
Comment by Sherriff Anonymous — February 21, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
Why no on Class Pass, Andy?
Comment by Donald — February 21, 2006 @ 4:05 pm
People can walk to the career center. It’s not any further from central campus than Tolman. The ’student union’ still has less stuff in it than regular campuses, but the career center isn’t necessarily what it needs. Although as a compensation, this school does have exciting and useful businesses near campus. If you visit a few other schools that are in ‘college towns’ or surrounded by upscale or rural landscape, you really appreciate Berkeley. UC Santa Cruz and Davis require you to go a mile to nearby fast food. UCLA abuts Beverly hills.
Boalt Hall accidentally tells people they’re admitted
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=3928700
Comment by jo — February 21, 2006 @ 4:48 pm
There’s are referenda for vote? Really? Has the university put out any announcements of this? I don’t recall seeing them.
I’ve only learned of it from CalStuff & CalPatriot blog. Maybe that’s part of the reason for concern about low participation.
Comment by GB — February 21, 2006 @ 8:54 pm
n/m. the extension kiddies don’t get to vote.
Comment by GB — February 21, 2006 @ 8:56 pm
jo, Davis has fast food on campus. I ate at a Taco Bell in the middle of campus once.
Comment by cw — February 21, 2006 @ 9:06 pm
Also UCLA is near everything from mom-and-pop restaurants, to fast food, to clothing stores.
Comment by cw — February 21, 2006 @ 9:07 pm
It comes a sad day in Berkeley when the University fucks students over and we’re willing to up our student fees for things the University, if managed correctly would give to us anyways: Health Care fee increase, the class pass fee increase, MOVING A CAREER CENTER TO WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
Comment by Anonymous — February 21, 2006 @ 9:11 pm
The University should drive a private fundraising campaign, raise about $10 M, and build a new Career Center very near campus–say, where the Berkeley Art Museum is going to move from. That is the ideal location for a new career center.
Before that happens, though, I think students should pay up for this service. It’s worth it.
Comment by Anonymous — February 21, 2006 @ 10:00 pm
There’s now some literature on reasons why to be opposed to the class pass vote.
Comment by Anonymous — February 21, 2006 @ 10:28 pm
http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/referendum.asp?id=1828
Comment by Anonymous — February 21, 2006 @ 10:28 pm
I already voted NO on both intiatives. The Class Pass is not worth $160 per year. And the career center ALREADY IS across the street from the campus. If you can’t muster up the courage to walk 300 meters down Bancroft, you don’t care enough about your career to get advice anyway.
Comment by Stupid Fees — February 21, 2006 @ 10:42 pm
A vote YES on the career center is just letting the University step over us like doormats and letting them have money for something they shoudl be doing.
AC transit will have a heart attack if we vote NO, and they’ll start bargaining. 30,000 students with class passes is good money for them.
Comment by Admiral Anonymity — February 22, 2006 @ 7:46 am
If you vote YES, the terrorists will have won.
Comment by Beetle — February 22, 2006 @ 8:26 am
Why does this forum seem to have completely died?
Comment by Anonymous — February 24, 2006 @ 8:29 pm
CalStuff ha muerto
Comment by Anonymous — February 24, 2006 @ 10:41 pm
when do they announce the election results?
Comment by commodore anonymous — February 24, 2006 @ 11:32 pm
Results are here: http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/referendum.asp?id=1648
Comment by Jim Fung — February 26, 2006 @ 2:53 pm
How pathetic.
The students are retards for turning down the Career Center initiative. It’s only 20 bucks a year, people!
That result, in combination with the Class Pass getting approved, shows how truly third-tier the student body has become. Support for a bill that lets us commute to school. Turn down a bill that would vastly improve career services.
Very smart. Well done, Berkeley!
Comment by Anonymous — February 26, 2006 @ 7:03 pm
what’s wrong with commuting to school? i certainly didn’t see any posters that said “Vote No on the Class Pass and STOP COMMUTING today!” I guess I just didn’t know that communting was such a dangerous thing; how third-tier my thinking must be! And PS, that career center initiative didn’t say ANYTHING about expanding services. Maybe there was something about adding two 50% employees, but they could be administrative for all we know. If someone can’t walk four blocks to the career center, they probably don’t have the initiative to benefit from the services such a center would offer. But don’t take my word for it, I’m just a commuter.
Comment by qcm — February 26, 2006 @ 9:20 pm
if you think that it was going to “vastly improve career services”, you must be a complete idiot. all it was going to do was move the career center 2 blocks closer to campus. if you don’t care enough to walk down to the career center, then you deserve to be a janitor.
Comment by commodore anonymous — February 26, 2006 @ 9:23 pm
1) the fucking school should move the goddamn career center for free
2) Chancellor Birgeneau get spaid 300,000+ for being an idiot douchebag
3) voting yes ont he classpass is just another way of letting AC transit walk all over students. I bet if they increased it next semester the students would vote yes on it again. But let’s protest fee increases while increasing our own fees. Anyone see the hipocrisy?
Comment by Anonymous — February 26, 2006 @ 9:35 pm
but what do I know. I’m just a dumb commuter. Who doesn’t give a crap about the class pass. Because I drive to campus every day. By myself. And pollute the hell out of the atmosphere.
Comment by commodore anonymous — February 26, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
Well, Class Pass or not, voting down the Career Center move was idiotic. Students complain about a lack of services, and then when this opportunity arose to make things much better, they turn it down because it costs a measly 20 bucks a year.
Cheap and stupid, I guess.
Comment by Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 8:53 am
again with the idiocy and lack of comprehension.
how was moving the career center two blocks going to make things “much better”?? The measure was not going to improve the quality of the services offered by the career center one iota. Get this through your thick skulls, morons.
Comment by Sherriff Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 12:22 pm
Hey, Career Center biatch. 20 dollars are year times several thousand students at Cal equals = 10 million dollar LEASE. We are throwing our fees into the landlord of some rathole building on Bancroft. Eff that shiz!
You are an idiot for thinking that it would improve services. People are also idiots for letting AC Transit run over them. AC Transit is USING Cal students to offset its financial mismanagement/budget deficit. Eff that shiz!
Comment by ASUC sucks balls — February 27, 2006 @ 12:37 pm
AC transit is just goign to raise fees again next semester. And Students will vote yes on it for some unknown reason. Why they oppose fee increases in one case but not in another is kind of perplexing.
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 27, 2006 @ 1:25 pm
My understanding is that the Center would be improved (better facilities and more staff, which would be funded by the University), and of course the location is better.
Comment by Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
The University is not doign as a favor with the career center. This is something they’re obligated to do. Imagine if they wanted to raise fees to keep the math department.
Comment by Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
Well, I agree–this is the University’s primary responsiblity. The fact that they see fit to put money into other things–like spending hundreds of thousands a year on outreach, for example–while neglecting the Career Center shows how out of wack its priorities are.
No one has mentioned the new Dean of Students yet. Seems like a real loser. Who are all these people that Genaro Padilla is getting from 3rd rate institutions, anyway? First Walter Robinson, now this.
Comment by Bhanu Singh — February 27, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
They can do all this for free. Just swap the Career center and the “Multicultural center.”
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 27, 2006 @ 3:03 pm
f*ck multiculturalism
Comment by Sherriff Anonymous — February 27, 2006 @ 3:31 pm
RepBast, now THERE’S an idea.
Seriously, there is no reason why the University can’t do this–it is simply not that expensive (about $600 K per year). To be honest, however, I think the students were dumbasses to let this one go. You get what you pay for.
Hell, if this were any other school, the University would simply raise fees 20 bucks and just get the job done. Unfortunately at Berkeley everything has to go through a “vote”. Lame ass bureaucracy.
Comment by Bhanu Singh — February 27, 2006 @ 3:33 pm
If you take a look at the student fees, every student has to pay an ethnic studies fee. I never voted on that.
Other schools would just pick up the career center, dump it in MLK and move the multicultural center down to where the career center is. They may even do it for free. In fact, other schools wouldn’t put aSUCK in charge of a multicultural center.
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 27, 2006 @ 6:43 pm
Ethnic studies fee? What the hell is that?
Seriously it amazes and saddens me how Berkeley is being managed into the ground. It’s pathetic.
I don’t know if this is real, but if it is, God help Berkeley:
http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/display.php?user=Legal-Minded
Boalt is being screwed as well. Thanks, Edley! Thanks, Birgeneau!
Fuck.
Comment by Bhanu Singh — February 27, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
Myself and some concern students would like to give you some important information regarding the upcoming ASUC elections. We feel that this is necessary information for the leadership and general membership of Democracy Matters. As you all know the ASUC campaigns are a time of great activity on our campus, often this activity is quite bothersome to many and disrupts the daily lives of many Cal students, staff, and faculty. While the ASUC serves a vital function on campus, some of those involved often serve mainly themselves and are not concerned with what should be their first priority, the students that elected them, thus those they are promised to serve.
There is a senate candidate running this election cycle with just such qualities. He is a self-interested, maliciously ambitious person. In other words he is concerned with his self and the power that he can gain for himself. If elected he will not be a true represented of the students of this campus, who naively place their faith in him without knowing his true character. The senate candidate that I speak of is Scott Lucas, current president of Cal Berkeley Democrats. He will be running for Student Action, as the assuredly self-assumed representative of the Cal Dems. As one speaking with knowledge about Cal Dems, he has assumed this position without the consultation of the membership of the Cal Dems. This is precisely an example of the person that he is. He thinks that by virtue of his position, he can force the Cal Dems to support him, whether or not they truly feel that he should run as their representative. Scott was in fact not elected by the membership of the Cal Dems, he reached his current position by default. The elected president transferred schools and Scott the next line was placed as president. When Scott ran for external vice president of Cal Dems he ran unopposed, thus giving him an unchallenged unqualified seat. We can assure you that if he ran for president he would not have won, by virtue of his lack of experience and unpopularity within the organization. In fact today Scott is disliked by the majority of members of the club. Those that do return to the club return because of their support and commitment to Democratic politics, not for their support and commitment to Scott. In fact, this year’s active membership is dramatically lower than last year’s and previous years. Mainly as a result of Scott’s incompetence as a leader.
Practical insight into the power-grabbing attitude of Scott is last year’s election. He was the campaign manager for the unsuccessful campaign of Cal Serve candidate Taylor Allbright. Besides the incompetence of getting his candidate elected his change to Student Action, the arch nemeis of Cal Serve speaks volumes regarding Scott’s loyalty and integrity. He saw that he could not win with Cal Serve and choose to abandon them in favor of Student Action. Simply put Scott lacks the integral characteristics of integrity and character that an elected official requires.
We thank you for your time and consideration. Hopefully this has provided some insight into a candidate that is truly unqualified and undeserving of office.
Sincerely- Concerned Cal Students
Comment by caldems — February 28, 2006 @ 12:00 am
Bhanu:
http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Registration/feesched.html
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 28, 2006 @ 7:40 am
If it wasn’t clear by RepBast’s link, go down to campus fees:
“The Campus Fee consists of an ASUC fee ($27.50), a Student Center fee ($6), an Ethnic Studies fee ($2.25), an Intramural Sports Facility fee ($28.50), a Life Safety fee ($38.00), a Recruitment and Retention Centers fee ($3), and a Campus Health Care fee ($43.00).”
Comment by cw — February 28, 2006 @ 9:38 am
So why didn’t the University just tack on the Career Center fee rather than passing it through a referendum?
Doesn’t make sense. The ethnic studies fee strikes me as BS too.
Comment by Bhanu Singh — February 28, 2006 @ 10:08 am
I need to demand $2.25x3 years of money back from the University
And what’s this Student Center fee?
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 28, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
“his change to Student Action, the arch nemeis of Cal Serve speaks volumes regarding Scott’s loyalty and integrity.”
No it doesn’t. I would actually more question the integrity (or at least effectiveness and competence) of someone who buys into silly student party politics enough to consider waffling between the 2 to be disloyal and, uh, unintegrified.
Comment by Donald — February 28, 2006 @ 2:18 pm
do you really think calserve would nominate a white guy for executive office?
Comment by Sherriff Anonymous — February 28, 2006 @ 2:23 pm
CalServe would never nominate a white guy unless he was gay.
Does BCR have a representative in Student Action as well?
Comment by RepBast1984 — February 28, 2006 @ 2:54 pm
The funny thing is that you are all taking the ASUC election seriously. HAHAHAHAHA
Comment by Wow — February 28, 2006 @ 7:49 pm
Josie Alvarez for President and Rita Encarnacion for (Some) Vic President!
Comment by Admiral Anonymity — March 1, 2006 @ 11:22 am
huh wait.. you know who senate candidates are in each party?? is there even going to be an election.. i thought there was no chair…?
Comment by huh... — March 1, 2006 @ 1:49 pm
Those are exec candidates. Josie Alvarez is pretty and charismatic and Rita Encarnacion is probably one of the most electable candidates, more moderate and appeals to engineers and Asians. Those 2 will be very hard to beat in the Spring.
Comment by Admiral Anonymity — March 1, 2006 @ 3:22 pm
Dear Student Group Leaders-
It has come to our attention that an incendiary e-mail attacking the character of Scott Lucas has
been circulated to student leaders. The author of this e-mail claims to speak for the Cal Dems
membership and leadership.
As the executive board of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, we express our profound disappointment that
someone would choose to disparage our club in such a manner. We have not wavered in our support of Scott and know that he will continue to represent the club and serve the
campus community.
Sincerely- The Cal Berkeley Democrats Executive Board:
David Denney- External Affairs V.P.
Suzanne Ruecker- Internal Affairs V.P.
Jimmy Tiehm- Treasurer
Natalie Nava- Secretary
Nathan Schneider- IT Director
Jamie Beard- Smart Ass Editor-in-Chief
Sarah Edwards- Smart Ass Editor-in-Chief
Jane Park- Communications Director
Noreen Byrne- Social Chair
Comment by Cal Berkeley Democrats Executive Board — March 2, 2006 @ 1:24 pm
Shouldn’t you guys be busy trying to frame issues for the 2008 election? haha
Comment by RepBast1984 — March 2, 2006 @ 11:12 pm
RepBlast-
CalSERVE will and has slated a straight white male for Prez.
Guess who.
Comment by 1 vote for Max — March 3, 2006 @ 2:56 am
did i mention he was Jewish?
Comment by 1 vote for Max — March 3, 2006 @ 2:57 am
Ah hah! CalSERVE is furthering the stereotype that only a white male can become president. Just kidding. Max Besbris is an excellent choice for President as he is more open-minded than possible choices as seen in the past. Then again, most of CalSERVE this year is pretty open-minded comapred to the years past. No physical attacks this year.
Unless Student Action brings up a superior candidate, Max has my blessing as ASUC President. I also think Josie and Rita will make fine running mates. The bar is set that much higher.
Comment by RepBast1984 — March 3, 2006 @ 6:24 am
Max may be open-minded, but he is just as progressive as any CalSERVEr from years past. Ask SA people and they’ll tell you that Max can be their best friend and worst enemy.
He is by far the most qualified and charasmatic candidate out there and will make a great President.
I only hope the campus realizes this and doesn’t turn it into a popularity contest. If they do, expect to see another Gabriel presidency.
Comment by 2 votes for Max — March 3, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Max Besbris is what I consider to be the exception to the general rule, that someone can be strongly convinced of their views but at the same time open to listen to others. How else would a conservative RA in Unit 2, in the most solidly moderate cluster of dorm buildings (Westside) give a senate vote to Max while being a vehement suppoter of Manuel Buenrostro, one of my best friends, for President?
I met Max and I like his personality and his ability to talk to people who may disagree with his views. Even though I had been more involved campaigning with Student Action, that was the first year that I broke ranks and voted for CalServe senate candidates as well.
Comment by RepBast1984 — March 3, 2006 @ 6:35 pm
cameron hueys a fucking nutjob douchebag who turned his back on student action even tho student action people like christine lee let him manage her campaign. said he’d leave them as soon has his friend manny (who he said he’s never turn against) leaves office. what a fine piece of loyalty we’ve got there.
Comment by cheguevara — March 5, 2006 @ 5:30 pm
“Let him manage her campaign.” How thoughtful. I wish someone would let me do thankless work for free.
Comment by Beetle — March 6, 2006 @ 8:11 am
If Cameron played his cards right it wouldn’t have been thankless
Comment by bob jones — March 6, 2006 @ 11:41 am
what a load of garbage its a great honor to run a campaign.
Comment by cheguevara — March 10, 2006 @ 12:45 am