pepper spray, batons, trees

[ritaxis]

So the police rioted on campus yesterday. People were sitting in trees and marching around with drums, so the police busted out the pepper spray and the batons. Films all over: links behind the cut, at the bottom, in case you want to scroll down and skip the neepery.

Comments

[cpxbrex]

Part of the reason why my wife chose UCSC over U of Maryland is the redwood forest, hehe (and that cutting edge scientific research, of course). She's opposed to the expansion of the school. Sure, it's true that California is getting larger, but the local community is unable to sustain expansion they're calling for. All of the people I've spoken to about the subject, up at the university, believe that the regents are primarily motivated by ego and greed. UCSC is a great school, but it'll never be breathed in the same breath as MIT unless it's the same physical size as MIT. They'll never early six figures a year unless the school gets bigger, and has more income to justify a salary increase. Stuff like that.

[ritaxis]

You know what, though? UCSC is already right up there. Somebody did an "influence" study -- how many times staff and faculty and grad students from each institution were cited in peer reviewed journals, and UCSC was in the top tier (I'm afraid to quote the exact standing because I'll get it wrong).

So now, it's kind of a matter of not starving the programs, really. You have to give them new buildings and equipment, but . . . I am certain there is a more intelligent way to do it!

[cpxbrex]

I absolutely agree! UCSC is one of the finest research institutions in the world, yeah. But it's not about facts, I think, but perceptions and, well, ego. And maybe money, using undergrads as a cash source.

But it could be done much better. If the increase in staff was in, say, environmental sciences and the proposed buildings were, say, going to be designed for minimal ecological footprint as part of a sylvication project . . . there'd be a lot less community objection, I feel. But the regents want to bulldoze ahead, in several senses, ignoring the needs of the community and the scholastic environment. There are ways that you could grow the school that wouldn't annoy either the community or the students, but they're going for this simple plan of just adding seats in objection to just about everyone!

Which is, I suspect, preaching to the choir. ;)