Classic.

from: Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor
to: "Staff, All Academic Titles, Academic Senate Faculty, Students,
date: Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 4:06 PM
subject: Wheeler Hall closed

The campus is dealing with a health and safety issue in Wheeler Hall and the building is closed. All classes and events scheduled in Wheeler Hall for this afternoon/evening are cancelled until further notice.

This is the aforementioned "health and safety issue": eight students on the front balcony of Wheeler Hall. [Daily Cal]

Quite honestly, I'd been working in my office on the fourth floor all day and had no idea the students were there until the surprising cop presence in my place of work prompted me to check Twitter.

You know what's unpleasant? Having cops give you the fish-eye in your place of work. Likewise, having UCPD come in and "secure the building" by making sure your window's locked on a perfectly gorgeous, warm, sunny day (of course we promptly opened the window and walked out on the balcony as soon as said cops left). Having to leave your own damn office in the middle of a Thursday afternoon (you know, your writing time) because UC admin has decided to shut down the whole building on account of a few protesters whom you can neither see nor hear.

As usual, protesters caused me no problems, UCPD caused me a lot. (Operational) Excellence Without Money reigns.

A chilling detail in the Daily Cal article:

Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard said around 4:15 p.m. that the protesters on the ledge had been visited by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Harry LeGrande, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Jeff Prince and Associate Chancellor for Government, Community and Campus Liaison Linda Williams.

Nice pathologizing of political speech there. Well played, UC admin.

In three minutes, U of Minnesota professor Eva von Dassow lays out to her own regents why budget cuts that target the liberal arts especially are economically dishonest and intellectually indefensible:



From the article at Inside Higher Ed:

Specifically, she said that "those programs engaged in the production of knowledge that is readily turned into the money are the targets of investment while the rest are to be downsized into an efficient credit and degree factory." She cited liberal arts programs losing faculty slots while there is money for new biomedical research professors (taking care to say that biomedical research is indeed valuable and that she was questioning only the idea that other programs aren't worthy based on their lack of financial payoff).

See also Historiann on excellence without money.