Monday, November 23, 2009

We're back

It's not that nothing has been going on, but some of us are also supposed to be working on our degrees, and sometimes fighting the good fight gets too time-consuming. Besides, the way this institution and this state are going, we shouldn't be surprised when people want to keep their heads down, finish their degrees and get the heck out before it really hits the fan.

Just to get us rolling again, here's some recent news:
  • The rec center wants even more money. They took a big state-budget cut and they do need to pay for their facilities maintenance, but we're having a hard time prioritizing this since we live in a city where it's pleasant to just go for a jog or lift weights in your own backyard during almost the whole school year.
  • "Huge Revamp of Higher Ed Envisioned". This is your basic article on synergizing with the community colleges and pumping out more degrees. Instead of tying state funding to enrollment, it would tie it to number of degrees granted. (Did someone say 'factory'?) We don't have to tell you how problematic this could become, especially considering the already-rampant grade inflation we have at the state schools. Now it could turn into pay your fee, get your degree.
  • California takes an outrageous tuition hike and Shelton suggests in the State of the University address that we might, too. The Wildcat encourages Shelton to be straight with us. UC students were so outraged by the exclusionary tuition hikes that they showed up en masse, stormed the administration building and got on the national news. The BIG question is: Will UA students just take the tuition hike we're almost guaranteed to take this year, or will they fight back?