Thursday, May 8, 2008

More News Coverage

The budget cuts were mentioned in a May 5th posting at the Angry Asian Man blog. You have to scroll down to May 5th to see the article.

The rally today was a HUGE success! Thanks to everyone who turned out to oppose the cuts. Check back here later for pictures and video.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Reminder--Rally Tomorrow

Just a reminder that a rally to protest the budget cuts will be held at Noon tomorrow in Sproul Plaza, followed by a march from Sproul to the East Asian Library. Please let your friends, your friends' friends, and your friends' friends' friends, know about this if they don't know already; and if you're going to be on campus tomorrow, come join the crowd!
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News Coverage--We're Being Heard!

Links to two news stories that have been published about the budget crisis:

The Daily Californian-
http://www.dailycal.org/article/101592/departments_brace_for_next_year_s_funding_cuts

Inside Bay Area/Contra Costa Times-
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_9174582

The second of these is especially encouraging because it mentions the date of our rally. Our voices are clearly being heard; and with the press conference today having been such a huge success (a standing-room-only crowd showed up to hear the speeches) we can only assume that, in the coming weeks and months, more and more people are going to realize the seriousness of these cuts.

As always, please forward these links to as many people as possible.
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Reminder--Sign Our Petition!

If you're a Berkeley student and haven't already signed our petition, please sign it. We're hoping to have 1,500 student signatures by the press conference tomorrow, and we can't get there without your help.
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Student Testimonals--Please Read!

Many students impacted by the budget cuts have written testimonials that express how the cuts affect them personally. The testimonials were collected by the Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies Committee.

If you're not sure how much these budget cuts really matter, read these testimonials; if you have friends who don't particularly care about the budget cuts, make them read these testimonials. Nothing we can say about the cuts expresses their impact as viscerally and persuasively as the stories these students are living.
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Address List Uploaded

Writing a letter to a state or university official? If you're having trouble finding an address or other contact information, look no further! We've uploaded an address list for your convenience.
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Monday, May 5, 2008

California Resident? Join the Letter-Writing Campaign!

You can help protest the budget cuts by writing your state representative. Don't have time to write a letter? We've just posted a template you can use.

And, as always, please encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.
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Rally Thursday, 12 Noon, Sproul Plaza

A rally will be held to protest the budget cuts at 12:00 Noon this Thursday in Sproul Plaza. After a few speakers address the crowd, everyone assembled will march from the Sproul steps to the East Asian library.

It is vital that the media be able to report a large crowd, so if you can come to the rally for ANY amount of time at all, please do. Please also spread the word, both within and outside the university community.
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Sunday, May 4, 2008

Online Petition Launched!

The Support East Asian Language Education Online Petition is now operational. As yet, this is the only petition directly related to this blog, so please sign it even if you've already signed other petitions relating to the EALC cuts.

Also, if you haven't already done so, please sign the Save Korean Studies petition.
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-Mission Statement-

This group was established to communicate the impact of the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) budget cuts on the UC Berkeley community at large. Not only do these cuts threaten the academic opportunities of each student, they are poised to decimate both the Korean Studies Program and language classes for East Asian heritage students. We urge all UC Berkeley students--regardless of academic focus or ethnic heritage--to show solidarity in the face of these campus-wide budget cuts. We also urge all students to join the related group "Save Korean Studies at UC Berkeley".

The breakdown of the impact on EALC as of Fall 2008:

3200 students took Korean, Chinese and Japanese at UCB in the 2007 school year. In the 2008 school year, this number will be restricted to 1500. At least 1500 students will be denied the opportunity to study Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

During the next academic year, students outside of the school of Letters and Science will not be able to take Korean, Chinese or Japanese. Most of EALC’s language teaching is not for its own students but is a service to the university at large. Under these conditions, EALC can no longer provide this service to the university. Current EALC language students outside of L&S will be unable to proceed with their studies next year. If the cuts remain into the near future EALC will likely have to limit enrollment to EALC students. Students in departments like Economics, Political Science, and History will not be able to enroll. Students in those departments will not be able to take the necessary languages. Undergraduate students will not be able to fulfill requirements, and graduate students will no longer be able to complete MA/PhD work in a number of areas.

➢ Percentage of classes to be cut from each language in EALC
o Japanese 40%
o Chinese 54%
o Korean 66%
➢ Numbers of students to be cut from next year's classes
o Chinese: 550
o Japanese: 496
o Korean: 484

In view of this situation, we urge the following:
  • Increased transparency in the budget allocation process at every level of university administration.
  • Establishment of permanency in lecturer positions and the creation of language education chairs.
  • The disbursement of discretionary funds to EALC from the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost to mitigate the current crisis.

We also encourage you to mention these demands in any protest letter you may direct to UCB administration.

Contact us at saveEALC@gmail.com.