Go Bears!
That phrase means a lot to Berkeley alums. As most of you that read my site know, I received my degrees in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley.
Recently, Erik Tarloff posted an article to the Atlantic website decrying “UCB RIP.”
I’m torn, Erik might be right is his opinion that the days of Cal might be waning. He fears that the dramatic cuts in the current state of California budget have started the long, slow slide into obscurity for Cal.
Cal has long been regarded as one of the greatest universities in the country, and in the world. A remarkable, and unique, achievement for a public institution.
But it now looks as if those days are over. It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen completely. But absent an unlikely, massive injection of private funding, the university is on an inexorable glide path downward.
Tarloff, E. (2009, July 22). UCB RIP. Retrieved July 24, 2009 from Atlantic Web site:
http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/erik_tarloff/2009/07/_when_my.php
And I’m torn with Chancellor Birgeneau’s response that:
As Chancellor of Berkeley, I see the real challenge as not whether Berkeley can remain one of the greatest universities —there is no doubt that it will — but whether it can do so and still retain its unique public character.
Birgeneau, R. (2009, July 24). Berkeley will remain great, but will it retain its public character? Retrieved July 24, 2009 from University California at Berkeley Web site: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/24_ucbrip.shtml
I do think that there are challenges ahead–but as a Cal alum that bleeds blue and gold–I have to believe that Cal will solve them. I believed in what Berkeley had to offer so much that I worked there for 9 years after I graduated with my Master’s (bypassing the entire dot com thing). I worked to improve the teaching and learning environment for students. I worked along side faculty and staff to continue the excellence that is Berkeley. My contribution back to Berkeley for my world class education, was my time, expertise and experience.
When I tell people where I work now, MIT, they go “wow, that’s a great university.” I mostly respond with “meh, I used to work at UC Berkeley.” (Not to belittle MIT in the least, I’m used to excellence and working with really smart, innovative people because of my experiences at UC Berkeley.)
In the last twenty years, Cal has gone through budget crises in the past, and has emerged stronger. Though I have wondered what would happen if Berkeley went “private.” During my time there state funding rapidly eroded. I know this change is one that Chancellor Birgeneau (one of the few recent Chancellor’s I haven’t met) is warning against in his reply. He says that he hopes that private giving will make up for state shortfalls–I wonder if Cal can be “public” without any state support at all?
’nuff said for now.