University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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a EXCELLENCE AMIDST ADVERSITY V ' oo o U o CO UNDERGRADUATE FEES 1993-94 $4,039.00 1992-93 3,280.00 1991-92 2,678.50 1990-91 1,640.00 1989-90 1,570.00 1988-89 1,530.00 semester of our senior year. Here ' s more on education: being a college student means having the choice of going to and skipping classes at will. So, what happens when bomb threats, striking T.A. ' s, and cancelled classes make that choice for us? When we ' re deprived of our full education time, does that mean we get a partial refund? Remember that it was Cal ' s lovely architecture which was partially responsible for luring me here? Well, gone are the majestic stone steps to Doe Library and the sparkling water in campus ponds. Now, the campus looks more like the excavation site at an archeological ruin, with cranes and bulldozers converging on pathways where students can no longer tread, and endless wire fencing cordoning off the heart of campus. They ' re building the what? The day I started college was the day I finally left the sheltered world of Mommy and Daddy. At last I had entered the real world, where a greater challenge than academic competition was fighting to survive the ugliness and crime that 1 thought existed only in the movies. Living in the real world meant feeling stone cold to the plight of the homeless, staying bolted indoors on u z LU o Ll o I— LU riot nights, and shrugging off the mur- der of a neighbor with a certain survivalist apathy. It also meant the sudden interest in taking judo and taekwondo classes. Welcome to Collegetown, USA. With all these unexpected bonuses, could things get even better? Absolutely. Only in Berkeley can you get free entertainment on the side, everything from topless people, bottomless people, to noth- ing-at-all people just waiting to be noticed, and you don ' t have to spend a fortune in X-rated clubs. After the first few years have passed, most stu- dents begin to realize that the only constancy on this campus, and the only things we really live for, are the players in our own Berkeley Carnival. Take a stroll on campus and stop to hear free religious anti-religious lectures; enjoy a spell- binding act of juggling fire torches or a Houdini straight-jacket escape; listen to a certain green purple-haired man cackle away on every subject imaginable. And don ' t forget all the unexpected afternoon musical interludes — depending on your mood, you can take your pick of jazz, marimba, bucket drumming, and even soon-to-be-famous local rock bands. For only $1655.75 per semester (that ' s $22.08 per day, and rising fast) what a bar- gain! Text by Dobbio Yuan Layout by Lara Vinnard

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The truest test cj niE¥l NETTLE, irVUmiUCK CD I o ,- hoosing a college must be the turning point in the life of every high school sen- ior. I look back at the golden year I made my decision and wonder how on earth I chose, of all places, Berkeley. Why not Harvard? (I would had I been accepted.) Or how about Stanford? (Why pay $16,000 when I could get it for less?) What became of UCLA? (The campus was an unimpres- sionable blur the size of Texas.) Ahhh, Berkeley. Hazy memories of my first visit long ago come flooding back. The green, eroding Sather Gate. The zippy ride up the towering Cam- panile. The elegant curves of the marble steps leading to Doe Library. Perhaps best of all. . .piping hot Blondie ' s Pizza. The choice was a simple one of sheer economics — Berkeley is a bargain. In fact, little did I know as a naive freshman back in 1990 that I would be get- ting far more than I bargained for at Berkeley — in education I can ' t say, but in nearly everything else. As my parents (and now the Regents) constantly remind me that Berkeley is the cheapest school on the West Coast in exchange for quality education at a prestigious university, I ' d like to say, Wr-r-o- ong Dad! Can I have more allowance? Instead, in exchange for more than double the tuition since my first year, there have been tremen- dous cuts in basic services like the use of our undergraduate library and the reduction in must-have courses like Spanish 1 and 2 from 12 sections to a rock-bottom low of just 4 sections. I do grudgingly admit that one does get the benefit of the broad education as promised in the university bulletin and virtually every other piece of university propaganda. In reality, we ' re practically forced to take classes outside our intended studies since we aren ' t able 1 get into classes in our ma- jor until maybe the • ' y .y

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I I Planning protesU, writing pol- icies, and meeting with the UC President are just a mere sam- pling of what goes with the package for ASUC President Margaret For- tune. Having been involved with the ASUC government since her freshman year, Fortune was chosen by her peers two years later to un- dertake the university ' s highest stu- dent leadership position in a year that saw numerous calls for a rep- resentative student voice. Since Fortune took office, her pri- orities have been promoting qual- ity in the institution, curriculum, and faculty. Also top on her agenda has been leveling the plane of equality among people of color. Currently, Fortune is working on creating and pushing for a state leg- islative bill that would attempt to attract more underrepresented teachers to the math and science fields at the high school and college levels. Looking back at her term, the 21- year-old junior sees her responsive- ness to students as a primary pos- itive aspect. Berkeley is a podium by which to speak to the world but (it) has been criticized as having dormancy on campus, said For- tune. As one of my challenges, I ' m hoping to awaken students because we have the potential to mold social change. According to Fortune, her biggest accomplishment was leading 1,000 students to the 580 freeway in the Rodney King protest. That has been symbolically Important to By Debbie Yuan me, she recalled. Fortune has also worked extensively on gay and lesbian issues as well as organizing the Women ' s Empowerment conference that kicked off the Year of the Woman. In addition, she has devoted her energies at the graduate level in issues concerning fac- ulty diversification at Boalt School of Law, women and sexual harassment in the School of Architecture, and in the GSI strike. This is one aspect that graduate students don ' t realize, said Fortune. I ' m also working as their representative. Despite the many accomplished goals on her agenda, Fortun said that the biggest setbacks to carrying out various progressive policies have been university bureaucracy and the constant power struggle in the ASUC Senate. According to Fortune, as a female minority she often has to battle it out on the Senate floor with Its predominately white, conservative males. Howev ' er, she addressed the fact that she ii not another self-interest group bui is working for all students. What has resulted from all thli Involvement with student govern ' ment? I ' ve learned there ' s a uni ' versal value to equality, said For tune. This has come down as i guiding philosophy that has motl ' vated me to do what I am doing. I ' ve learned that students have the po- tential to effect change if we mo- bilize through research, building coalitions across ethnic, gender, and sexuality lines, and acting collec- tively. Fortune, who intends to ma)or ii Political Science and minor in Af- rican American Studies, takes oi her post as more than a full time job, according to Stacey Llttlejohn her chief of staff. The ASUC pres- ident admitted that she practically makes Eshleman Hall her second home. However, for the young futur« leader who aspires to attend Prince- ton Univeraity ' s Woodrow WllsoB Public Policy Program right aftei graduation, schoolwork still takei precedence. It ' s definitely impor- tant to balance with academics sometimes, I have to choose to tun down ASUC-related functions ovei schoolwork, said Fortune. I need loU of discipline, but the ASUC ij an excellent academic tool. PRP inPNT