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

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Cal Through the Looking Glass The University of California at Berkeley is renowned throughout the world for many reasons, both academic and otherwise. Because of the University ' s multifaceted reputation, students have diverse expectations. Whatever they expect, the truth is usually stranger than fiction. To discover their wide views, the Blue and Gold queried a smattering of students to get their comments on how their actual experiences confirmed or contradicted their expectations. Name: Amy Friedman Major: Psychology I knew this was a good school, but I thought Berkeley was really weird at first. Dur- ing the first couple of weeks of my first year, this street person played the piano all night in my co-op. Everyone thought he was a friend of someone else. I was really freaked. Name: John Hyun Major: Genetics I came from a small, independent school, and I heard that Berkeley had a big bureaucracy and you could get lost really easily ... and a lot of that is true. But once you find your niche, it becomes a small en- vironment in a large en- vironment. It makes you feel much more comfortable. Names: Cynthia Sass and Jill Couvson Majors: Mass Communica- tions and Business Administration I came here expecting to fit in immediately. I pic- tured everyone relating on a higher level. But, the people were the same, on- ly older. Name: Josh Iversen Major: Philosophy I was expecting mass orgies in People ' s Park and I went into the park one night after dark preparing for the orgy when the UC Police Department ar- rested me for indecent ex- posure. I found out then that prison life in Berkeley is the same as prison life in Orange County.

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subject to University penalties. Now, UC Berkeley recognizes its students as independent adults. Much of this shift in at- titude owes to the fact that many older people are entering or returning to school, and also due to the sheer volume of students. Members of the op- posite sex now live side by side in dormitories they even share the same bathrooms (to the shock of many of the earlier generations). Likewise, the University leaves law enforce- ment to the Berkeley police in off-campus matters. The political climate of the 60 ' s and early 70 ' s, with the advent of the Civil Rights and Women ' s Rights movements on campus and nationwide, forced the University to withdraw from its role as a parental figure and to focus primarily on academics. Despite these two obvious examples of progress, many still question just how relevant UC Berkeley ' s 60 ' s legacy is to the current student body after all these reforms have been in ef- fect for more than a few years. During the Free Speech Move- ment, there was one uniting cause freedom of speech. This safety in numbers, com- mented Political Science Pro- fessor Robert Price, may have been a contributing force to the mass demonstrations. Some observers note that since pro- tests or rallies are on the decline, that the progressive spirit is waning. There are, however, many politically oriented on-campus associa- tions whose goals are diverse and therefore have propor- tionally fewer supportors. Altogether, there may actually be more students who are politically involved now than in the 60 ' s. Based on their political and social views, Cal students of the 60 ' s were often termed liberals because their values were radically different from those of their parents. Today, however, the media has pro- claimed that a new, conservative generation has taken over on the Berkeley campus. It is true that a growing number of Bears are Republicans; but researchers Rose Scherini and Greg Thompson suggest that party affiliation may not actually reflect the whole picture. Perhaps those ideals which were considered liberal in the 60 ' s are so ac- cepted that they now seem middle of the road by those who grew up with them. In ad- dition, UC Berkeley, even with its controversial past, cannot be expected to be wholly indepen- dent of national political trends. To both students as well as the casual observer, countless legacies of the 60 ' s are visible throughout the Berkeley cam- pus of the 80 ' s. The University of California at Berkeley, home of the Free Speech Movement, is still a recognized leader among politically active cam- puses and remains at the forefront in student rights ' movements. by Mark Wigod

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Name: Lenna Park Major: Comp. Lit I didn ' t expect peo- ple to be so helpful, friendly, and easy- going. Everyone warned me how impersonal and big Berkeley was. I was completely, pleasantly surprised. Berkeley is known for academics and politics, but I ' ve learned so much about people. I ' m really going to miss it when I have to leave. Name: David Spivak Major: Chemical Engineering I felt like I was at sum- mer camp my whole first semester. I was ly- ing out in the sun and my meals were made for me — all I had to do was eat, sleep, and go to school. It ' s still kind of like that. I expected the most brilliant minds with a mohawk — the typical off-the-wall Berkeley stereotype. Name: Karen Zuker Math Grad Student I knew what to ex- pect from Berkeley because I ' d visited the campus. But, my parents drove me up, and my father walked through Sproul ab- solutely amazed because Berkeley was just like it was reputed to be. I like it because it ' s a liberal school and people are interested in a lot of things. Name: Stephen Hammers Major: History I came to Berkeley because there ' s a lot of interaction with people from every walk of life. I remember when I came here I was really scared. I was standing on the corner of Bancroft and College on my second day here and I didn ' t know where the cam- pus was. But, after five semesters at Berkeley I feel like a self-assured, independent individual.