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Marked by a monthlong celebration of the Free Speech Movement and the unveiling of plans for an ambitious new Berkeley Global Campus, 2014 at UC Berkeley was both a year to remember and a time to reimagine the future.
Politics & public policy archive
Napolitano appointed to Goldman School faculty
December 18, 2014: UC President Janet Napolitano has been appointed to the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Dean Henry Brady announced today (Thursday, Dec. 18).
Black staff, faculty stage silent protest at Sproul
December 15, 2014: Black staff and faculty at Berkeley led a silent protest in front of Sproul Hall on Monday, in solidarity with the nationwide #BlackLivesMatter movement. More than 100 stood in a driving rain to silently voice their support for the growing movement.
Mark Bittman’s menu to include UC Berkeley
December 11, 2014: Mark Bittman, popular food writer and New York Times columnist, will be a distinguished visiting fellow on campus during spring semester, collaborating with faculty, staff and students connected to the Berkeley Food Institute.
Sociologist dubs police killings ‘the other capital punishment’
December 10, 2014: As world attention focuses on police power in the United States following the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, sociologist Jerome Karabel writes in the Huffington Post on “The Other Capital Punishment,” which he defines as “the killing of Americans by the police without benefit of charges, trial, jury or the right to appeal.”
UC’s first crop of ‘global food’ fellows includes three Berkeley students
December 10, 2014: Three UC Berkeley students are among 54 fellows announced Dec. 9 by the University of California’s Global Food Initiative, launched earlier this year to address food security, health and sustainability issues.
Scholars and readers respond to Ferguson fallout
November 26, 2014: This week, readers responded with passion to law professor john a. powell’s post on the Berkeley Blog about the Ferguson decision. Meanwhile in California alumni magazine, social psychologist Jack Glaser discussed the “Burdens of Bias” and why the grand jury outcome came as no surprise to him.
The decision in Ferguson: Deep disappointment, deep divide
November 25, 2014: The grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, is clear evidence of the nation’s deep divide, says john a. powell, director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley: “What we are witnessing is a reflection of a systematic failure in our society.” On the Berkeley Blog.
$45 million in grants fund new cybersecurity centers at UC Berkeley, MIT and Stanford
November 18, 2014: Berkeley’s new Center for Long-Term CyberSecurity will map out what the cybersecurity problem will mean a few years down the road, and to stimulate interdisciplinary research efforts that will make a difference in resolving the threat.
Students’ ‘Feeding Forward’ fights hunger, food waste
November 12, 2014: A food-recovery program developed by Berkeley students makes it simple for businesses and organizations to list perishable-food surpluses, and to speed those donations to social agencies that feed the hungry. In the Bay Area, more than a half-million pounds of food have been distributed since the the launch of “Feeding Forward” in 2013. Now its founders hope to scale up.
Study says California solar boom makes the state a national leader, prepares new generation of workers
November 10, 2014: A new report from UC Berkeley’s Don Vial Center for Green Jobs notes California’s leading role in the solar energy field, and recommends steps to secure the state’s solar energy future in terms of energy supplies and for workers, too.
john a. powell, in KPFA series: ‘Ferguson has been a long time coming’
November 7, 2014: Haas Institute director john a. powell delivered a potent history of race in America in a KPFA Evening Dialogue lecture this week. “Ferguson has been a long time coming,” he said. “[It’s] the modern expression of the slave patroller.”
Study identifies effective communication strategies for voter ID laws
November 5, 2014: A new study examining impacts of voter ID requirements finds some effective communications tools to help inform and prepare voters to be prepared when going to the polls.
Coexist or perish, wildfire analysis says
November 5, 2014: An international team of fire experts led by UC Berkeley’s Max Moritz concluded that it is time to stop fighting fires and instead develop strategies to coexist with fire. For example, zoning and building codes and evacuation protocols should be developed to allow people to live with fire, just as they now live with earthquakes and tornadoes.
Why voting matters (or not) — Berkeley students weigh in 
November 4, 2014: Undergrads on Sproul Plaza share their views on the election — whether they’re exercising their right to vote this time, and what races and issues matter to them most.
The skinny on soda taxes, in under 3 minutes
November 3, 2014: Professor Alan Auerbach answers some key questions about the initiatives on Tuesday’s ballot in Berkeley and San Francisco to add taxes to purchases of most sweetened drinks. Auerbach is director of the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at UC Berkeley.
How a cardiac surgeon became ‘Egypt’s Jon Stewart’
October 29, 2014: In this video interview, political satirist Bassem Youssef, who made a campus appearance Wednesday, discusses how his life and career changed after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, and shares his thoughts on free speech, student life and food.
Hell-bent on getting out the vote
October 28, 2014: Sarah Funes’ million-dollar question is how to get minorities excited about voting. The UC Berkeley junior, who has lobbied in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., advised transit agencies and been a poll worker, says her political passion comes from being “Latin, a woman and disabled. I want to elect people who look like me.”
The skinny on soda taxes, in under 3 minutes
October 28, 2014: As the Nov. 4 election nears, Professor Alan Auerbach answers some key questions about the initiatives in Berkeley and San Francisco to add taxes to purchases of sweetened drinks. Auerbach is director of the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance.
Hospital mergers and acquisitions leading to increased patient costs
October 21, 2014: The trend of hospitals consolidating medical groups and physician practices in an effort to improve the coordination of patient care is backfiring when it comes to lowering the cost of patient care, according to a new study. Researchers find that patient costs are significantly higher in hospital-owned physician groups compared with physician-owned groups.
They like to watch, yes, but that’s just the beginning
October 13, 2014: Kai Huotari, a sometime filmmaker and former visiting scholar at Berkeley’s School of Information, analyzed thousands of tweets and interviewed 45 “TV live-tweeters” to learn why people would do such a thing. Note to TV producers: It’s not all about you.
Senior who wants to save the world says #GlobalPOV set her straight on how
October 13, 2014: Senior Alex Berryhill arrived at Berkeley brimming with idealism, imagining a life of “good intentions, poverty action, and public service.” A minor in Global Poverty and Practice and involvement with the Blum Center’s #GlobalPOV project made her question conventional approaches and seek deeper, more effective answers to poverty. She explains in a new blog post.
Low birth rates can actually pay off in the U.S. and other countries
October 9, 2014: As birth rates decline in countries that include parts of Europe and East Asia, threatening the economic slowdown associated with aging populations, a global study from UC Berkeley and the East-West Center in Hawaii suggests that in much of the world, it actually pays to have fewer children. The results challenge previous assumptions about population growth.
Secretary of State forum Thursday night at I-House
October 8, 2014: California’s Secretary of State candidates will be facing off in a public debate at the International House on Thursday.
Savio lecturer: Speak up for workers ‘behind the kitchen door’
October 3, 2014: Saru Jayaraman, who gave this year’s Mario Savio Memorial Lecture on Thursday, was largely oblivious to the plight of tipped workers until 9/11. Today she’s one of the most impassioned, articulate voices on behalf of the nation’s restaurant workers.
Student testifies in U.S. Senate on disability issues
October 3, 2014: At a recent U.S. Senate committee hearing, UC Berkeley senior Ann Kwong delivered forceful testimony regarding federal policies affecting people with disabilities. Video and a written transcript are now available.
After 26 days ‘in immigrant shoes,’ student mothers ponder next steps
October 3, 2014: Six UC Berkeley student mothers walked a 350-mile “Trail for Humanity” with their children this summer — calling for immigration reform as they traveled south from Merced, Calif. to the U.S.-Mexico border. The action was a way of “putting myself in those immigrant shoes,” says one of the leaders, American studies major Valeska Castañeda. (Versión en español aquí)
Cybertools offer new channels for free speech, but grassroots organizing still critical
October 2, 2014: The communication tools of today have changed social movements since the Free Speech Movement 50 years ago. Whether it is an online petition or survey software that makes it easier for users to register their opinions for elected officials, more options are available for expressing views than ever before. Still, cautionary flags are raised about the limits of the Internet and online tools by many who know the behind-the-scenes work needed for a movement to be successful.
Berkeley and the making of Yosemite
September 25, 2014: Yosemite National Park would be something quite different were it not for UC Berkeley and its visionary scientists, alumni and leaders. That’s the blue-and-gold current flowing through Yosemite: A Storied Landscape, a just-published e-book that brings to vivid life the first national park in celebration of its 150th birthday.
‘Haga clic para participar': Bilingual California Report Card launches
September 24, 2014: A bilingual version of California Report Card went live on National Voter Registration Day, Sept. 23, to serve the state’s millions of Spanish speakers. The civic-engagement tool was developed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom with the CITRIS Data and Democracy Initiative at UC Berkeley.
