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A HOMOGENIZED CAMPUS
BY ALBERT WANG

Any UC Berkeley student would be mortified to learn that a unique cultural institution on campus which has attracted aficionados from halfway around the world was going to be replaced by another branch of a food establishment over a matter of profit. Yet this is precisely what Manny Buenrostro, the president of UC Berkeley's Associated Students of the University of California, is doing, with the support of the ASUC Senate.

On October 12, the Senate's Store Operations Board approved the conversion of the BEARcade, the only arcade within the city of Berkeley, into an ice cream lounge supplied by Gelateria Naia, an ice cream vendor with four locations, one of which is a block off the west border of campus.

The campus newspaper The Daily Californian promptly jumped to Buenrostro and the Senate's support, calling the BEARcade "UC Berkeley's very own campus dungeon" and claiming that it was only receptive to male gamers. Such stigmatization is unfair. Video games, far from being a juvenile diversion or an insignificant niche activity partaken in only by social rejects, have been acknowledged as an important part of culture by such social researchers as Orjan Nordhus Karlsson (Sosiologisk tidsskrift, 2004, 12, 3, 273-284,) Hector Postigo (Information, Communication & Society, 2003, 6, 4, 593-607,) and Laurent Tremel (Education et Societes, 2002, 2(10), 45-56,) in some cases even being compared to the cinema industry. Additionally, the Daily Californian ignores the fact that female gamers can be found in the BEARcade, usually frequenting such games as Dance Dance Revolution and Time Crisis, and glosses over the fact that the BEARcade turned a profit last year, instead focusing on its losses in previous years.

The BEARcade provides its audience, "paltry" as the Daily Californian may call it, with an experience that cannot be easily replicated. It hosts games that are difficult to find or much more expensive elsewhere, such as Guilty Gear XX, a tournament fighter popular in Japan but only found in three locations (including the BEARcade) in Northern California. More importantly, however, it acts as a focal point for a community inclusive of Berkeley and beyond. An outpouring of letters in support of the arcade to the Daily Californian highlighted the vital role of the BEARcade for competitive gamers; Patrick Miller cited tournaments attended by "professional players from as far as Japan."

Buenrostro apologists point out other venues for video games, such as La Val's, a bar and restaurant featuring some arcade machines, or even home systems. However, La Val's, a chiefly food-oriented business, cannot recreate the selection or atmosphere of a dedicated arcade like the BEARcade. Video games for home consoles or the computer can entertain, but they require, in the case of the former, the money and space commitment of a television and a console, or in the case of the latter, an up-to-spec system, which can be costly. More importantly, however, they cannot duplicate the arcade experience; the tournaments described by supporters of the BEARcade would be out of place in a private residence with a Playstation 2.

On the other hand, Berkeley has no shortage of ice cream shops. Shopinberkeley.com lists seven establishments, four of which are within a block of the west side of the UC Berkeley campus. Packaged ice cream is also available at local grocery stores, as well as several Cal Dining locations.

Some may argue that more people find ice cream appealing than people find arcade games appealing. This is probably true. Yet UC Berkeley has long been famous for its belief in diversity and for its suspicion of purely commercial interests. Can these ideals survive the collective sweet tooth of the Berkeley community? With the ASUC happily preparing to replace Berkeley's only dedicated arcade with an eighth ice cream shop, the answer to this question grows more and more doubtful.


UPDATE: It's happened. The ASUC, turning a blind eye to a petition that gathered 600 signatures in 2 days and to the aforementioned letters in support, is making the final step in this assault on diversity of interests. On Friday, the BEARcade will go the way of UC Berkeley's bowling alley. Thanks for reading and, hopefully, thinking. Please direct your comments to President Buenrostro.

ANOTHER UPDATE: In a correspondence with Crapitalism's Albert Wang, President Buenrostro stated that "the idea behind the Gelateria Naia lease is not purely for commercial interest," and that he was mainly interested in providing an area for such student performances as poetry readings, as well as a "social and comfortable lounge." He contended that both services were needed by the student body.
However, UC Berkeley poets do have venues available to them, such as the Free Speech Movement Cafe and the Bear's Lair, both of which are on campus. There are also ample off-campus sites for poetry readings. While the student handbook Resource asserts that free lounge space on campus is decreasing, it suggests the Heller Lounge and the campus cafes as alternatives. There is no urgent crisis over a lack of performance venues or lounges for UCB students; certainly, it is not the case that there is only one of either in the entire city. Even if this were the case, trading one scarce campus resource for another does diversity no service. Furthermore, Buenrostro fails to provide a reason why the BEARcade specifically should be annihilated to make way for his plans.
Inform Buenrostro and the rest of the ASUC that you do not approve of this action, and do not patronize the Gelateria's lounge. The ASUC must know that attacks on campus diversity will not be tolerated, or it will only continue the pattern of behavior that victimized the campus bowling alley and has now victimized Berkeley's last arcade.

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