editors' note
Dear hb reader,
With the advent of budget cuts and fee hikes, we’ve raised hell—we’ve talked the talk and, as evidenced by the rally on the 24th, we’ve certainly walked the walk… and now it’s midterm season. Good bye rabblerousing, hello late night library trips (with the inevitable awkward bear walk) and caffeine overdosing. I’ll be the first to admit that the mid-semester slump has put a dent in my activism but it’s time to keep the momentum going.
When the robustness of Asian Pacific Islander (API) courses and the API progressive community is at risk, we have to keep on pushing ahead. Fee hikes not only create an unfair burden to students across the board, but it becomes a financial barricade for prospective API UC applicants from backgrounds and experiences that make the progressive API community progressive. We saw what the administration was willing to do to API culture and language courses last year before the students created ad hoc committees and mobilized against the cuts. And this was when the threat was not even close to the magnitude it is now. The administration has not seen API education and languages as a priority before these cuts and they definitely will not now—unless we make them.
While the walk out gave us the push that we needed, this energy cannot be sustained without continued discussion, planning and participation. We need to reevaluate our methods when the administration has learned to neutralize our efforts through emails overtly stating their support of the movement while covertly making an administrative and state issue solely a state issue. Although we find inspiration in the sixties and kickass TWLF legacies, we have to understand that new times call for new strategies. Are we engaging with the community to recognize our common needs? Are we working on alternative policies rather than (in addition to) bashing the Regents?
So before crashing after that 7th coffee, take a peek at our article on budget cuts, educate yourself, and keep on fighting to preserve our education, our future, and OUR university.
In over-caffeinated, sleep-deprived solidarity,
Cecilia Tran
Story editor