API Education and Languages NOW!

2010-06-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hilarious clip from the Daily Show about Chinese language instruction in Hacienda Heights:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-7-2010/socialism-studies

Letter of Support and Solidarity to UCSD Black Student Union

2010-03-02T12:21:00.001-08:00

March 1, 2010

To the UCSD Black Student Union and their allies:

We, the members of Asian Pacific Islander Education and Languages NOW! (APIEL NOW!) at UC Berkeley, are outraged by the racist, hostile, and demoralizing events that have transpired over the past two weeks at UC San Diego. We stand in full solidarity with your struggle to push the UCSD administration both to change its institutionalized practices of racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia and to commit to creating a safe and empowering living and learning environment for the African-American community and other historically underrepresented communities of color on campus.

Far from being isolated incidents of racism at UCSD that can be addressed through teach-ins, the “Compton Cookout,” the racially derogatory comments made by SR-TV, and the noose found hanging in the UCSD library collectively point to the deeper problems of institutional racism and marginalization both within and outside of the education system that perpetuate these kind of ignorant and hateful acts. In a joint statement, the UC President and the Chancellors condemn the racist incidents and state that they “reflect neither our principles nor the values, nor the sentiments of the University of California community,” yet it is clear to all communities of color that condemnation alone does not create real change, nor does it begin to address the real root of the problem: the continued segregation of public schools; the lack of stable and fully-funded resources to recruit, retain, and support students of color in all levels of education; the repeated division of labor along racial, gender, and class lines; the barriers that continually deny underrepresented communities access to public services such as affordable health care, decent housing, stable jobs, decent working conditions, and adequate representation; and the failure of the educational system to build awareness about and to teach students about racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and the need for affirmative action.

We in APIEL NOW! recognize that the fight communities of color face in higher education is against an administration that neither prioritizes students, faculty and workers of color, nor is willing to transform the higher education system into one that actually acknowledges and actively seek to fight the daily oppression and exclusion that underrepresented communities of color face. We are outraged that even though African American students make up only 1.3% of the student population at UCSD, the UC administration still plans to implement a new admissions policy in 2012 that will effectively decrease the number of African American students previously eligible for guaranteed admission to UC by nearly 50%. “Representation” and “diversity” at the UC are both empty terms. Having representation from historically underrepresented communities on a campus does not mean that they are equal, nor does it mean that their peers will automatically have, and more importantly, practice a critical understanding of the history of violence, repression, and exclusion that underrepresented communities face on a daily basis.

We fully support the demands that you have raised, all of which point to key ways to build permanent and institutionally-supported classes, programs, support services (academic, emotional, financial), and spaces that will create a welcoming campus climate and learning environment actively shaped by the African American community’s and historically underrepresented ethnic communities’ concerns and demands.

We stand behind your demand that UCSD better educate the campus about underrepresented communities’ histories through mandated diversity sensitivity requirements in African-American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Gender Studies, and we hope that the university will develop these departments so they have the breadth and depth necessary to give students a comprehensive understanding of the struggles that underrepresented communities of color face in a society that is still fundamentally divided and racist. The budget cuts are no excuse for not making immediate changes to a deeply flawed curriculum and educational system. The San Francisco Unified School District, for example, where 90% of the K-12 students are nonwhite, just approved a pilot program last week that will add Ethic Studies classes to their high school curriculum. Alongside UCSD BSU, we will continue to fight to make Ethnic Studies, African-American Studies, Gender and Woman Studies, Chicana/o Latina/o Studies, Native American Studies, Middle-Eastern Studies, Asian Pacific Islander American Studies, and South/Southeast Asian Studies an integral part of every K-UC school.

Today, we watched the Black community at UC Berkeley stand in front of Sather Gate for two-and-a-half hours in silent solidarity with you and pass out literature to the rest of the student body – literature that documented both the acts of hatred that took place at UCSD, as well as every racist incident that has taken place against the Black community at UC Berkeley for the past nine years. Next Monday, we will stand in solidarity at Sather Gate with you and with them when they hold their second nonviolent, silent demonstration at Sather Gate. We are ready to help in whatever way we can to fight for the rights of those in our communities who have been marginalized and oppressed.

In solidarity and struggle,

Asian Pacific Islander Education and Languages NOW!

UC Berkeley

Petition in Solidarity with Black Students at UCSD

2010-03-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

Please visit and sign the following petition in solidarity with Black students at UC San Diego.

http://www.petitiononline.com/cvlihs11/petition.html

Basic Fact Sheet on the 2012 Admissions Policy

2010-02-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

DIVERSITY AT RISK: WHY THE 2012 ADMISSIONS POLICY SHOULD BE RESCINDED

+ Starting in 2012, the percentage of California students eligible for guaranteed admission to the UC system will decrease from 12.5% to 10%. The new policy eliminates the requirement for 2 SAT II Subject Tests and creates a new category of students who are “entitled to a review of application, but not guaranteed admission.“

+ If the policy had been in effect in 2007, 18,000 fewer California high school students would have been eligible for guaranteed admission to the UC system.

+ The new criteria cut eligibility for guaranteed admission across the board, but minorities bear an inequitable share of the lost guarantees. If the policy had been in effect in 2007, 50% fewer African Americans, 42% fewer Chicano/Latinos, 41% fewer Filipinos, 39% fewer Pacific Islanders, and 36% fewer Asian Americans would have been eligible for guaranteed admission. The number of whites would decrease only 23%. (These declines are not a projected simulation, but based purely on a bright-line test of eligibility).

+ The policy results in increased reliance on SAT Reasoning Test Scores to determine eligibility for guaranteed admission.

+ Although the policy creates a more diverse pool of students “eligible for review,“ this change will fail to increase diversity since comprehensive review at UC campuses is already under pressure to decrease in-state enrollment and increase out-of-state enrollment. Reducing the percentage of CA students guaranteed admission to UC and replacing it with “entitlement to review” exposes in-state enrollment to systematic erosion during times of budget crisis. (Already at UC Berkeley, the number of Latino freshmen who enroll next year could decline by 18%, the number of black freshmen by 13%, and the number of first-generation freshmen by 15%).

+ Although Yudof and the administration claim that this policy will increase diversity at UC, the results of three simulation studies suggest that this policy will either have "race neutral" effects or will decrease African American enrollment anywhere from 27%-33%, decrease Latino enrollment by nearly 3%, and decrease Asian American enrollment by 11%. Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative action in 1998, led to a decline in African American admissions by 12.6%.

Where can I find information that supports the policy? http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/eligibilitychanges/faqs.html

HOW CAN I GET INVOLVED?

Come to our next organizing meeting on Tuesday, March 2nd from 4-6 PM in the Multicultural Center (MLK Student Union)

For more info, contact API Education and Languages Now! (apielnow@gmail.com or http://apielnow.blogspot.com)

Response to Durant Hall Occupation Statements

2010-02-28T12:06:00.001-08:00

I want to respond briefly to the various accounts that describe the history of Durant Hall and why it was occupied.

The "Occupy California" website states that "Durant Hall had once been a haven for East Asian Language studies, but is now being remodeled into another administration building."

Reclaim UC states: "No longer is there any trace of the library it once was -- the East Asian Library, now moved across campus to a new building named after an insurance mogul who founded the notorious AIG. Language has been uprooted, pruned, and replanted as well. The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures went with the library, and in the process lost half its Japanese, Korean, and Chinese classes as well as the faculty that taught them -- over 1,500 curious students will be turned away this year."

Durant Hall was far from a "haven" for the Asian language lecturers who were continually marginalized, disenfranchised, and excluded on a daily basis in their departments within that building -- something that continues today. The language programs have been slashed for years, so the claim that EALC "went with the library" is, I think, a false one: these programs had been disappearing for years as the result of a slow but continuous slashing of sections and funding even before the library moved from Durant Hall to the new C.V. Starr Library in 2008. When the administration threatened in 2008 to cut the language programs and lecturers by upwards of 50%, students and lecturers held massive protests and press conferences and were in fact able to reverse those cuts. This is not to say that everything is fine in EALC because those cuts were reversed -- things are far from fine. Budget cuts continue to shave away language classes one section at a time; the language lecturers -- particularly pre-six lecturers -- continue to bear the burden of the cuts because of their weak job security; students on overflowing waiting lists are turned away from language sections because the university refuses to open up more sections, to hire more instructors, and to acknowledge that there has been and continues to be a very real demand for these classes that the university is not meeting. Yet it is absolutely essential to understand the actual internal politics of Durant Hall and EALC before publishing statements like "Why Durant Hall?" and "The Durant Riot: Initial Brief," both of which disguise the fact that Durant Hall was in fact a symbol of repression for the very language lecturers who worked inside of it as well as a symbol of vast inequalities between the EALC literature program and the EALC language program.

I know that these statements were made with the best of intentions and I appreciate that Reclaim UC is giving attention to a program that has been and continues to be devalued by the administration, but please make sure that these statements are factually correct before passing them out to the campus community. We have a great opportunity here to reach out to a segment of the campus community that has been actively fighting for EALC language programs and lecturers for years, but in order to do that we need to understand EALC and Durant Hall's true history and politics. If you're interested in learning more, APIEL NOW! (Asian Pacific Islander Education and Languages NOW!), EALC lecturers and SSEAS lecturers have been working on a task force report that documents these inequalities and the long degeneration of the programs in detail.

-- Katherine Lee

APIEL NOW! Statement on 2012 Admissions Policy

2010-02-27T11:29:00.001-08:00

Diversity at Risk

A statement by APIEL NOW! (Asian Pacific Islander Education and Languages NOW!)

February 20, 2010

Making students jump through admissions hoops is essential to a world-class university's prestige. However, for students of color and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, that hoop is about to shrink in size. Proposed by UC President Mark Yudof and approved by the UC Regents, the new UC admissions policy, set to go into effect in 2012, is a deceptive piece of work that actually reduces the percentage of high school students guaranteed admission to at least one UC campus while masking its true nature by expanding the pool of applicants eligible to apply. Although these reductions in guaranteed admissions will affect all applicants, this policy will disproportionately impact students of color.

There are three main features of the new admissions policy: it reduces the percentage of students guaranteed admission to a UC from the top 12.5% of statewide high school graduates to the top 10%; it eliminates the SAT II Subject Test as a UC requirement; and it increases the percentage of seniors who are guaranteed admission within each high school ("Eligibility in Local Context") from the top 4% of a high school graduating class to the top 9%. Overall, this policy will expand the pool of applicants eligible to apply to UC by as many as 30,000 students, which, according to Yudof and UC Academic Senate Chair Mary Croughan, will “increase opportunity” and allow well-qualified students who have not taken the subject tests to have their application considered for comprehensive review.

While there are several positive aspects of the new policy – particularly in decisions to expand both the Eligibility in Local Context and the pool of applications that UC will review – there are critical problems with the policy's implementation that severely compromise its overall effectiveness and intended goals.

First, this policy relies on a murky category of students who are “entitled to review, but not guaranteed admission,” thus deflecting attention from the administration's reduced commitment to hard admissions guarantees. By eliminating the SAT II Subject Test which admittedly has been a barrier for students in lower socioeconomic classes and many minorities as a UC requirement, the policy does allow more students to apply to UC than under the current policy; yet having one’s application reviewed does not guarantee admission, particularly at a time when campuses like UC Berkeley are cutting back in-state enrollment in order to save money. According to UC Office of the President's (UCOP) own data, approximately 18,000 fewer CA high school graduates would have been eligible for guaranteed UC admission had this policy been in effect in 2007.

Second, the elimination of the SAT II as a UC requirement means that the criteria for deciding the top 10% of high school graduates statewide will be more heavily based on scores from the SAT I, a test that privileges groups with access to test-prep. resources.

Yet, in the policy's defense, the administration argues that the percentage of students eligible for admission in their local context will increase and thereby level the playing field for students from poorer schools. As UCOP studies show, such a boon, however, is nullified by the overall reduction in guaranteed admissions. Although the pool of students eligible to apply might be larger and more diverse, the actual group of students eligible for guaranteed admissions will be increasingly homogeneous. According to a California Postsecondary Education Commission eligibility study, 50% fewer African Americans, 42% fewer Chicano/Latinos, 41% fewer Filipinos, 39% fewer Pacific Islanders, and 36% fewer Asian Americans would have been eligible for guaranteed admission had the policy been effective in 2007.

In short, this policy does not validate the UC Regents' claim that it will increase diversity on UC campuses. Of the three UCOP simulation studies, two demonstrated that this policy would be damaging to diversity in student admissions, and one showed negligible impact. If the best case scenario results in a neutral outcome and the worst indicates a drastic decrease in diversity, then we must question the university administration's folly in implementing this policy.

The 2012 admissions policy, as with recent decisions to reduce the size of the incoming freshman class while increasing out-of-state and international enrollment from 12 to 23 percent, creates the most devastating climate for diversity in the UC system since the passage of Proposition 209. The promise of “entitled to review, but not guaranteed admission” is ultimately a hollow one. What is necessary now more than ever is a policy that can deliver tangible results--not a policy that, under the cloak of increasing diversity, permits the university to accept fewer qualified in-state students.

The university administration has argued that Californians must communicate their concerns for public education to Sacramento. Yet we submit that the university itself must act, in principled and forthright ways, to preserve a public vision for the UC system. For starters, the administration must rescind its disastrous 2012 admissions policy.

Patrick Hayashi's Letter to the Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity

2010-02-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2010

Dear Professor Lu,

Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts about UC’s new Freshman Eligibility Policy with you and other members of the University Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity.

First, let me introduce myself. I served as associate vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment at the Berkeley campus from 1988 to 1998. In that capacity, I was responsible for first strengthening and then dismantling the campus’s affirmative action admissions program. I participated in the development of comprehensive admissions at Berkeley. I then served as associate president under UC President Richard Atkinson from 1999 until my retirement in 2004. I worked with Dick primarily on admissions issues. I assisted him in extending comprehensive admissions to all UC campuses. I worked with him when he challenged the College Board to change the SAT. I have worked with the College Board in many capacities. I was a member of the national commission chaired by Derek Bok and David Gardner that examined the future of standardized admissions tests. I later served on a national commission that examined the Advanced Placement program. From 2000 through 2004, I served as a trustee of the College Board. After retiring, I launched a national campaign questioning the National Merit Scholars Program on the grounds that it was based on false notions of merit that were racially biased and educationally unsound. (See Brent Staples, “A Broader Definition of Merit,” NY Times, October 1, 2008.) I began by writing an article titled “The Merits of the National Merit Scholars Program: Questions and Concerns.” I later worked closely with Professor Michael Brown, then vice chair of the Academic Council, as he raised questions concerning the program’s fairness. I believe Michael would acknowledge that our joint efforts laid the basis for UC’s decision to stop participating in the program.

My academic training is in public policy where I did my dissertation on UC admissions policies under the direction of Martin Trow. Marty served as chair of the Academic Council in 1997-98. He strongly supported Proposition 209; I strongly opposed it. Marty and I disagreed on many things, but he was my mentor and friend. Marty showed me how to think about educational policy. He taught me to pay particular attention to negative evidence, evidence that might suggest that a strongly held position might be wrong. That is why I am writing.

I am deeply disturbed by UC’s new policy because I fear it could reverse all the good work UC has done over the past several decades to increase admission of minority students, particularly underrepresented students. UC’s latest simulations indicate that the new policy may result in dramatic reductions in minority student admissions at all or nearly all of the campuses. African Americans could be hit the hardest. They might drop by nearly thirty percent.

I believe that UC’s projections raise several fundamental questions that need to be asked and answered.

Why didn't UC do the simulations before adopting the new Freshman Eligibility Policy? These simulations would have sparked intense and important debate. All public policy is aimed at improving the future and an essential step in the development of all public policy is to estimate how that policy might impact different sectors of society. Such assessments will necessarily be rough approximations, but they are essential. To adopt a policy without estimating its future impact would be like buying a pig in a poke. Nevertheless, that seems to be exactly what has happened. UC adopted a policy without any clear idea about how that policy could injure the most disadvantaged groups in our society.

Why is UC ignoring its own analyses? UC sold the new policy on the grounds that it is fairer than the policy it replaces and will result in greater racial and ethnic diversity. Now its own analyses show the opposite, that the new policy could dramatically reduce racial/ethnic diversity. How can this be? One possible reason is that the new policy reduces the number of students guaranteed admission by 20 percent. Under the new policy, the top 10 percent rather than the top 12 ½ percent of high school graduates will be guaranteed admission. In other words, the new policy will lop off the bottom quintile of UC-eligible students who would have been guaranteed admission. It is likely that, as compared to white and Asian American students, a higher percentage of African American and Hispanic students would have been in this bottom quintile. If so, the new policy will have a disproportionately negative impact on underrepresented students as compared to white and Asian American students.

UC’s simulations indicate that the new policy could have disastrous effects on minority students, in general, and on underrepresented students, in particular. UC’s projections show that African Americans might suffer devastating losses. The drop in African American admissions might greatly exceed any that has ever occurred in UC’s history. African American admissions might decline anywhere from between 27 percent to 33 percent. By way of comparison, when implemented in 1998, Proposition 209 resulted in a decline in African American admissions of about 12.6 percent.

UC has said that these simulations should not be taken as precise numeric predictions but rather as indicators of the direction and magnitude of probable change. This is a reasonable caveat. Even so, the simulations show that the new policy could have a substantial negative effect on minority students. The new policy could have over twice the negative impact of Proposition 209 on African Americans admissions

What changes in applicant patterns would lead to an increase rather than a decrease in minority admissions?

UC says that its simulations should not be taken seriously because they do not take into account possible changes in application patterns that may result from the new policy. We must ask, therefore, what changes in applicant patterns would have to take place for minority students admissions to increase rather than decrease as predicted by UC’s simulations? For example, what changes in applicant patterns would have to take place for African American admissions to increase rather than decrease? The answer to this question is very troubling. For African American admissions to increase rather than decrease, African American applications would have to increase to a much greater extent than applications from all other groups. In addition, a large percentage of African American applicants would have to present higher than average grades and test scores.

At this point, some might argue that, on average, African American applicants are more disadvantaged than applicants from other groups and thus could receive preferential treatment in comprehensive review. African American applicants may be more disadvantaged, on average, than students from other groups. However, in sheer numbers, disadvantaged African American applicants would be greatly outnumbered by disadvantaged applicants from other groups. In addition, some of the admissions criteria in the new policy, e.g., the endorsement of the SAT-Reasoning test and the bonus point given for grades earned in Advanced Placement courses, are not only educationally unsound but are also racially biased. They have been shown to have a disparate negative impact on minority students, in general, and underrepresented minority students, in particular.

Do UC’s simulations underestimate possible decreases in admissions of underrepresented minorities?

I have sketched a dismal picture describing how the new Freshman Eligibility Policy could have devastating effects on underrepresented minorities. However, UC’s simulations may underestimate the negative impact the new policy could have on underrepresented students. The impact might be far worse than anticipated. Consider these possibilities:

1. The number of applicants for freshman admission increases substantially between now and 2012, but applications increase at different rates for different groups. During economic recessions, demand for higher education spikes upwards because students wisely decide that the best investment they can make is in their own education. However, the capacity to make this investment differs from group to group. It is possible, even likely, that Asian American and white student applications will increase at a greater rate than African American and Hispanic student applications.

2. The average number of campuses to which students apply increases, but at different rates for different groups. Without the safety net of redirection, many students may apply to more campuses, perhaps several more. It is possible, even likely, that Asian American and white students, on average, will apply to more campuses that African American and Hispanic students.

3. The yield rate of accepted students increases. Fee increases notwithstanding, a UC education represents a great value, arguably the very best investment a student can make. Moreover, the ability of students to attend private universities may be adversely affected by the economy. It is possible, even likely, that the percentage of admitted students who decide to enroll at UC will increase.

4. UC reduces spaces available for California residents either through enrollment reductions or increases in out-of-state admissions. I understand that UC is actively exploring these options.

I do not know if these possibilities have been explored in UC’s simulations, but if not, UC’s simulations may substantially underestimate possible drops in African American and Hispanic admissions.

Why is BOARS endorsing the racially biased SAT-Reasoning test?

UC’s unqualified endorsement of the SAT-Reasoning test is especially disturbing. UC’s own research has shown that racial and ethnic minorities and poor students score better on the SAT subject matter achievement tests. Moreover, admissions policies requiring subject matter achievement tests rather than reasoning tests send very different messages to prospective students. Achievement test requirements send the message that students should study hard and master their course work. Reasoning test requirements send the message that students should enroll in costly test-prep courses, learn test-taking strategies and master test taking tricks. This was one reason why BOAR adopted a policy favoring the achievement tests over so-called reasoning tests.

UC had a clear alternative. BOARS could have asked which kind of test is preferable from an educational and social standpoint. For guidance, they could have used the criteria developed by former UC President Richard Atkinson and former UC director of student research Saul Geiser in their paper Reflections on a Century of College Admissions Tests. Atkinson and Geiser state:

[W]e now have much better understanding of why assessment of achievement and curriculum mastery remains vital as a paradigm for admissions testing. Curriculum-based achievement tests are the fairest and most effective assessments for college admissions and have important incentive or “signaling effects” for our K-12 schools as well: They help reinforce a rigorous academic curriculum and create better alignment of teaching, learning, and assessment all along the pathway from high school to college. (Atkinson, Geiser, pg. 1)

Atkinson and Geiser’s statement should not surprise BOARS because it adopted a test policy for identical reasons:

[A]chievement-oriented tests are both useful to the University in identifying high-achieving students and philosophically preferable to tests that purport to measure aptitude (University of California, BOARS, 2002).

BOARS has chosen to ignore its own policy and instead endorse the SAT-Reasoning test and end the achievement test requirement because more students take the so-called reasoning test. BOARS’s reasoning resembles that used by high school cafeterias when they choose to serve French fries rather than vegetables because more students like French fries.

Rather than make its decision by counting heads, BOARS should have first asked which tests are better for students, which tests are superior from an educational and social standpoint. The answer is clear. The two types of tests are equivalent in their limited predictive power, but the SAT subject matter achievement tests have far less disparate negative impact on disadvantaged students and minorities than the SAT-Reasoning test. Many educators concerned with racial integration of the nation’s selective universities believe that the SAT-Reasoning test is one of the most difficult and unfair obstacles for minority applicants to surmount. BOARS itself has stated that the SAT subject matter achievement tests reinforce important educational values and goals that the SAT-Reasoning test subverts.

Why then did BOARS not work with the College Board and other testing agencies to develop a battery of subject matter achievement tests for use in admissions? It could easily have done so. UC claims that its test requirement does not constitute an endorsement of the SAT-Reasoning test. This is nonsense. High school students throughout California will regard UC’s policy as a strong, unequivocal endorsement of the SAT-Reasoning test. Over the next decade, because of UC’s policy, over a million students will be forced to take this racially biased test. Affluent students will take it several times. Through its admissions policies, UC generates more demand for the SAT than any other university in the country. UC could have easily worked with the College Board to develop a battery of SAT subject matter tests that included a writing test and a mathematics test along with other tests from which students could choose. The College Board would have had no difficulty in offering such tests because it already has them.

In sum, UC could have continued to use its stature as the nation’s pre-eminent public university to advocate for better, fairer tests. Instead of continuing UC’s leadership role begun by President Atkinson, BOARS chose to ignore its own policy and endorse the SAT-Reasoning test, a test that greatly disadvantages low-income students and racial/ethnic minorities. Why?

What percent of “entitled to review” applicants will be admitted?

If the number of applicants increases substantially, admissions spaces must first go to those students who are fully eligible and who have been guaranteed admission. The spaces available to those who are merely “entitled to review” will be reduced accordingly. Any reduction of spaces available for “entitled to review” students will hit underrepresented students especially hard because they are the students least represented among fully eligible students.

One key question is how many admission spaces will “entitled to review students” compete for? What percentage of these applicants will be admitted? If seventy to eighty percent of “entitled to review” applicants will be admitted, then the opportunity promised by the new policy is genuine. However, if only twenty to thirty percent will be admitted, then the opportunity will be illusory, cruelly so. UC has boasted that the new policy will greatly increase opportunity. However, the new policy might turn out to be one in which “many are called, but few are chosen.”

How can UC say that it will make quick changes to the policy should such changes be warranted?

UC’s most recent position is that the new policies should be implemented in 2012 and be given a chance to work. UC now reassures everyone that, if warranted, UC will quickly change the policy.

However, the new policy represents a fundamental change in how UC defines freshman eligibility. If UC wishes to change the new policy, it would take at least a decade to make any fundamental changes. UC would have to keep the new policy in place for at least three to five years. If UC wished to change it, Senate deliberations would take another three to five years. Then, if changes were made, high schools would have to be given at least three years advance notice. In other words, it is impossible to make fundamental changes to UC Freshman Eligibility Policy quickly. To say otherwise is disingenuous to the point of being deceitful.

Why didn’t UC consult widely before adopting the new policy?

For over fifty years, UC’s Freshman Eligibility Policy has been characterized by transparency, specificity and certainty. Every student who fulfilled basic curriculum, grade and test requirements was guaranteed admission to UC. Now, UC’s new policy will be characterized by opaqueness, vagueness and uncertainty. For the first time, determination of eligibility will rest, in part, on factors that cannot be verified. Some affluent students can and will pay thousands of dollars for help in crafting their personal essay. To justify its new approach, UC has adopted a marketing slogan coined by the College Board seventy-five or more years ago and has begun saying that the new policy will allow it to find the “diamond on the rough.” Searching for the uncut diamond may have made sense seventy-five years ago when a very small number of rural students were admitted to private colleges. But, it makes little sense now for a large, land-grant university with extensive information and outreach programs. Moreover, the responsibility of a public university to the citizens of its state is different from that of private universities. Anyone who has worked in UC admissions knows that, as a public university, UC’s most difficult responsibility is to be able to explain why it denies a student opportunity. Under the current policy, every eligible student is guaranteed a space at UC. Under the new policy, for the first time, thousands of students who fulfill UC’s basic requirements will be rejected completely without any explanation whatsoever. UC’s new policies will breed disappointment and distrust. Lawsuits will inevitably follow. Worse, for the first time in over fifty years, the question of how UC determines Freshmen Eligibility will become sharply and permanently politicized.

BOARS failed to understand UC’s civic responsibility in setting freshman eligibility standards. UC’s standards determine opportunity for millions of students. UC’s eligibility standards profoundly affect the curricular offerings and grading standards of all California high schools. UC’s Freshman Eligibility Policy has been the single most important factor in establishing and maintaining high academic standards among California’s high schools. The state has given UC authority to set its Freshman Eligibility Policy. However, UC does not set this policy for itself alone. Rather, UC sets it on behalf of all Californians. As such, UC had a solemn responsibility to consult widely before making sweeping changes to the policy. UC failed to fulfill this responsibility. BOARS did not engage in any significant discussions with political leaders or leaders of educational groups, civil rights organizations or community organizations who would have raised sharp questions about the possible effects of the new policy on disadvantaged students.

UC should listen to public concerns and rescind its policy.

I was a member of the group that called for a new freshman eligibility policy five years ago. This group included Michael Brown, Chris Edley, Bill Kidder, Jeannie Oakes, Mark Rashid and David Stern. I know that BOARS developed this new policy with the best of intentions. One of its key goals was to increase admissions of underrepresented minorities, a goal that I strongly support. However, UC’s own simulations show that this policy could have devastating effects on minority admissions. It is time for BOARS to acknowledge that it served up this policy half-baked.

Because BOARS is unwilling to listen to community concerns, UC is making it nearly politically impossible to change its new Freshman Eligibility Policy. UC has said that its new policy is educationally sounder and socially fairer than the policy it will replace. On what grounds could it later argue that the policy must be changed? On the grounds that the policy has suddenly become educationally unsound and socially unfair? If the new policy does result in drops in minority admissions, could UC then say that it wishes to change the policy because it does not like its racial/ethnic effects? In other words, by refusing to listen to public concern and by staunching defending this untested policy, UC is rapidly digging itself into a political hole.

UC is also digging itself into a legal hole. UC’s new simulations have established baseline expectations. They predict that minority admissions, particularly those of underrepresented minorities, will drop sharply at nearly all of the campuses. Any increases, rather than decreases, of admission of any of the minority groups on any campus, would have to be accompanied by disproportionate increases in that group’s application rates and enhancement of the students’ academic profiles. If they are not, many will suspect that comprehensive review has been used to conceal surreptitious and unlawful racial preferences.

Someone once said that if you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging. UC should heed that advice, rescind the new policy and hold the public discussions that it should have held three years ago before the new policy was adopted.

BOARS obtained support for the new policy by promising, in part, that it would result in greater racial and ethnic diversity. Now, BOARS’s simulations show that racial and ethnic diversity may instead be reduced substantially. UC is now attempting to distance itself from its own projections saying that they do not provide a clear picture of what will happen.

One thing is clear. The simulations show that BOARS did not think through what the policy’s unintended consequences might be. BOARS did not analyze the possible effects of the policy on minority admissions. It is not too late for BOARS to rectify its error and reconsider the policy.

Underrepresented students have made tremendous strides during the past decade and their UC-eligibility and admission rates have increased significantly. UC’s own analyses indicate that the new policy could well reverse all the gains they have made. UC’s own simulations show that the policy could far exceed Proposition 209 in the damage it does to underrepresented minorities. If UC implements the new policy and waits to see what happens, it risks sacrificing an entire generation of minority students

This would be unconscionable.

Respectfully

Patrick Hayashi

The Logic of "Yield" in Calculations of Diversity:

2010-02-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

The Logic of "Yield" in Calculations of Diversity:

It is not enough for the UC system to have policies that increase minority admissions. One often neglected issue is what the UC administration terms "yield rate": the percentage of students who receive offers of admission and then choose to enroll in the UC system.

K. Wayne Yang, an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at UCSD recently wrote an open letter to the UC San Diego community. Yang makes reference to the 2007 UCSD "Yield Report" and analyzes some of the underlying causes of the UCSD's extremely low yield rate for historically underrepresented minorities (only about 13% of African American" admitted to UCSD choose to enroll there). As Professor Yang puts it, "We have a 1.3% African-American student enrollment, not simply because of poor admissions, but because admitted students don’t choose to come to UCSD."

A UC Office of the President chart lists the "Applications, Admissions, and Enrollment of California Resident Freshmen from 1995-2005." In 2005, yield rates for Asian Americans, East Indian and Pakistani Americans, and Filipino Americans were higher than the overall yield rate (53%). Yield rates for all other groups were lower -- African American and American Indian yield rates were the lowest.

Asian American: 67% (9761/14,559)

East Indian/Pakistani: 63% (957/1511)

Filipino American: 54% (1536/2833)

Other: 51% (539/1052)

Unknown: 50% (1420/2824)

Latino: 49% (1192/2431)

White: 47% (10,165/21,779)

Chicano: 47% (3460/7226)

African American: 46% (909/1961)

American Indian: 43% (144/326)

One unstated reason why President Yudof has made statements like "they'll be fine" in reference to how Asian Americans will be affected by the new 2012 admissions policy may have to do with a belief that current yield rates will remain largely the same after the policy takes effect. (E.g. even if the admissions numbers of Asian Americans go down, the yield rate will still be "high" and may even increase).

BOARS admits that the UCOP studies lack predictive power because they are unable to "model [future applicant] behavior by extrapolating on the basis of past applicant behavior." This problem is exacerbated because, "[a]s we enter an era of substantial demographic shifts and financial uncertainty, the ability to predict which students will apply and where they will apply is even more uncertain."

Of course, if neither BOARS nor UCOP can properly model future behavior based on past yield rates, then there is no clear reason why anyone should assert that Asian Americans, or any other group, will be fine.

But UCs low yield rates for underrepresented minorities do give reason for concern about the efficacy of the new 2012 admissions policy. As the UCSD Yield Report argues: "simply admitting highly qualified students to the campus does not guarantee enrollments. This is especially true for historically underrepresented minority populations."

Professor Yang points out that despite the particularly dismal yield rates at UCSD, the recommendations for structural changes at UC San Diego for improving yield have "by-and-large NOT been implemented despite 2 years of research and 3 years of reading time." Yield rates for underrepresented minorities at UCSD and other UC campuses will continue to be low without fundamental structural changes to support organizations and campus institutions that aid underrepresented students and address campus climates that dissuade minorities from attending a UC campus in the first place.

UCOP and BOARS data and responses

2010-02-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

The UC Office of the President (UCOP) has a FAQ page on the newly adopted admissions policy.

Summary of UCOP's data on diversity impact (12/16/09).

The Academic Senate's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) response to concerns about diversity.

Language Revitalization Night

2009-10-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

(Message from UC Berkeley Asian American Association)

I am the chair of the Issues Committee in the Asian American Association,
one of the student organizations on the UC Berkeley campus dedicated to
uniting the Asian American community at Berkeley.

This semester, the Issues Committee is planning a Language Revitalization
Program to aid students, whose heritage language is an East Asian
language, gain better fluency in the language they speak at home. We are
trying to increase their comfort and fluency in their native languages
through conversation groups to create an encouraging atmosphere conducive
to attaining these goals. These conversation groups will have bimonthly
meetings where students can practice speaking their language with other
students. We are also inviting more fluent speakers and international
students to assist those who are less fluent in the languages.

I wish to invite the students in the Y and X series to come to our
Language Revitalization Info Night to give a brief talk about heritage
language loss in second or later generation Asian Americans and how it is
important to maintain a grasp in one's heritage language rather than
losing it to a more "popular" language spoken in school or work. During
the Info Night, we will be giving an overview of how the program is
structured and how everyone can participate in the program. We'd really
appreciate it if you could tell your students about this new program.

The Language Revitalization Info Night will be on Friday, October 16th at
7pm in 219 Dwinelle Hall.

Thank you for your time in helping us spread word about language loss in
Asian American students at UC Berkeley.

Jessica Chin (Chen Pei Yi)
Issues Committee Chair, Asian American Association
Art History & Asian American Studies
University of California, Berkeley

In Memory of Gina Hotta

2009-10-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Gina Hotta, the producer of APEX EXPRESS passed away on September 28, 2009 due to a heart attack. Gina was a tremendous supporter of APIEL NOW! and numerous other Asian-American and progressive causes. We will miss her dearly.

Information on Gina Hotta's public memorial service:

APEX Express

by Renee

A public celebration of the life of Gina Hotta will be held on October 25 from 5-7pm, with a reception following.

We will gather at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th street 2nd floor, in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza.

If you are interested in sharing your memories or music, please contact us by Friday, October 16.

You can contribute photos or other small items to the Community Altar, or bring an appetizer for the reception.

Please bring cranes to add to our 1,000 cranes installation in honor of Gina's legacy.

Contact: Apex@kpfa.org
www.apexexpress.org
510-848-6767 x 464

An article in Hyphen Magazine on Gina Hotta:

http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2009/09/rip-gina-hotta.html

Interview on KPFA w/ Gina Hotta

2009-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

APIEL NOW! members Amy Lee and Andrew Leong discuss the 9/24 walkout and the current state of API education and languages at UC Berkeley on APEX, a weekly radio show hosted by G. Hotta on KPFA.

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/54479

A day before 9-11 we let comedy through the gates with Kabeezy Singh and Sammy Obeid. Navigating race, fear and being funny with Ko Comedy. And, Sept.24 UC Walk-out/ Teach-In over cutbacks, increasing fees and UC executive pay. A talk with students' support of teachers, staff and fighting to save Asian language classes. Plus, Odissi is Indian temple dance that comes alive with Jyoti Kala Mandir and a full orchestra, hear more about their performance.

APIEL NOW! Survey/Questionnaire

2009-09-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Please provide your name and e-mail and list what language(s) you have taken, or want to take at UC Berkeley. Then respond to the questions below. If you would prefer your response to be anonymous, or would prefer to send your response by e-mail, then send a message under the subject heading "APIEL NOW! Survey Response" to apielnow@gmail.com.

1. Please describe your experiences when enrolling in Fall 2009
language and/or culture classes. What were some of the challenges,
obstacles, or positive experiences you encountered?

2. Please describe your experiences when signing up for and taking
language and/or culture classes throughout your academic career at
Berkeley thus far. As you answer, please feel free to comment on
things like class size, being on and getting off of the waiting list,
switching sections, class availability (the number of available
sections, the types of classes offered, section times, etc.), and also
consider any similarities or differences between the different
semesters and classes.

3. Is there anything else you wish to tell us about your enrollment
experience in language and/or culture classes?

4. Do you give permission for APIEL NOW! to quote from your responses in materials used to promote increased access to API language education and expanded programs of study in API languages?

An EALC Major's Perspective on Overcrowded Classes

2009-09-04T14:12:00.001-07:00

So the first official week of school is almost over! How has it been for all of you? Busy? Running around all over the place? Or just chilling? For me it’s been pretty busy. I’m a Chinese and Japanese double major, and I know if I hadn’t been a declared major for both of them, I would be a lot more stressed out about getting into my classes (and not being waitlisted.) Yep, that dread word—WAITLISTED. All my classes are full or overenrolled (and they all happen to be, surprise, in the EALC department). Day by day, people have been dropping like flies either to—horror of horrors, especially for a five-day-a-week-language class—eight o’clock section or simply, dropped.

It’s easy to place the blame on the most obvious target: the budget cuts. Overcrowded buses that come less frequently, libraries closed on Saturdays, sections cut, classes canceled, the rising cost of a UCB education… Yet I think that this overenrolled, overcrowded situation in many of the classes in the EALC department is not a budget crisis thing. It’s something that I’ve been seeing with the EALC department for a while now. It’s been consistently non-majors and graduate students being dropped to early morning sections, and classes growing larger and larger.

Take my Chinese 110 class for example. It’s a literary Chinese class that’s a requirement for majors and basically everyone in the class is a major or minor. You’d expect it to be full, or almost full right? Wrong. Completely overcrowded to the point where you gotta open all the windows and let the air in. Around sixty people were in class on the first day for a thirty people class. The professor teaching—Professor Ashmore—told me how he was shocked at how the class has grown since he’s last taught it a few years ago. It used to be from fifteen to twenty five people. Now the official roster is almost fifty people. In a few years. This is how fast the program has grown. Same with Japanese. My professor for Japanese 120—literary Japanese—told us how the class used to filled up two small rows of students. Now it’s over seven rows of students in a completely over enrolled class, just like the literary Chinese class. Isn’t it crazy?

You’d expect demand to be answered with supply, but instead, it’s just been answered with stuffy classroom overcrowding. It’s been this university consistently placing languages in the service education category, impervious to blatant signs of over enrollment. With the budget cuts slashing left and right, it won’t be long before overcrowding becomes downsizing what should have been expansion.

UC Faculty Walkout 9/24/2009

2009-09-01T18:13:00.001-07:00

UC faculty have announced plans for a system-wide walkout on September 24, 2009 to protest President Yudoff's assumption of "emergency powers" and the deceptive implementation of furloughs on "non-instructional" days. For more information see the following link:

http://ucfacultywalkout.wordpress.com/

Welcome Back - Fall Meetings

2009-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

APIEL NOW! will have weekly meetings every Friday at 4pm in 591 Barrows Hall. Our next meeting is September 4, 2009. If you're concerned about API language education at UC Berkeley, then come and bring your friends and classmates. See you there!

Links to Information on the UC Budget Crisis

2009-08-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

- John Vasconcellos's take on the CA budget crisis:
http://www.politicsoftrust.net/founders_view.php

- Helpful interview with AFT President Bob Samuels on Dan Tsang's radio show (KUCI) about UC budget cuts
http://www.kuci.org/podcastfiles/600/Sv090622.mp3

- Professor Charles Schwartz's website, which contains a very comprehensive numerical analysis of the budget, among other critiques of the university administration's lack of transparency:
http://universityprobe.org/
http://universityprobe.org/2009/06/salary-cuts-at-uc/#more-389

- Excellent but upsetting article (2007) about the death of the UC Pension Plan, which is very relevant right now since faculty and staff will be required to contribute to the pension plan starting next year for the first time in many years.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/parsky_s_party/Content?oid=426427

- UCSB Professor Chris Newfield's blog ("Remaking the University"), which has a comprehensive compilation of helpful links, op-eds, petitions, etc.:
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/

Korean language and Korean studies fundraiser coverage

2009-04-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two articles that came out in the Korean language media recently, after the April fundraising event.

Korea Daily, April 12 2009, "Koreans calling for help for "Korean Studies at Berkeley"
Korea Times, April 13 2009, "Save Korean Studies Classes of long history"

Please forward any more articles you find on this or other relevant stories to apielnow AT gmail DOT com so we can get the word out. Thanks!

The Grades Are In -- 2008: Is California Measuring Up?

2009-03-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Link below to the February 2009 report "The Grades Are In -- 2008: Is California Measuring Up?" (Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy and CSU Sacramento). Thanks to Katherine for the link.

http://www.csus.edu/ihe/PDFs/R_Grades_Are_In_08_web.pdf

More media coverage

2009-03-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

Media coverage of the Language Matters event, the ongoing struggle of API languages at Berkeley, and APIEL Now! activity...these links, and links to other articles, will be added to the "Media coverage" list on the right side of the page. Please email "apielnow AT gmail.com" if you know of more. Thanks!

World Journal, "Ling-Chi Wang Urges Against Cutting Asian Studies Courses", accessed March 2, 2009
World Journal, Fiona Ma,Ling-Chi Wang Urge Preservation of Asian Language Courses at UC Berkeley, accessed March 2, 2009
news.sina.com, Open Community Forum Puts Pressure on UC Berkeley - Three Demands for an Emphasis on Asian Language Curriculum, accessed March 2, 2009
news.sina.com, (UC Berkeley Holds Open Discussion on the Importance of API Language Curriculum, accessed March 2, 2009
Joongang Ilbo (Korean Daily), "United to Empower Multi-ethnic Language Education"
Hankuk Ilbo (Korea Times), "Asian Pacific Islander Language Empowerment Symposium: Learning foreign language opens new opportunities"

Hardboiled article

2009-03-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out Eunice Kwon's recent article where she talks about the threat to Asian languages at Berkeley and the work of APIEL Now!

Language Matters video online

2009-03-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all, please check out the Language Matters forum video here!

Facebook pages up - Tell a friend!

2009-02-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, please spread the word on Facebook

Suggestions for other ways to get the word out? Post a comment here or send mail to apielnow AT gmail.com. Thanks!

LANGUAGE MATTERS Event February 19

2009-02-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

API Education and Languages NOW! PRESENTS

LANGUAGE MATTERS: STRENGTHENING ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER LANGUAGE EDUCATION AT BERKELEY

An open forum to promote dialogue among UC Berkeley students, API community organizations, and UC Berkeley faculty and administration invested in building a robust API language curriculum at Berkeley.

KEYNOTE Talk on API Linguistic Diversity
By Scholar-Activist LING-CHI WANG, Professor Emeritus of Asian American Studies (UC Berkeley)

"As long as Asian languages are not taken seriously as living languages used by billions at home and abroad and treated as languages with long and rich literary traditions, which are linked and integral to majors and graduate curricula, then Asian language education will remain second-class and perennially vulnerable to budgetary volatility and cuts." -- Ling-Chi Wang

Also featuring presentations by:
FIONA MA, California Assemblywoman
GIBOR BASRI, Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion (UC Berkeley)
ELAINE KIM, Professor of Asian American Studies (UC Berkeley)
and others....

Feb 19, 2009, 4:00-7:00 PM
Heller Lounge, MLK Jr. Student Union
Free and Open to the Public
Light Refreshments

For more information, please contact apielnow AT gmail.com

Co-sponsored by the Vice Chancellor's Office of Equity and Inclusion, Asian American Studies Program, Center for Race and Gender, Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Center for South Asia Studies, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, Department of Comparative Literature, Asian Pacific American Student Development Office, Asian Pacific American Coalition, Townsend Center Working Group on Asian Cultural Studies, Filipinos for Affirmative Action, Korean Community Center of the East Bay, Chinese for Affirmative Action

Welcome to our new blog

2009-02-08T20:59:00.001-08:00

This is the blog of the new ASUC-sponsored student group, API Education and Languages NOW! This group includes many members of the 2008 ad-hoc coalition to Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies at Berkeley; it aims to further the cause of Asian and Pacific Islander Education and Languages in the face of ongoing budget cuts and institutional restructuring that place API languages, especially those historically underrepresented, at risk. Please check back frequently.

Posts from the Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies at Berkeley blog have been imported below; the old blog will continue to exist at its current URL.

Please direct any inquiries to "apielnow AT blogspot.com". A big thank-you to all supporters, new and old!

Update: Save Korean Studies at UCLA

2008-08-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! As many people from Berkeley are in Southern California on vacation and UCLA students are up north, it's a good time to share information about what's happening elsewhere. The Save Korean Studies at UCLA group has been active for the last few months are is in the middle of an email campaign to save faculty positions and fight cuts to the language program. We're forwarding their intro message to the Facebook group below--please join and pass the word along to friends and family.

Dear Students and Korean Studies Community:

The Korean studies program at UCLA in particular and Asian Studies in the UC in general are under great threat from recent state budget cuts (http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/budget/). It is urgent that students come together to act upon this situation!

The language programs, including Chinese, Korean, and Japanese (not to mention the others), have been suffering from "downsizing" for years, and more cuts have recently been announced. Each year, more and more students are turned away from courses because of such cuts. The administration has also decided to close the one and only faculty position in Korean literature this year. Programs like Korean studies become easy targets during such times of crisis because of its marginal position from the administration's perspective. What is happening is affecting the quality of the entire department of Asian Languages and Cultures.
It is now time for the students to get involved and register their discontent with the administration at the UC and to state officials for the sake of the future of the program! You can make a difference by registering your discontent and signing and circulating the online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/uclakor/petition.html and by raising awareness in various ways! I believe that the students have the most powerful voice and case to bring to the administration's attention at this time. Please contact me if you would like to take an active role in this movement. Thank you for your support!

Signed, Amy Lee and the Student Coalition to Save Asian Studies @ UCLA

YOU CAN HELP BY SIGNING THE PETITION ONLINE!
http://www.petitiononline.com/uclakor/petition.html

OB Chicken Town Fundraiser A Success!

2008-07-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

On June 23, 2008, the CSEALKS organized a very successful fundraiser at OB Chicken Town, raising close to $20,000. Kwang Jin Kang of OB Chicken Town and Sarah Kim-Lee, fundraising extraordinaire, hosted the event. Not only did Mr. Kang volunteer his restaurant and staff, he also generously donated all proceeds from food and drink sales that evening.

The program was filled with inspirational and supportive speeches from the community. Jun Hyung Kim was a fabulous emcee. Ben Lickly impressed the crowd by giving his testimonial in Korean. Alan Tansman expressed his commitment to develop Korean Studies at Berkeley in his capacity as chair of the East Asian Languages & Cultures department.

The following represents a partial list of businesses and organizations that have made donations:

CA Kwang Bok Association
CHO ENT. INC
Global Children’s Foundation SF
Koreana Plaza
Law Offices of Esra Jung
N.CA Drycleaners’ Association
OB Chicken Town
Sahn Maru
Silicon Valley Korean School
Todd and Eleanor Yun Fund

These donations are in addition to gifts we have already received from the following groups:

Contra Costa Korean Presbyterian Church
Edge Hair Salon
Korean American East Bay Chamber of Commerce
Korean Buddhist Temple Sambosa
Koryo Zazang
Ohgane Restaurant
Woosung America

If you happen to patronize these businesses or visit these organizations, please let them know how much we appreciated their support. For news coverage (in Korean) on the fundraiser, please visit our media links.

Fundraising Dinner

2008-06-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday, June 23 (tomorrow) at OB Chicken Town in Oakland Koreatown, we will be having a fundraiser for the Korean language classes with members of the local Korean-American community.

The event is invitation-only, but members of the media are encouraged to contact Jun Hyung Kim (510-292-5356) or Christine Hong (510-658-3310).

meeting friday, 2pm

2008-06-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

hi everyone,

sorry this notice comes so late. the committee to save east asian languages and korean studies will be holding our next report-back and planning meeting tomorrow. the details are as follows:

time: 2 p.m.date: friday, 6/13
place: upstairs, cafe med on telegraph (across the
street from moe's)

at the top of our agenda for tomorrow is an upcoming fundraiser, slated for monday, 6/23, that we're organizing with key members of the local korean american community. the fundraiser will be held at ob chicken town on telegraph. we'll also plan mailing sessions for the local japanese and korean communities as well as summer-school class visits starting next week.

as usual, our meetings are open, and we welcome your attendance, input, and concern. according to alan tansman (ealc chair) on monday, the berkeley budget will be finalized in mid-july (not mid-june, as we'd previously expected). at that point, we should expect some transparency in the across-the-board budgetary picture, but the for the time being, our knowledge comes from what we've been able to learn on a piecemeal basis. we know that asian languages were hit particularly hard--no one denies this--and we know that english gsis stand to be severely impacted, as well. at our meetings, we welcome the reports of folks who are working to fight the cuts to sseas, ethnic studies, english, and other departments, so please feel free to join us.

More news soon...

2008-06-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

Apologies to our reader community for the lack of recent posts... summer vacation is upon us, and those people who are able to work in Berkeley, the LA area, and other places have all been super busy recently. Thank you all, volunteers and members of the community, for your ongoing interest and support.

The budget crisis is far from over and we'll have more updates soon about activities and news. We know there have been several articles recently in English, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese language media. Please send them on to us so we can post them here - you can comment to this post or mail them to "savekoreanstudies AT gmail.com".

If you haven't seen it yet, please also check out the latest from UC Berkeley administrators about the budget situation, posted to the Berkeley website yesterday: "From Sacramento, good news, bad news for Berkeley budget".

The costs of instruction - a few goals and numbers

2008-06-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to quantify what our education costs but this budget crisis has forced us to do just that. And as we conduct outreach to our friends, families, local communities, and the public at large, we often need to break down the larger figures into numbers that connect directly to our everyday experiences in class.

Our fundraising goals are divided into the long-term and the short-term. For the long term (on a scale of years), we seek endowments and other (more) secure, budget-item sources of funding for language instruction at Berkeley, for the languages within the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and especially for languages that have been traditionally marginalized in their larger institutional contexts, like Korean. The costs of attaining these goals are in the range of millions of dollars; discussing these goals is one of the tasks of our committee for the summer and fall this year.

In the short-term, we're trying to raise $500,000 for the 13 lecturers in Korean, Japanese and Chinese who have been informed that their jobs may not be renewed for the Fall 2008 semester. While figures are not exact, we have the most clarity about the how the number of lost instructional positions translates into class cuts for the Korean language program; it is probably similar for Chinese, Japanese and other languages as well.

Because 3 out of 5 of the returning Korean lecturer positions are threatened, we have been told that the Department of EALC may only be able to sustain 5 semester-long Korean language classes in the 2008-9 academic year. This is a drop of 22 classes from the 2007-8 academic year, when there were 27 class sections. The cost of preserving the three instruction positions and saving 22 sections of Korean language instruction has been estimated at $200,000. This means that the cost of preserving one class is about $9,100. Since each class lasts approximately 15 weeks and is taught 5 days per week, saving one hour of instruction would cost about $120--or, assuming a class of 20 students, $6 per student for each hour of instruction.

Of course, these figures are quite rough--if you have information that helps to clarify or expand upon them, please do share it. Please also feel free to use these numbers in your own fund-raising efforts.

Meeting Friday 9am--all welcome

2008-06-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to give you all a heads-up on our next report-back and planning meeting. we'll be meeting quite early (9 a.m.) on friday, but cafe med serves a mean breakfast. the details of our meeting are as follows:

time: 9 a.m.
date: friday, 6/6
place: cafe med (on telegraph, across the street from moe's, upstairs as usual)

our meetings are open, and we welcome anyone interested in attending. now that we're between sessions (i.e., the end of spring semester and the onset of the various summer sessions), our numbers have drastically dwindled, and we definitely could benefit from your creative energy and contributions to our activities. as we move into summer, we're not only collectively brainstorming and developing creative outreach strategies, but also, actively pounding the pavement in neighborhoods within the bay area. please join us.

see you this friday!

Testimonial from Julia Kwon

2008-06-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

For me, college has been a time to learn a language that I grew up with in a formal setting. The Korean department's effective program and knowledgeable teachers have allowed me to correct many of the mistakes that hindered me from using my Korean in more professional settings. Not only that, but now I can write a letter to my grandparents, who only know Korean. As mundane as that may sound, it is a skill that I did not have before taking Korean languages at Berkeley. In fact, some of most valuable experiences at Berkeley have come from taking Korean classes. There is NO REASON to cut back EALC language classes, and MANY REASONS not only to keep the program, but also to build it up. Furthermore, Berkeley should be PROUD of having such highly recommended classes and instruction from wonderful professors.

Completing my first course, K1BX, is what sparked my interest to enroll in more classes. The summer course, K10AB, was phenomenal! My language skills improved dramatically after just one summer. It is no wonder that students prepare for study abroad by enrolling in these very language classes. As a result, cutting EALC classes would be wrongly assuming that EA countries are not sought out destinations for learning and working.

Many of my fellow classmates, who are enthusiastic about learning Korean, are not L&S students. Thus, limiting classes to only L&S majors would be excluding a chunk of our school population who has a DESIRE to learn new languages. For reasons such as these, Berkeley should be offering MORE classes not less.

-- Julia Kwon, Development Studies major (juliakwon AT berkeley.edu)

UCLA students protest cuts

2008-06-04T03:31:00.000-07:00

Students at UCLA have begun to protest the deep impact of the state education budget cuts on the Korean and other Asian language programs there; according to UCLA students, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Indonesian languages are among those hit particularly hard.

A petition entitled Save Korean/Asian Language and Culture Programs has been set up, as has a Facebook page called "Save Korean Studies". Their group email address is "saveasianstudiesucla AT gmail.com". Please help out by signing their petition and joining their group.

We look forward to hearing more about their work and opportunities for collaboration. Good luck everyone!

Meeting tomorrow

2008-06-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Our next planning meeting will be tomorrow. The details are as follows:

Time: 10 a.m.
Date: Wednesday, 6/4
Place: Cafe Med. (on Telegraph, across the street from moe's between Haste and Dwight, upstairs as usual)

We greatly welcome the presence of anyone interested in attending.

YTN television coverage

2008-06-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen it already, please check out the substantial coverage given to the budget cuts and activity of this committee in support of the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese programs at Berkeley in a recent news piece by YTN in Korea: "버클리대 '한국어과'를 살리자!" (From UC Berkeley: 'Save the Korean Program!')

Many thanks to Will, Professor An, Christine, Ben, Chulha and Jun for translation, and Sunhae Kim of YTN.

Testimonial from Jacob Rogers

2008-06-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm a sophomore majoring in history and trying to get a minor in Japanese. I'm finishing Japanese 10b right now, but if Japanese courses are cut I may not be able to complete my minor and still graduate in four years. Japanese has let me learn about another culture and broaden my way of thinking, which is key with the way our world has become globalized. While I would be sorely disappointed if I can't finish my minor, I think it's a greater travesty that the flagship university for the entire West Coast can't offer four years of language to any interested students.

-- Jacob Rogers, History major, Japanese minor (intended)

Testimonial from Leah Kim

2008-05-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

The news of the severe budget cuts was devastating to me. Though I am enrolled in the college of Letters & Science, the restrictions to be imposed upon enrollment for fall semester of 2008 seem unfair to me. I might have recently declared my Korean minor, but it was only during my Korean language courses that prompted me to educate myself about my ethnic culture.

It may seem odd for an English major to also pursue a minor in Korean, but I find it an indispensable part of my studies. As an aspiring writer, I am greatly interested in the power of words beyond their every day definition. Words can evoke a powerful emotion in the reader and just changing one or two words can completely change the mood of a paragraph.

So why Korean? I have accepted that as a Korean-American, I cannot completely deny that there are Korean influences in my life that will spill over into my writing. However, there are many things about my Korean identity that cannot be translated into English. There is no word that can truly convey the pain and anger behind the word "Han" or the subtle etiquette and soul reading behind "Noon-chim." How can I truly write from my soul when a part of it is lacking the right emotion filled word?

For me, Korean is not just another set of words, interchangeable variables with its English counterparts as if their values are equal. It is the second half of my own personal language, so integrated within me that, without it, I am nothing more than just a half a person with fragmented speech, glaring holes in where Korean should have been there to fill.

-- Leah J. Kim, English major, Korean minor (leah_kim AT berkeley.edu)

East Bay Express cover article

2008-05-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

If you haven't picked up a copy of the East Bay Express (free, from newspaper stands all around Berkeley and Oakland) yet this week, be sure to check out this front-page article about the effect of the budget cuts on East Asian languages at Berkeley: "Proposed Budget to Gut East Asian Languages at Cal".

Community outreach tomorrow--please join

2008-05-30T13:40:00.000-07:00

Sent to the Berkeley 'savekoreanstudies' listserv...anyone interested in helping and participating is welcome to join the meeting tomorrow at noon or contact us--THANK YOU!

Hi all,

Hope you're all doing well in this first week of summer. This week, student volunteers still here in Berkeley are trying to keep momentum from recent weeks going with local outreach and fundraising work. Today several students are contacting Oakland & Berkeley businesses to see where we might visit tomorrow to talk about the budget crisis, how it impacts the local community, and how local businesses might get involved & help with fund-raising.

Tomorrow, a group will meet at 12 noon at Cyber Cafe, located in Koryo Plaza, 4390 Telegraph Avenue at 44th St.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cyber-cafe-oakland
Bus #1 runs down Telegraph from downtown Berkeley (Berkeley BART) and there's a stop on Telegraph at Dwight too.

This will probably be covered in the media. The more concerned students and community members we have, the better, so please do come out if you can and pass the word along to those who aren't on this list.

If you have any questions please write or call Christine (cjhong@berkeley.edu, 510-658-3310), or me (daveski@berkeley.edu, 510-717-2367).

Thanks!

Testimonial from Yaou Dou

2008-05-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

We need language courses such as Chinese to prepare ourselves for the global arena. We're taught at Berkeley that an understanding in international affairs is essential in being a productive member of society. So, we take these courses to enrich our lives and others, to become better representatives of the U.S. After all, how can we expect to maintain a lead role on the global stage if we can't learn the language that enables us to do so?

--Yaou Dou (yaoudou AT berkeley.edu)

Daily Cal articles on budget cuts; new English petition

2008-05-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

There are two opinion pieces in recent issues of the Daily Cal that weigh in on the effect of the budget cuts to East Asian languages and to the English department, which is losing massive amounts of funding for graduate student instruction of courses. The articles are:

"Budget Cuts: Importance of East Asian Languages in Increasingly Global Business Realm" by Victoria Cheng
"Budget Cuts: Balancing Need to Offer Mandatory R&C Courses and Heed to Lowered Funding" by Kea Anderson

The situation for English appears really dire: authors of an online petition point out that due to cuts to the Temporary Academic Staffing budget still in place after the governor's newly revised budget, the English Department is planning to cut 17 Reading & Composition classes, denying undergraduates access to classes and making it impossible for many graduate student instructors to fund their education. Commenting on the parallels to the situation in EALC and across campus, the authors write, "These cuts threaten to undermine the quality of both teaching and research at UC Berkeley, and diminish the value of a Berkeley degree."

Please go to the petition and sign on--let's help each other out and push for change in the Berkeley administration's policy of relegating quality education to 'temporary' status!

Testimonial from Francis Chen

2008-05-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Francis Chen. I am a high school junior and a Chinese-American at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo, California. While I am not a UC Berkeley student (and I have desires to apply and attend this wonderful campus), I feel really bad about the proposed budget cuts which could dramatically alter the funding and quality of the East Asian Languages at UC Berkeley.

It is extremely important to learn about one's own language, so that one can learn about his/her ethnic background and culture. However, this is extremely difficult to do, with the heavy emphasis towards education, especially towards fields like business, engineering, or sciences (i.e. medical), which "Asians" traditionally and generally are told by their parents to pursue because of the guaranteed profits which will come out of those fields. Whether or not students will actually like those fields is one issue. When students approach the campus, the focus on these fields could be so great that there would seem like there is limited time to actually learn about the languages. These threatened budget cuts, as well as the limiting of students for learning these languages to only students of the College of L&S, make it easier to close the window of opportunities for Asian-American students to learn more about their cultural background in a time when it doesn't seem "important". Too much priority on EDUCATION and not enough time on learning more about our culture is already one impediment; closing the opportunities to a growing middle-class of Asian-Americans to learn about their culture is just too much.

When I was a freshman in high school, I had went to Chinese School to learn one year of Mandarin in Oakland (I'm a conversational-Cantonese speaker). I didn't have the best pinyin teacher, so I went to a conversational Mandarin teacher, who taught me a lot of basic Mandarin phrases. I also learned a little bit of Mandarin from television and a few phrases from my parents. Those were about it; I don't go anymore because of a lack of time and "the low priority" at the time. Now, as a Junior, I regret it, and I have become even more busier. I still remember the phrases and pinyin. In my free time, I have actually taught myself a little bit of Japanese (I was actually pretty good at it before the AP exams were coming).

While I may not get accepted to UC Berkeley (I want to major in Civil Engineering, East Asian Studies, or both if possible), I hope that the EALC can be saved by any proper ways that are possible. The budget cuts were inevitable, and it's up to any private donors who can help out to save the department). Those who aren't in a language major because of priorities but want to learn about their own language anyway need to be given the opportunities that I had lost in high school and trying to regain now. I have a hard time picturing how we, as the next generation, can carry our culture down with this issue. I have desires to go to Asia and help preserve East Asian architecture, and I want the university to give us who just want to learn about our culture to give us that chance.

--Francis Chen (fncis.chen AT gmail.com)

Recent media coverage

2008-05-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Some of these are from several days ago, but all tell different sides of the story. As always, please let us know about any coverage in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean language media (savekoreanstudies AT gmail.com). Thank you!

"Speechless", an op-ed piece in the Daily Cal
"한국어학과 '살려주세요'" ('Save our Korean Language Program'), on Radio Seoul
"십시일반 한마음으로…" ('When we act together, every little bit counts'), SF Korea Times, 5/22
"존폐위기 UC버클리 한국어과… 한인사회 관심 촉구" ('UC Berkeley Korean Language Program on the Brink...Call for Korean Community Involvement'), Naver News, 5/16

Testimonial from Jonathan Michaels

2008-05-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

My name is Jonathan Michaels, EECS class of 2006. Despite being in the College of Engineering, I was able to take Japanese language classes (1A through 102) for all of my four years at Berkeley, and I can say without the slightest exaggeration that being able to do so completely changed my life. I studied a year of Japanese in high school, fell in love with the language, continued it at Berkeley, which led to a semester abroad, one thing led to another, and my passion for the language ended up surpassing my interest in my major. I now find myself entering a master's program in translation and interpretation this fall, in preparation for a career in said field. I would think it a great tragedy should future Berkeley students be denied the same opportunity that I had.

--Jonathan Michaels, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (istaro AT gmail.com)

Testimonial from Julia Lam

2008-05-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Not only am I a student of the third-year Chinese language class, but also I am an officer of a student group called the San Francisco Hepatitis B Collaborative at Berkeley. We are a group that works in conjunction with various San Francisco public health organizations, including UCSF Medical and Pharmacy schools, to provide interpreters for Hepatitis B screening and vaccination clinics that service the large API community in San Francisco. I and many members of our student group have had the privilege of receiving language training at UC Berkeley, which we have been able to apply directly to work in our community. Our heritage speakers have not only had countless opportunities to provide interpretation services to non-English-speaking patients in various clinics and health fairs, but have also been entrusted with developing patient education materials in various API languages, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Japanese. I honestly feel that the conviction of our group to service the API community outside of the UC Berkeley campus and our capability to do so would not exist without the caliber of training many of us have received from the UC Berkeley East Asian Language Department or the cultural interests and social awareness fostered by its diverse courses. For this reason, the scaling back of East Asian language courses will not only be a loss to the student community on campus, but also a disservice to the large API community outside our campus. Thus, I deeply implore the University of California to reconsider the budget cuts to the East Asian Language Department.

--Julia Lam, Molecular and Cell Biology major, Chinese minor (julia_lam AT berkeley.edu)

Administration able to restore funding?

2008-05-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jeff Shieh for pointing out a recent article on the University of California Newsroom website, "May Revision restores some proposed UC cuts; Regents approve 2008-09 student fee levels". Along with outlining the 7.4% student fee increase that will take place this coming academic year, the article notes that

The May Revision proposes restoring $98.5 million of that [$332 million] cut, leaving state funding for the university in 2008-09 roughly equivalent to the 2007-08 level. However, funding is not provided in the May Revision for key needs that the Regents had included in their 2008-09 budget request, including funding for enrollment growth, faculty and staff salary increases, and other inflationary cost increases. In addition, the university is seeking an $8 million increase in funding for student mental health services on campuses, a priority endorsed by both the Regents and UC student organizations.

There is no mention here of the Temporary Academic Staffing budget, from which the majority of language teaching of East Asian (and other) languages at Berkeley are funded; does this mean that TAS funding will be restored? And if so, when?

Fundraising campaign on front page of Korea Times

2008-05-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

대단히 감사합니다! THANK YOU to the Korea Times SF for running prominent articles over the last two days publicizing the beginnings of our fund-raising campaign to raise approximately $200,000 to stop Korean classes from being canceled this fall. This is part of the approximately $500,000 required to make sure that Korean, Japanese, and Chinese classes do not get cut in the short term, and is one step on the way to the approximately $5 million required for an endowed professorship to invigorate Korean Studies and language education in the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.

The two articles are: "버클리대 한국어 강의 축소저지’ 모금 캠페인" ("Fundraising Campaign to Stop Cuts to UC Berkeley Korean Classes", 5/20) and "UC버클리‘한국어 구하기 모임’기금모금 대책 논의" ('Save Korean' Fundraising Strategy Meeting Held at UC Berkeley, 5/21)

READERS: If you are able to translate one of these or any other articles on our website into English from Korean, Chinese, or Japanese, your efforts would be very much appreciated. You could reply to this post as a comment, or send mail to "savekoreanstudies@gmail.com". Also, if you find other relevant articles, please forward them to us and we will post them. Thank you!

Testimonial from Danny Park

2008-05-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

The degree of my improvement in my Korean skills and awareness could never have happened without [my Korean language] courses and instructors in particular. I firmly believe, as an American-born Korean, I would have forever been lost to my culture, heritage, and ethnic identity without these courses. To restrict language study strictly to the L and S students is equivalent to restricting the rest of the students from bettering themselves outside of their major choices. --

Daniel Park, Political Economy of Industrialized Societies major (daniel_park AT berkeley.edu)

Language learning testimonials

2008-05-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Below this post you'll see a testimonial from a student learning Chinese at Berkeley, writing about what learning this language means to her and her thoughts about what it might be like if budget cuts were to eliminate over half of the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese classes, as is currently planned for the Fall 2008 semester. Every day we'll post one such testimonial, from a student learning Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or another language threatened by the budget cuts.

If you'd like to contribute your testimonial, please send it to savekoreanstudies@gmail.com. Testimonials are welcome from teachers as well, and from students and others beyond UC Berkeley. Please feel free to post your comments to the posts too, or send the author an email if her/his email address is listed.

Thank you everyone!

Testimonial from Stephanie Chi-ning Chang

2008-05-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

As the first-generation child of Taiwanese immigrant parents, I grew up in a Mandarin-speaking household, but never attained anything even remotely near native fluency, or even the fundamentals of written Chinese. I decided in my first year at Berkeley to enroll in the beginning level heritage class to improve my understanding of both oral and written Chinese, and I can honestly say now at the end of the semester that I've achieved so much more than my expectations. I've improved tangibly, and I'm not just saying that - to my own surprise I can actually read simple stories and elementary-level books now, which may not seem like much, but for someone who was practically completely illiterate before the class...

As a potential comparative literature major, I'm required to have more than one language in which I can work fluently enough to read and analyze its literature. Thus far I've planned my years out with Chinese as one of the main components of my major, and unless I can continue to take classes (preferably heritage) every single semester until I graduate, I won't be able to complete my requirements. Major aside, I'm still very upset that the EALC department has to suffer such drastic cuts, when it's all too clear that hundreds, if not thousands, of students at UC Berkeley find these classes to be an integral part of their education.

Stephanie Chi-ning Chang, Psychology and Comp. Literature double major (intended) (ning_ning AT berkeley.edu)

All welcome! Fundraising meeting Wednesday: $500K to go!!

2008-05-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

With the end of the semester upon us, we urge all of you who are part of the EALC community--i.e., lecturers, professors, students--to attend a fundraising meeting this Wednesday morning. We strongly encourage all of you to attend, in no small part because there is greater strength, creative vision, and overall social resources in numbers.

Time: 11 a.m
Date: Wednesday, 5/21
Place: 2223 Fulton st., basement room (where the first press conference was held)
Purpose: to discuss and develop strategies for short-term fundraising (Goal: $500K)

In addition to holding press conferences, organizing the rally, working with community organizations, contacting and attempting to meet with state and local legislators as well as Berkeley administrators, writing op-eds, conducting our petition drive, and composing awareness letters, we now confront the formidable task of raising upwards of $500,000 in donations, yet few of us have professional experience in the area of fundraising. Moreover, our core committee, especially as folks return to their respective homes or abroad for the summer, is rapidly dwindling in number. For those of us who have worked round-the-clock for the past few weeks and now face the daunting prospect of fundraising, we need your support, commitment, and action, more than ever.

What we aim collectively to accomplish, at least provisionally, this wednesday is the following (please feel free to add to or suggest revisions of this agenda):

to establish some basic talking points for fundraising conversations,
to compile potential donor lists,
to develop strategies aimed at corporate philanthropy.

Let's meet this Wednesday and begin a collective discussion about how we might work together toward meeting the ealc budget shortfall.

In support of today's "Study-in" in Sacramento

2008-05-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today in Sacramento student groups from across the state protested the budget cuts to education with a "study-in" in Sacramento. This was reported broadly in the media, as in NBC-11's "CSU, UC Students Hold 'Study-In' Protest". This and other actions are being coordinated by the University of California Students' Association, with representatives on all of the UC campuses. Our committee is looking forward to participating in future events to protest the cuts and preserve our education!

Meeting Monday 11am, Cafe Med

2008-05-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Would you like to get involved? Everyone's welcome to our working meeting tomorrow morning:

Monday May 19, at Cafe Med (Telegraph Avenue between Haste and Dwight), 11 a.m.

We'll be working on the final push to collect and turn in petitions to the campus administration, letter-writing to state representatives, community outreach, fund-raising and more. Please write to savekoreanstudies @ gmail.com or call Dave at 510-717-2367 with any questions.

Recent media coverage

2008-05-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

The following articles and TV news clips cover the Committee to Save East Asian Language & Korean Studies' Berkeley press conference on May 7, the rally and protest march at UC Berkeley May 8, and the Los Angeles press conference on May 16. Thank you to all the members of the media represented below!

Please comment to this post or notify us of additional stories at savekoreanstudies @ gmail.com.

New Tang Dynasty TV, 5/10, “柏克萊大學秋季預算削減影響東亞語言教育”
Community TV Network, 5/10, “柏克萊大學東亞語言系消減預算記者會” (with video story of Berkeley press conference)
Nichibei Times Weekly, 5/15, “UC Berkeley Students Rally Against Asian Language Cuts”
Korea Times SF, 5/16, “6월까지 20만달러 이상 필요”
Joongang Bangsong (중앙방송), 5/16, “UC버클리 '한국어학 살리자'”
Korea Times SF, 5/16, “한국어강의 축소저지에 전념”
Chosun.com, 5/17, “버클리대의 '한국어과 죽이기'?”
SF Korea Daily, “한인사회가 한국어 강의 살려”
Korea Daily (중앙일보), 5/17, “'한국어반 살려주오' UC버클리 학생들, 한인사회 지원 호소”

Current Activities

2008-05-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Hello!
こんにちは。
您好？
안녕하십니까?

This has been a busy last few days, with a trip to Los Angeles for a press conference, community outreach at the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival at Union Square, and the Asian Heritage Street Celebration in Japantown, both in San Francisco. All this while most members of our committee are studying for final exams!

More details are coming soon. Please continue to check back, and write to savekoreanstudies @ gmail.com with any questions or if you can help our efforts.

Korean Studies Discussion Thread

2008-05-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Christine Hong has alerted readers of the Koreanstudies mailing list, a forum for those interested in Korean Studies, to our recent actions in Berkeley and to larger institutional inequities that structure the field and that maintain the "language vs. literature" divide on campuses far beyond Berkeley. Click here to read the original post and then click the "next message" link below to see responses and discussion by Michael Pettid, Theodore Hughes, Henry Em, John Duncan, and Ju Hui Judy Han.

UC announces fee hikes

2008-05-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

The UC Regents have announced fee hikes as of the Summer 2008 session in an article from the central campus newsroom. Undergraduate fees will go up by 7.4%, bringing average systemwide campus fees to over $8000.

Press Conference Friday in Los Angeles

2008-05-15T01:06:00.000-07:00

Files for download:

Complete Press Packet (English, Korean, and Chinese together)
Media Advisory (English, Korean, Chinese - separate files by language)
Press Release (English, Chinese - separate files by language)

MEDIA ADVISORY
MAY 13, 2008

Media Contacts:
Chinese Media: Jeffrey Shieh – 626-251-3547 (jfboy.shieh@gmail.com)
William Hsiao – 415-794-9770 (williamhsiao@berkeley.edu)
Japanese Media: Andrew Leong – 510-301-0867 (generaldown@gmail.com)
William Hsiao – 415-794-9770 (williamhsiao@berkeley.edu)
Korean Media: Christine Hong – 510-658-3310 (cjhong@berkeley.edu)
David Malinowski - 510-717-2367 (daveski@berkeley.edu)

PRESS CONFERENCE

WHAT: A diverse coalition of UC Berkeley students will hold a press conference to address the devastating effect of impending California state budget cuts on the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department (EALC), while highlighting the historical neglect of the Korean Studies Program at UC Berkeley. In addition, this press conference is intended to appeal to local communities for donations to save Korean, Chinese, and Japanese language programs at UC Berkeley.

The impact of budget cuts on EALC as of Fall 2008:

➢ Percentage of classes to be cut from each language in EALC

Japanese 40%
Chinese 54%
Korean 66%

➢ Numbers of students to be cut from next year's classes (3200 to 1500 students)

Japanese: 496
Chinese: 550
Korean: 484

At Berkeley, the flagship campus of the major university on the Pacific Rim, ethnic Asian students represent a near majority—45% out of 40,000.

WHO: Members of Committee to Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies at Berkeley
Student & Community Organizations Endorsing the Issue

WHEN: Friday, May 16, 2008

TIME: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: KAEDC (Korean American Economic Development Center) Office
3807 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1106
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Donation Appeal Letter

2008-05-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

The following letter states the need for immediate funds to restore Korean, Japanese, and Chinese instruction at Berkeley in the coming academic year, and to save the jobs of 13 lecturers in these languages. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE, CONTACT YOUR FRIENDS/COLLEAGUES/ETC. AND HELP US SPREAD THE WORD. You can download this letter and a form with instructions for donating here. Email savekoreanstudies @ gmail.com with any questions.

May 14, 2008

Dear Friends,

We, as students of Korean, Japanese and Chinese at UC Berkeley, are writing to ask for your support so that we can continue studying the languages we love.

As you may already know, the 2008 California state budget cuts are having a serious negative impact on the teaching of languages at UC Berkeley. Much language instruction, especially at the critical early stages of learning, is performed by non-tenured instructors whose salaries come from what is known as the “Temporary Academic Staffing” budget. This area of funding is precisely what Berkeley administrators have determined they must cut in order to cover their share of the $417 million shortfall in the UC system.

While precise information for all languages and departments is not clear, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese instruction will be particularly devastated. These languages are three of the most popular on campus, with over 3200 enrolled students this year and hundreds more turned away every semester due to lack of space. Yet if the current budget is enacted as planned, this is what will happen in Fall 2008:

Korean language classes – cut by 66% or more
Chinese language classes – cut by 54% or more
Japanese language classes – cut by 40% or more

If these cuts continue for more than one year, as they are projected to, it will be nearly impossible for these programs to recover. From a student’s perspective, missing the first year of instruction often means missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn a language. And, on a larger scale, the elimination of course offerings imperils Berkeley's position as a first-rate university, threatens its identity as a leading Pacific Rim school, and challenges its role as a public institution that serves our families and communities.

In response, we are working to develop short and long term solutions. In the short term, we need to raise $500,000 to make sure our instructors are able to keep their jobs, and to make sure the number of course offerings is not reduced. Doing so will also allow us to work with non-tenured instructors, professors, and department administrators in an effort to set up long-term funding structures, with the goal of protecting language instruction from future cuts and pushing for the institutional recognition of language instruction as a profession.

The reverse side of this letter contains instructions for sending your donation. By contributing to this effort, you will help to save the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese languages on the Berkeley campus and in the lives of its students, while also forcing UC Berkeley to remain accountable to the students and communities it serves.

Thank you very much,

Committee to Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies at Berkeley

Fundraising Success at University of Washington

2008-05-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

The link is to a Seattle Times article on how Korean-American community members raised funds and saved the Korean Studies program at University of Washington. We can do the same!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002169062_korean03m.html

Korean & Vietnamese to be eliminated in U of Florida budget crisis

2008-05-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

The University of Florida has compiled a page showing all of the proposed reductions across its campus in the face of a $47 million budget shortage. All departments were asked to cut their budgets by 6%. This situation is very similar in some respects to the one we face now at Berkeley--yet here are Berkeley we STILL DON"T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON ACROSS CAMPUS.

The scope of the cuts is astonishing--note that amidst all of the other proposed cuts the Korean and Vietnamese language programs are going to be cut ENTIRELY, and many region-specific language programs are being consolidated. Scroll down to the section on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (2/3 of the way down).

This news coincides with a discussion thread on Koreaweb, a popular listserv for scholars in Korean Studies, entitled "Vulnerabilities of Korean Studies"

Petition drive continues tomorrow on Sproul

2008-05-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

We'll be continuing our drive to collect hand-signed petitions tomorrow, Tuesday May 13th, on Sproul Plaza. If you can help collect signatures over the next several days, or if you & your friends haven't signed yet, please stop by our table anytime after 10am. You can also download the petition here. We will deliver the petitions to Chancellor Birgeneau and Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Breslauer on May 20. As before, please turn in signed petitions to Christine Hong's mailbox in 322 Wheeler Hall. Remember, every signature counts--the forms don't have to have all the lines filled.

New America Media article

2008-05-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

Another article covering the rally, from Sing Tao Daily, appeared today: "Berkeley Students Protest to Keep Asian Study Courses"

Check the list in the right-hand column for a collection of stories on events as they unfold, and please either comment to this post or send email to savekoreanstudies @ gmail.com to let us know about new stories.

Letter writing campaign--Part 2

2008-05-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

The director of the Berkeley Language Center, Prof. Richard Kern, has written a letter that's being circulated to all the language department chairs, asking them to pass it along to instructors and students. The letter asks STUDENTS AND PARENTS to write letters to local and state government representatives, stating how much of an impact the cuts to our language classes will have on us. Please WRITE SOME LETTERS, and pass the word along to your friends. And if you're looking for inspiration, check out these amazing testimonials that many students in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese have already written.

Below are the reps mentioned in the letter. Remember, email's fine but handwritten letters count more:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger  (http://gov.ca.gov/interact)
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

California State Senators and Assembly Members viewable through State District Maps at http://www.sen.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/districtmaps.HTP

In the East Bay, Senate District 09, contact:
State Senator Don Perata (Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov)
State Capitol
Room 205
Sacramento, CA 94248-0001

In the Berkeley area, Assembly District 14, contact
Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
State Capitol
Room 4126
Sacramento, CA 94249-0014
Or online at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a14http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2008/04/23_budget.shtml/contact.htm

Rally pictures

2008-05-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Did you or your friends take pictures at the rally? Please post pictures on the new Flickr group!

Group Name: Save East Asian Languages and Korean Studies Group Link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/754369@N21/

Dean's Message about Language Funding

2008-05-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Dean of Arts & Humanities in the College of Letters and Science, Janet Broughton, has issued a statement on language instruction funding: "Dean's Message About Funding for Language Instruction".

Meeting Saturday, 5/10 11am

2008-05-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you who can make it during finals studies, let's meet today (Saturday) for a brunch working meeting and a report- back at Cafe Med on Telegraph at 11 a.m. We'll talk about fundraising and future actions. All are welcome!

Next steps, media, fundraising

2008-05-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who made yesterday's rally such a success! Word is really getting out, and below we've assembled several of the stories we've seen so far. These will be added to a column on the right side of the blog. Please let us know if you've seen others:

U.S. News and World Report, The Paper Trail, 5/9: "Berkeley Students Rally Against Asian Language Cuts"
Chronicle of Higher Education blog, 5/8: "Budget Crisis Prompts Berkeley to Halve its Offerings in East Asian Studies"
Korea Daily News SF, 5/8: "UC 버클리 예산 삭감 반대 시위"
Daily Cal article, 5/7: "Language Cuts Spur Student Protest"
Contra Costa Times, 5/6: "UC students face fee hikes and class cuts"
Korea Times SF, 5/6: "UC 버믈리 '한국어과 구하기'"
Angry Asian Man post, 5/5: "save east asian languages and korean studies at berkeley"
Korean Drama Group Blog 한국 무 리 forums, 5/1: "Korean Studies to be Cut at UC Berkeley"

We'll soon be moving to try to help fund-raise for the short term and the long term for Korean Studies and East Asian Languages at Berkeley. News will be coming VERY soon about this. We are hopeful that we can restore this fall's classes and help our beloved sonsaengnims!

Stay tuned...

Understanding California's School Funding Crisis

2008-05-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

RALLY AT NOON TODAY!!

2008-05-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Please come to Sproul Plaza today at noon to protest the extreme budget cuts planned for Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Tamil, Hindi, Thai, and other languages at UC Berkeley!! Tell your friends!

Press conference today -- a success!

2008-05-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped with our press conference this morning. Speeches were made by Christine Hong, Claire Kramsch, Jeff Shieh and Sarah Cho attesting to the dire budgetary situation faced by Korean Studies and East Asian language instruction at Berkeley; announcements were also made about similar predicaments faced by students of Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu, Thai and other languages in the South & Southeast Asian Studies.

Please see the letter posted by Jeff Shieh on the UCB Japanese Department's website:

http://japanese.berkeley.edu/index_body.html

Please comment to this post or send email to savekoreanstudies@gmail.com if you are aware of additional stories as they become available.

This blog will be updated soon. In the meantime, please tell your friends and get ready to come out for the RALLY AT SPROUL PLAZA, 12 NOON TOMORROW.

Today's Daily Cal

2008-05-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the article in today's Daily Cal that features the work of Berkeley students to change the fate of languages in the East Asian Languages & Cultures department: "Departments Brace for Next Year's Funding Cuts".

Student testimonials--please read!

2008-05-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Many students impacted by the budget cuts have written testimonials that express how the cuts affect them personally.

If you're not sure how much these budget cuts really matter, read these testimonials; if you have friends who don't particularly care about the budget cuts, make them read these testimonials. Nothing we can say about the cuts expresses their impact as viscerally and persuasively as the stories these students are living.

A sample follows; read the rest here.

I am currently taking Korean 10BX and it has been a vital part of my experience at Cal. Coming to Cal, I learned to recognize the histories / herstories of my fellow brothers, sisters, ancestors, students, and parents. Learning where I've come from and my roots has helped me appreciate and understand, not only my culture, but the cultures and roots of others as well. It is vital that we keep these language programs because it is necessary to understanding each other's cultures. To better understand each other, we need cross-cultural solidarity and awareness, cutting these language programs would be retroactive and is very offensive. If Cal prides itself on diversity and culture, then why are languages being cut?
-- Allen Youngjun Cho, Political Economy of Industrial Societies major

Ever since I was young, I had a great sense of pride in my Chinese heritage, and, therefore, was rather ashamed that I could not write or speak the language fluently. I was excited to come to Cal so that I could finally learn the language that, up until my generation, everyone in my family spoke, but now this happens. Even though as a Chinese minor I will still be able to take Chinese classes, If these budget cuts follow through they will not only affect the quality of education that I will receive, but will also limit what I can learn about my culture & heritage and about me. I did NOT come to Cal for a limited education! Taking Chinese classes in Berkeley is literally my last chance to attain my childhood goal, and it is an opportunity I will not let go without a fight.
-- Siu-Wei Huang, Molecular Environmental Biology major

Despite being in the College of Engineering, I was able to take Japanese language classes (1A through 102) for all of my four years at Berkeley, and I can say without the slightest exaggeration that being able to do so completely changed my life. I studied a year of Japanese in high school, fell in love with the language, continued it at Berkeley, which led to a semester abroad, one thing led to another, and my passion for the language ended up surpassing my interest in my major. I now find myself entering a master's program in translation and interpretation this fall, in preparation for a career in said field. I would think it a great tragedy should future Berkeley students be denied the same opportunity that I had.
-- Jonathan Michaels, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Class of 2006

Tuesday night poster-making!!

2008-05-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone who can help, please come to help make posters for the press conference on Wednesday and rally on Thursday.

WHEN: Drop-in anytime after 8pm, Tuesday night
WHERE: APR room or 3rd floor lounge, Unit 1
BRING: Markers & any other supplies you have. YOURSELF AND YOUR FRIENDS! :)

Hardboiled post

2008-05-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

Check out Hardboiled's blog posting today on the pending 50% cuts to Berkeley's East Asian Language department!

Please participate - Mass email campaign

2008-05-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

We need to flood the email boxes of those people (listed below) who make up the chain of command relative to EALC's budget cuts. They are the ones who interpreted Schwarzenegger's budget cuts to mean that the ax would fall particularly heavily on EALC (and other departments that rely heavily on Temporary Academic Staff funding to carry their teaching load). Let's use the power of mass-email to alert them to the folly of their decision. The individual contact information for these people is as follows (group email, for the sake of convenience, provided below):

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau (Why contact him? He's the top dog.)
Phone 642-7464
Email: chancellor@berkeley.edu

Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer (Why? He's directly below Birgeneau and a crucial link in the chain of command.)
Phone 642-1961
Email: bresl@berkeley.edu

Prof. Mark A. Richards, Executive Dean of Letters and Science (Why? EALC language courses are restricted, as of Fall 2008, to L and S students; further restrictions to just majors and minors are foreseeable in the near future.)
Phone: 642-8560
Email: Mark_Richards@berkeley.edu

Janet S. Broughton, Dean of Arts and Humanities (Why? She interpreted the cuts she received from Breslauer and assigned great damage to EALC.)
Phone: 642-5396
Email: broughton@berkeley.edu

Christina Maslach, Vice Provost, Undergraduate Division (Why? Most of you are undergraduates and she's your go-to person.)
Phone: 642-9594
Email: maslach@berkeley.edu

Andrew J. SZERI, Graduate Dean (Why? Graduate students in comp. lit. and related fields won't be able to complete their degrees in a timely fashion without access to EALC classes.)
Phone: 642-5472
Email: graddean@berkeley.edu

Jon Gjerde, Dean of Social Sciences (Why? Although EALC is not housed under "Social
Sciences," students in social sciences rely on EALC language courses.)
Phone: 642-2609
Email: gjerde@berkeley.edu

For the sake of convenience, here's a group email list for the above administrators:
chancellor@berkeley.edu, bresl@berkeley.edu, Mark_Richards@berkeley.edu,
broughton@berkeley.edu, maslach@berkeley.edu, graddean@berkeley.edu,
gjerde@berkeley.edu

The scripts that you can use (and modify) follow:

Short Email:

Dear Chancellor Birgeneau, Executive Dean Breslauer, Executive Dean Richards, Dean Broughton, Vice Provost Maslach, Dean Szeri, and Dean Gjerde:

My name is _____. I am a __ year [undergraduate/graduate student] studying _____. I am writing to protest the proposed budget cuts to Berkeley’s East Asian Languages and Cultures department, which threatens the very existence of Korean language studies and severely impacts the Chinese and Japanese programs. I chose to come to UC Berkeley for my education with the strength and prestige of the EALC department in mind. The strength of a Berkeley liberal arts education lies in the broad variety of courses offered by the university and made accessible to its student body. With the proposed cuts in funding to the EALC department, thousands of students will be deprived of the opportunity to study the languages and cultures of a region that are of increasing importance and relevance to the future of California and the United States. I strongly urge you to not go forward with the proposed cuts to EALC and to find an immediate alternative that allows for the continued growth and thriving development of Korean Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultures at UC Berkeley. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
[Student name here]

Phone Call:

Dear [Administrator],

My name is _____. I am a __ year undergraduate studying _____. I am calling to protest the proposed budget cuts to Berkeley’s East Asian Languages and Cultures department, which would cripple the Korean Studies program and severely limit the Chinese and Japanese programs. I chose to come to Berkeley for my undergraduate education with the understanding that I would have access to these languages and the courses offered by these departments. I urge you to maintain the high level of education offered by the university by not going forward with the proposed cuts to the EALC department. Thank you for your time.

Working meeting Monday, 9am

2008-05-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

The next working meeting will be Monday, 5/5 at 9am at Cafe Med, on Telegraph between Haste and Dwight. All are welcome.

Media Advisory

2008-05-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

MAY 2, 2008

Media Contacts:

Susan J Kim: 925 787 9731 (jjkim@berkeley.edu ) [Korean]
Sarah Cho: 714 220 7498 (sarahecho@berkeley.edu)
Pauli Wai: 562 310 1448 (paulisum@gmail.com) [Mandarin & Cantonese]
Will Hsiao: 415 794 9770 (williamhsiao@berkeley.edu) [Mandarin & Japanese]
Andrew Leong: 510 301 0867 (generaldown@gmail.com) [Japanese]

PRESS CONFERENCE – “Save East Asian Languages @ Cal”

WHAT: A diverse coalition of UC Berkeley students will hold a press conference to address the devastating effect of impending California state budget cuts on the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department (EALC), while highlighting the historical neglect of the Korean Studies Program at UC Berkeley.

Some of the statistics concerning the impact of the budget cuts on EALC as of Fall 2008 include:

➢ Percentage of classes to be cut from each language in EALC

Japanese 40%
Chinese 54%
Korean 66%

➢ Numbers of students to be cut from next year's classes (3200 to 1500 students)

Chinese: 550
Japanese: 496
Korean: 484

At Berkeley, the flagship campus of the major university in the Pacific Rim, ethnic Asian students represent a near majority—45% out of 40,000.

WHO: Members of Committee to Save Korean Studies at UC Berkeley
Student & Community Organizations Endorsing the Issue

WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

TIME: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: IEAS Conference room
2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Berkeley, CA 94720

Next meeting Sunday, 5/4, 1pm

2008-05-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

The next working meeting will be tomorrow at 1pm at Cafe Med. See link for directions in yesterday's post. All are welcome to help press conference and event preparation, letter-writing campaigns, petition-signing, and other pressing work.

Working meeting Saturday

2008-05-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in getting involved? Please come and lend a hand with letter writing and other work starting at 10am, Cafe Med on Telegraph between Haste and Dwight. Map here.

Korea Times articles online

2008-05-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

A few articles have recently appeared in the Korea Times (한국일보) SF edition. The most recent one, "버클리 한국어강의 축소저지모임" (Group for Stopping the Cuts of Berkeley Korean Classes) talks about the role played by this blog and the Facebook page.

Another article (referred to in the article above) is from April 29, titled "버클리대 한국어강의 '축소막자'" (Let's Stop the Cuts to Korean Language Classes at Berkeley). This describes the information sharing and organizing meeting convened on Sunday evening, April 27 at the Institute for East Asian Studies.

How to get involved

2008-05-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

Feel free to email savekoreanstudies@gmail.com if you want to placed on the mailing list, want to do something more direct (there is plenty), or have any other information. This page will be frequently updated so check back often.

Some practical things that you can do in the meanwhile:

SIGN THE PETITION It is posted as an Item. Print it out, sign it, and get others to sign it as well. Return to Christine Hong before Tuesday 5/6, 4pm to 322 Wheeler.

SIGN UP to be a Korean Studies minor or express your desire to take Korean classes as a non-minor next year. Or if you're taking another language, sign up for a major/minor in that language.

POST FLIERS AND SPREAD THE WORD. The flyer announcing next week's press conference can be downloaded as a .jpg file, printed and posted widely. Gain support. This isn't relevant to just Koreans--it is affecting departments all over, especially the East Asian Languages and Cultures department. (Check Items for the fact sheet)

PRESS CONFERENCE There is a press conference slated for Wednesday 11am in the IEAS conference room. If you're a part of an organization on campus get them to endorse the press conference (contact savekoreanstudies@gmail.com if you want to endorse). Otherwise, show up and show overwhelming support.

SOLICIT DONATIONS. At a bare minimum, between $150,000 and $300,000 may be needed to preserve the Korean program at its current level for the next year. More information coming soon on this.

Press conference flier

2008-05-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge then download

Letter writing--PROTEST THE CUTS!

2008-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Forwarded message from graduate students in the EALC department--
----------
Let's contact the CA gov't and UCB administrators, because flooding inboxes, mailboxes and fax machines is also a good way to get noticed. Here's a contact list for California gov't officials and UCB administrators to send your letters to:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
email: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email

Find the address of your California state legislators by entering ZIP on
this page:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Chancellor Birgeneau
Office of the Chancellor
200 California Hall # 1500
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone (510) 642-7464
Fax (510) 643-5499
chancellor@berkeley.edu

George Breslauer
200 California Hall [map]
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Phone 510-642-1961
Fax: 510-643-5499
Email: bresl@berkeley.edu

Prof. Mark A. RICHARDS, Executive Dean of Letters and Science
285 McCone Hall
Berkeley
CA
94720 -4767
Phone: +1 510 642-8560
Email: Mark_Richards@berkeley.edu

Janet S. BROUGHTON, Dean of Arts and Humanities
201 Campbell Hall
Berkeley
CA
94720 -2920
Phone: +1 510 642-5396
Email: broughton@berkeley.edu
Fax: +1 510 642-7578

Christina Maslach, Vice Provost, Undergraduate Division
200 California Hal
Berkeley
CA
94720 -1500
Phone: +1 510 642-9594
Email: maslach@berkeley.edu
Fax: +1 510 642-9483

Andrew J. SZERI, Graduate Dean
424 Sproul Hall
Berkeley
California
94720 - 5900
Phone: +1 510 642-5472
Email: graddean@berkeley.edu
Fax: +1 510 642-6366

Other administrators:
http://berkeley.edu/administration/key/

Petition

2008-05-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

Note: this document is available for viewing and download here.

Dear Chancellor Birgeneau, Executive Dean Breslauer, and Dean Broughton:

We, the undersigned, protest the unfair cuts made to UC Berkeley's East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) Department, where it is predicted that 66% of the Korean classes, 54% of the Chinese classes, and 40% of the Japanese classes on campus will be eliminated as of Fall 2008. Not only will the number of courses offered by EALC be drastically reduced, but also, the Korean program faces outright extinction. We are outraged at this prospect and concerned that Berkeley’s EALC curriculum, which already trails behind both UCLA and Stanford, will not be able to recover from the devastation wreaked upon it by these budget cuts.

These cuts will greatly damage Berkeley’s international standing as a major research university. But even more serious is the unprecedented negative impact it will have on us, the Berkeley student population (45% of which is of Asian descent), and on the ability of the university to fulfill its fundamental educational mission to the campus community. Undergraduate and graduate students in departments outside the College of Letters and Sciences will not be able to pursue Korean, Chinese, or Japanese language study. Students in related fields of economics, political science, history, amongst others, will be unable to fulfill their educational aspirations and their departmental requirements. If these budget cuts continue, the ability of anyone to learn these global and heritage languages will be imperiled.

In a recent interview published in the April 23rd issue of The Berkeleyan, Nathan Brostrom, Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Administration, states: “I don’t think it’s strategic at all to do wholesale or arbitrary layoffs, because that can do a lot more harm to the campus than what we could gain in budget savings.” Yet with firings impending for instructors in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian languages, this type of harm is exactly what is slated to happen.

East Asian languages are amongst the most in-demand languages on the Berkeley campus, and the demand only continues to grow. As heritage languages to a huge percentage of the student population, they are a vital resource and part of the multiethnic fabric of Berkeley, the United States, and the Pacific Rim. In practical terms, reduction in instructional personnel also means that non-heritage students will be deprived of the opportunity to learn Korean, Japanese, and Chinese languages for the first time, just as the demands for access to these languages are clearly on the rise.

Berkeley is the flagship campus in the UC system and currently enjoys a worldwide reputation as a leading U.S. research center and educational institution with regard to East Asia. We believe that the present policy sends a resoundingly negative message not only to all current students and potential students at Berkeley but also to the Pacific Rim community of scholars, opinion-makers, and donors. Berkeley does not deserve this reputation.

We strongly ask that you abandon this decision to cut these vital East Asian languages and work toward an alternative that both supports the EALC program, in general, and fully preserves the Korean program, in particular.

Signed:

Name Major SID
__________________________

Meeting Thursday, 5/1

2008-05-01T00:52:00.000-07:00

...is at 10am at Cafe Med, on Telegraph between Dwight and Haste, next to Zebra. All are welcome!

Why Saving Korean and other East Asian Languages Concerns You

2008-04-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

At Berkeley, the flagship campus of the major university in the Pacific Rim, ethnic Asian students represent a near majority—45% out of 40,000. The Department of EALC (East Asian Languages and Cultures) currently serves a huge campus-wide need at Berkeley by offering East Asian language classes for majors and non-majors alike.

Yet, as of Fall 2008, only Letters and Science students—and likely only EALC majors and minors—will be allowed to enroll in EALC language classes. What this means is that undergraduate and graduate students in departments outside EALC will not be able to pursue Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language study at Berkeley.

Here's the breakdown of the impact on EALC as of Fall 2008:

➢ Percentage of classes to be cut from each language in EALC
o Japanese 40%
o Chinese 54%
o Korean 66%
➢ Numbers of students to be cut from next year's classes
o Chinese: 550
o Japanese: 496
o Korean: 484

The Specific Case for Korean at CAL:

Korean, which has historically been neglected at Berkeley and which accordingly sustains just a minor and no graduate program, is in danger of being decimated. Although all East Asian languages at Berkeley will be severely impacted by Schwarzenegger's education budget cuts, the majors and minors in Chinese and Japanese will, at least, be sustained.

The inception of Korean Studies at Berkeley can be traced to door-to-door fundraising in Oakland by student members of the campus organization, Sori (later the Committee for Korea Studies). Because of their grassroots efforts, the first modern Korean history class was established in 1986 at Berkeley. Yet, Korean Studies cannot continue to rely on outside community donations to keep alive. Without the institutional will to support Korean Studies, it will continue to be vulnerable in times of budget crises, even though Korean enrolls more students than Russian or Arabic and usually ranks 7th or 8th each year in terms of total enrollment on campus.

Consider, for example, UCLA as a model of Korean Studies done right: UCLA boasts a thriving Korean program and offers an extensive array of Korea-related courses. UCLA also offers a Korean major.
o UCLA (as of Fall 2008): 10 faculty (3 professors, 7 lecturers)
o Berkeley (as of Fall 2008): 3 faculty (1 professor, 2 lecturers)

API Education and Languages NOW!

Letter of Support and Solidarity to UCSD Black Student Union

Petition in Solidarity with Black Students at UCSD

Basic Fact Sheet on the 2012 Admissions Policy

Response to Durant Hall Occupation Statements

APIEL NOW! Statement on 2012 Admissions Policy

Patrick Hayashi's Letter to the Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity

The Logic of "Yield" in Calculations of Diversity:

UCOP and BOARS data and responses

Language Revitalization Night

In Memory of Gina Hotta

Interview on KPFA w/ Gina Hotta

APIEL NOW! Survey/Questionnaire

An EALC Major's Perspective on Overcrowded Classes

More Links

UC Faculty Walkout 9/24/2009

Welcome Back - Fall Meetings

More Links about the Budget Crisis

Links to Information on the UC Budget Crisis

Korean language and Korean studies fundraiser coverage

The Grades Are In -- 2008: Is California Measuring Up?

More media coverage

Hardboiled article

Language Matters video online

Facebook pages up - Tell a friend!

LANGUAGE MATTERS Event February 19

Welcome to our new blog

Update: Save Korean Studies at UCLA

OB Chicken Town Fundraiser A Success!

Fundraising Dinner

meeting friday, 2pm

More news soon...

The costs of instruction - a few goals and numbers

Meeting Friday 9am--all welcome

Testimonial from Julia Kwon

UCLA students protest cuts

Meeting tomorrow

YTN television coverage

Testimonial from Jacob Rogers

Testimonial from Leah Kim

East Bay Express cover article

Community outreach tomorrow--please join

Testimonial from Yaou Dou

Daily Cal articles on budget cuts; new English petition

Testimonial from Francis Chen

Recent media coverage

Testimonial from Jonathan Michaels

Testimonial from Julia Lam

Administration able to restore funding?

Fundraising campaign on front page of Korea Times

Testimonial from Danny Park

Language learning testimonials

Testimonial from Stephanie Chi-ning Chang

All welcome! Fundraising meeting Wednesday: $500K to go!!

In support of today's "Study-in" in Sacramento

Meeting Monday 11am, Cafe Med

Recent media coverage

Current Activities

Korean Studies Discussion Thread

UC announces fee hikes

Press Conference Friday in Los Angeles

Donation Appeal Letter

Fundraising Success at University of Washington

Korean & Vietnamese to be eliminated in U of Florida budget crisis

Petition drive continues tomorrow on Sproul

New America Media article

Letter writing campaign--Part 2

Rally pictures

Dean's Message about Language Funding

Meeting Saturday, 5/10 11am

Next steps, media, fundraising

Understanding California's School Funding Crisis

RALLY AT NOON TODAY!!

Press conference today -- a success!

Today's Daily Cal

Student testimonials--please read!

Tuesday night poster-making!!

Hardboiled post

Please participate - Mass email campaign

Working meeting Monday, 9am