Sunday, April 19, 2015

A Tale of Two Campuses

Arisa Gagarin
Section A01
Week 4


In A Tale of Two Campuses, Alan Markow compares responses to Occupy movements at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, asserting that Berkeley had a more favorable response. He supports this claim by examining the reports released by their administrations after each protest. By presenting Davis’s reports as more focused on the costs of cleaning and repairing of damages from the protests, in juxtaposition to Berkeley’s reports of complying through the MCap program, Markow suggests that Davis’s administration is putting the blame on the students rather than responding to their needs for lower tuition.
This article was very upsetting, especially because I am a student of UC Davis. I wasn’t too involved in the protests since I was just a freshman back then, but I don’t recall the protestors ever leaving that much damages on campus that would total up to $8,500. Whether or not this number is accurate, I still think that pepper spraying peaceful protestors is a greater offense than creating more mess for the custodians.

Q: Is it fair to ask students to make financial sacrifices in exchange for the benefits of higher education, or should college be free?

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