Samantha Nguyen
ASA 02
Week 4
It
was interesting to read A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis,
written by Alan Markow, because of the distinct differences of responses between UC Berkeley and UC Davis towards the
Occupy movements on campus. The chancellor at UC Berkeley responded and
announced to make the campus more affordable to middle class families through a
financial-aid program known as MCap. However, UC Davis responded in a harsh way
of attempting to place guilt upon the students them for their freedom of
speech. It was as if they were victimizing themselves by complaining about the
cost of cleaning and repairing around the areas where the protests took place. In
a student’s perspective, UC Davis seemed to prioritize paying their workers to
clean up the protests instead of listening and accommodating for students’
needs of financial aid. I cannot quite wrap my head around this issue because
we students are paying thousands of dollars to go to this school, yet they won’t
accommodate for our needs and concerns. It angers me not only because I am a
middle-class student, but I am also angered for the international students who already
pay thousands of more than what normal California residents pay. MCap is the
Middle Class Access Plan that UC Berkeley implemented after the protests and it’s
a new financial aid program. By seeing the stark contrasts between the two
universities, it makes me re-think about the administration. Do they actually
care about my education and my voice, or do they value my money more?
Question: Is the MCap
program only implemented at UC Berkeley? Why would UC Davis respond in such a
way instead of helping the students? Wouldn’t this worsen UC Davis’ image and
reputation by responding in such a way?
Reference:
1.
Markow, A. (2011,
December 22). A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy
movements. Retrieved October 14, 2017
2. Danielle. (2012, December 29).
[Digital Image]. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from http://househippo.org/2012/12/29/stop-waiting-five-personal-finance-tips-for-right-now/
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