Reading: A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy movements
From the beginning, I wondered why the two campuses had such drastic responses to student voicing their difficulties paying tuition. Considering all the circumstances, including the pepper spray incident, MCAP already being considered and undergoing development, and comparisons to Berkeley's response to the Occupy Movement, UC Davis placed itself in a negative light, when they had the chance to appease students and the public. As corporate should care about university and self-image in addition to business, especially if they want more students to attend the university, they demonstrated strict, inflexible and uncompromising policies when they clearly knew such decisions would work against them in multiple ways. I expected the article to explain the reasonings and choices behind Davis's decision, but the article ends with a remark stating "Why Davis chose to ignore this issue in its public communications about damages caused by the Occupy students, while Berkeley ignored any such damages and responded to the need for lower costs of education remains a mystery." It truly puzzles me. Nothing about the decision makes sense, as there's no financial, political, or social benefit from it. The decision seems like it was made by a teenager who decided that making a petty complaint was worth more than friends, image, and principle. There might have been a scheme to use Chancellor Linda Katehi as a scapegoat for everything, allowing Corporate to also comment about the disturbance made by students, creating a win-win situation for them. However, thinking like such would be too simple. Regardless if Chancellor Linda Katehi takes the blame for all the strife and UC Davis fires her in attempts to cut relations with all the upsetting instances that occurred under her, everything has already been associated with the Davis University and totals a negative image for school. News reports were on the pepper spray incident, and articles written about this incident, all plastering the name of UC Davis on the front. Those that paid attention to the reports were informed of Chancellor Linda Katehi's role, but I doubt the public remember her name or what she did: all they remember is UC Davis. The reasons for their decision truly is a mystery.
Question: As the UC system was in need for more funds, but proposed the MCAP to assist middle-class families, would universities be charging higher tuitions from families of higher incomes, out-of-state or international students to make up for all the costs? If not, where did schools receive the funds to launch such an arrangement?
Work Cited:
Markow, Alan (Dec. 19, 2011). A Tale of Two Campuses: Berkeley and Davis respond to Occupy movements. Retrieved from http://ivn.us/news/2011/12/19/a-tale-of-two-campuses-berkeley-and-davis-respond-to-occupy-movements/
Public Affairs, UC Berkeley (Dec. 14, 2011). New UC Berkeley financial-aid plan targets squeeze on middle-class students. Retrieved from https://news.berkeley.edu/2011/12/14/berkeley-mcap-conference/
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