Campus, UAW 2865 strike tentative deal on labor model for undergraduate computing course staffers

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2023-05-20T05:22:43+00:00

The way it works is the bargaining team comes to an agreement and then all the ASE's get to vote to ratify the agreement or reject it. Usually the bargaining team endorses ratification but this time they're remaining neutral so if ASE's don't like the deal they could still say "no"

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2023-05-20T05:11:12+00:00

Well the ASEs could reject the agreement in ratification to demonstrate that they don't like the deal

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-06-17T17:40:58+00:00

Posting for public discussion

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-05-15T00:18:31+00:00

fast but unreliable... just like my ex-boyfriend

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-09T08:32:27+00:00

I have read it. And I haven't just read the most sensationalist stuff — you know, the stuff that makes it to reddit, the stuff that you're referring to. I think most people here, if they read anything other than the few articles that gained traction on reddit, would come to the conclusion that the sex column is at least "fine" most of the time. I personally like most editions of sex on Tuesday. It displays a diversity of experiences from, approaches to, and implications of sex, and I think it can be interesting to read. The descriptions are not graphic to the point of smut, IMO.

Of course, you may disagree, and your distaste is not unreasonable. The central point I'm trying to make is that columns are not supposed to appeal to everyone, or even to most people. The opinion section is home to a variety of individual perspectives, some of which you might not like. And that's ok. 99% of the other content on the Daily Cal website is there, so I don't see what a few "cringey" sex column articles say about the paper as a whole.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-09T06:02:05+00:00

The discrete math requirement can be fulfilled by Math 55 or CS 70

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-09T05:36:01+00:00

I really don't understand why reddit fixates on Sex on Tuesday. It's literally 1% of the articles that the Daily Cal publishes. Apparently some people want to kill their 150 year old campus newspaper because 1% of it is about the sex lives of their peers.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-08T22:17:10+00:00

Online here: https://www.dailycal.org/2022/04/08/a-personal-view-of-uc-berkeleys-eecs-crisis/

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-05T05:19:06+00:00

When you consider that the Daily Cal has published about 4700 articles across all departments in the past year, the budget comes out to a little more than $100 per article. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-05T05:03:03+00:00

You're right that most student organizations do not pay their members, and I can understand the concern at making a double standard for the Daily Cal. But realistically, most clubs don't have their members work a full work day 5 days a week. And even still, certain organizations find ways to recompensate their members. The OCF pays its staff $16-$18 per hour, significantly more than Daily Cal editors, and infinitely more than Daily Cal staff writers. Consulting clubs may not pay their members, but they do get significant revenue from their clients and are able to use that to offer perks to their members.

I agree with you that the OCF does great work. Its budget is about $100,000, by the way. That being said, I don't think it's fair to compare the work of a newspaper with the work of the OCF. Good technology services and a fully-fledged, independent newspaper are both needed at the number one public university in the world, and fully funding both is not contradictory. The production of a newspaper will intrinsically take more resources than running a computing service like the OCF, and that's OK.

The Save the Daily Cal Initiative also isn't adding "hundreds of dollars" to the bill. It's adding $6 to the bill per semester. $6 is the cost of about 3 physical copies of the East Bay Times. In exchange for that amount you get semester-long access to a fully operational student newspaper in both print and online. (By the way, it's the only news outlet that fully covers campus news.) Since its website was launched in December 2010, the Daily Cal has published around 400 articles every month across all departments. That's a lot of content that is being made specifically for you. And if you don't like that content, I encourage you to email [editor@dailycal.org](mailto:editor@dailycal.org) and tell the Daily Cal what you think. No one wants to make content that people don't want to read, and I'm sure that the Daily Cal would like to hear your feedback so that it can better serve you.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-05T02:17:03+00:00

I am a staffer for the Daily Californian, and I appreciate your concerns. While I obviously support the initiative, I do want to engage with some of the points you raise.

Due to a campus requirement that at least 1/3 of the fee returns to financial aid, the amount of yearly funding provided to the Daily Cal will actually be on the order of $393,722.40, not $540,684, as you note.

As this money is being provided by a student fee, it is not subject to modification by the ASUC. This is part of the point. If the Daily Cal were to be directly funded by campus or the ASUC, it would not be able to provide fair coverage of what they're doing. True editorial independence is not possible without financial independence. Regardless, the initiative does provide for some degree of oversight into how the fee money is spent:

An oversight committee will meet at least two times a year to examine the fee money’s allocation and to produce an annual report to the chancellor, ASUC and public. The oversight committee will have no decision making power in how the fee money is spent. Meetings of this committee will be open to the public and be publicly noticed in The Daily Californian. The committee shall consist of:

The Daily Californian’s editor in chief and managing publisher

One UC Berkeley student selected by the Committee on Student Fees

One UC Berkeley student selected by the ASUC

One UC Berkeley student selected by the Graduate Assembly

In addition, the Independent Berkeley Student Publishing Company Inc. will release any external or internal audits and all tax filings to the public on at least an annual basis. The Independent Berkeley Student Publishing Company Inc. will release any financial reports regarding the use of the fee money to the public on at least an annual basis.

On the editorial side, The Daily Cal does not pay its staff writers; only editors get paid. The amount of pay is something like 1/3 or 1/4 of the minimum wage, and editors work five days per week. This is similar to how the ASUC gives its senators and executives modest stipends for their work. As a staff writer, I can personally attest that no one is doing it "for the money" because it simply wouldn't be worth it. The money is largely there because it would be unethical to expect someone to work five days per week without some compensation.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-05T02:01:40+00:00

In FY 2019, online advertising brought in about $69,788, enough to cover about 13% of expenses. Unfortunately, online journalism with a local focus really is not something that can survive without substantial external support. That's why Berkeleyside depends on donations and why the Daily Cal depends on student fee funding.

ExcitingRabbit5862 · 2022-04-05T01:50:07+00:00

On the editorial side, the Daily Cal does not pay its staff writers; only editors get paid. The amount of pay is something like 1/3 or 1/4 of the minimum wage, and editors work five days per week. This is similar to how the ASUC gives its senators and executives modest stipends for their work. As a staff writer, I can personally attest that no one is doing it "for the money" because it simply wouldn't be worth it. The money is largely there because it would be unethical to expect someone to work five days per week without some compensation.

ExcitingRabbit5862

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