THE BIG GAME OF ACTIVISM

What do we want? Anti-war messages on impressionist landscape paintings!

I find myself frequently debating others as to whether Stanford has eclipsed UC Berkeley as the more activist campus today.

Granted, political protests at Berkeley have substantially dwindled since their heyday in the 1960s and 70s. Sadly, when comparing my own Cal undergraduate days in the mid-1990s to the present Dubya era, I am an eyewitness to how Prop 209 and our increasingly conservative climate have diminished the flames of Berkeley activism.

But anybody who suggests that Berkeley is apathetic or devoid of protest hasn't been paying attention.

From Students for Justice in Palestine to recent labor strikes, Berkeley remains a hotbed of fury and fists, whereas Stanford is still the cubbyhole of Beamers and Benzes. (They call it 'Shallow Alto' for a reason.)

But because today's rallies don't rival numbers from the Free Speech Movement era, the media is more likely to focus on Berkeley's William Hung than its protests.

When I left Berkeley and (sold out and) went to Stanfurd for law school, I remember Mother Jones published a list of the Top 10 Activist Campuses, which ranked Stanford at #5 and gave Berkeley only an honorable mention.

What was an example of Stanford's activism? Mother Jones noted the successful student campaign to nix administration plans to put a Taco Bell on campus.

Ahem. I can testify, with no hesitation, that if UC officials ever tried putting a Taco Bell on its flagship campus, a cavalry of Cal undergrads would "make a run for the border" by torching the house of chalupas down to a corporate taco crisp.

I humbly submit that UC Berkeley is still the greater place of political activism.

I concede that many Cal students might be more concerned with American Idol than American imperialism, but the torch passed by the TWLF and Mario Savio is very much alive in the students I've met in my classroom.

Just in case you still aren't convinced, here's a comparison of recent activities:

On Berkeley's Sproul Plaza, students and faculty recently organized a teach-in on torture.

On Stanford's White Plaza, students celebrated Pirate Pride Week, which apparently conflicted with Ninja Respect Month.

I'm not hating on pirates or ninjas. But anybody who tries to tell me that Stanford is more activist than Berkeley is going to be greeted by my cutlass and shuriken.

Your move, tree.

(From Oliver: activist campus as Cal may be, apparently, the UCs are still wack when it comes to hiring women faculty.)

--Junichi