Results tagged “ucberkeley”

Facing a $150 million budget deficit this year due to cuts in state funding and higher operating costs, UC Berkeley has hired Bain & Co., a Massachusetts-based consultant with offices in San Francisco, for a hefty $3 million fee, plus expenses, to help the university find long-term ways to save money. As Fark.com aptly puts, "Somehow, cutting consultant fees from the budget isn't likely to make the list."

While an estimated 5,000 students and faculty packed Sproul Plaza at U.C. Berkeley yesterday to protest a whopping 32-percent fee hike in the next year, thousands of different students were distracted by other things. The protest on the plaza was thought to be one of the largest since the Free Speech movement of the 60s, but it's possible the numbers were skewed by those gathered at Sather Gate where the Ellen show producers were giving away free Samsung cell phones live on the air (see video above) via a Twitter alert. Also, the show was offering $1,000 and free trips to L.A. to any students who stripped off their clothes in the campus bookstore and sent in a picture. Ah, college. Ah, Millennials.

The man who gained national fame in the early 90s for attending classes at U.C. Berkeley wearing nothing but a G-string, Luis Andrew Martinez a.k.a. The Naked Guy, met his end in a Santa Clara County jail cell where he cinched a plastic bag around his neck and died of suffocation in May 2006. It turns out he was schizophrenic, and after proving "people define normalcy in their own terms" and ultimately getting expelled from Cal, he was in and out of jails and mental institutions where he did not always receive appropriate care. His mother, Esther Krenn, brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and yesterday won a $1M settlement on the grounds of "reckless disregard or deliberate indifference" to her son's condition.

More time is being wasted over in Berkeley over those damn oak trees. This time the Berkeley City Council voted last night that they it "will not seek a stay of a judge's order allowing UC Berkeley's athletic center project to proceed," according to CBS 5. Good. Also, many of the protesters, who awesomely are starting to view themselves as Christ-like figures as of late, held a small rally outside Berkeley City Hall last night. And this is our favorite quote from one of the pro-oak grovists:

After a judge ruled that the University of California can cut down those cumbersome old oak trees, the kids still stuck up in the grove aren't coming down. What else is new, right? But in the end, the protesters have no one to blame but themselves. The twee aesthetics the sitters used to save said trees turned off any fence sitters, and "Dumpster Muffin"'s dilettante-ish and affected temper tantrum earlier this month made some supporters eyes roll. But what the Save the Memorial Oak Grove did accomplished was having fun. They turned lemons into a festive, extended tree-fort playdate. Kudos, guys! But if any of you still want those oak trees to remain standing, there will be an Oak Grove Supporters Plan March at Berkeley City Hall tomorrow. Go here for more details.

While police have tried to starve and cutoff supplies to the few remaining protesters up in the UCB oak grove, another tree-sitter was arrested yesterday afternoon at around 5 p.m. Performing yoga exercises on the median strip on Piedmont Avenue in front of the grove of trees, it seems, police arrested someone going by the moniker "Redwood." According to university spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the protester came along "very quietly."

UCB's plans to mow down an oak grove and put up a sports training facility were put on hold. It seems a judge halted the plans until "the university can prove the project would not violate state earthquake-safety laws, a judge ruled Wednesday," says the Gate. The university, though, thinks it's a rule in their favor, keeping "their plan alive, arguing that the center would not violate state law because it would not touch any fault lines."

The battle to save an oak grove on the UC-Berkeley campus turned even uglier yesterday. Protesters sang bizarre Native American-ish sounding songs (seriously, check this out) and threw buckets of urine at police and arborists (where "an acrid tang hung in the air afterward." Ew.)

Five remaining tree climbers over at the University of California at Berkeley -- you know, the ones who have been protesting the school's plan to tear down the Memorial Oak Grove to put in a shiny new ball-throwing stadium -- are being threatened to come down via 25 police officers and a cherry picker. According to UCB officials, the tree protesters might have to come down as early as today, Tuesday, or be removed by the long arm of the law. Literally.

• Kicking it at the Days-Inn on Lombard. [Butter Retriever]
• Twitter explained in plain English. [Laughing Squid]
• The very hot Tyler Florence to take over the very gay Plush Room. Intriguing. [Eater]

Image credit: Capobianco Gallery

Deep breath. Wow. Jesus. Okay, here we go:

Fascist Imperial Dogs 1 - Tree Loving Hippies 0- After all that protesting and dancing and carrot juice drinking, the Berkeley City Council chickened out and said they erred in passing that January resolution that disinvited a Marine recruiting station and called them "unwelcome intruders." In that resolution, they also allowed Code Pink permission to blast all sorts of things at the station, gave them a designated parking space in front of it, and permission to protest on Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m. Why Wednesday? Because it’s Hump Day! They did, however, refuse to issue an apology and used part of their mea culpa to lash out at the Bush administration and the war. This didn't satisfy some conservatives as Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced the "Semper Fi Act" which would redirect money to UC Berkeley and give it to the Southern Heritage Coalition so they can sew more flags with the Confederate flag in them.

Anti-war fans, pro-war zealots, '60s fetishists, barely-legal Marines, the unshowered, and young college students trying to impress their boyfriends will be out in full force on the other side of the Bay later this evening. Why? Because after receiving loads of national criticism, as well as a few death threats, the Berkeley City Council will decide tonight whether or not to "revoke a letter it approved two weeks ago telling the Marines they are 'unwelcome intruders' and should leave their post." What's more:

Jorge Liderman, 50, music theory and composition professor at UC Berkeley, died on Sunday after being hit by a BART car at El Cerrito Plaza. At around 9:30 a.m., it seems, the BART train operator claims that as the car was about four or five feet from the station, Liderman hurled himself in front of it, killing him instantly. And although the word "suicide" is being tossed about, his cause of death is still under investigation.

Our friends over at CurbedSF brought to our attention that Hayes Valley will soon be getting a new makeover, via the redevelopment of 55 Laguna. The proposals for the "mixed-use" of the former UC Berkeley extension -- which was relocated four years ago -- has recently been approved by the San Francisco Planning Commission.

Rejoice, space believers! For there is finally - yes, finally! - someplace you can go on l'Internet to read about such sci-fi-ness (excuse us, "science fiction-ness" for all of you purists) ranging from Samuel R. Delany to Joss Whedon to Small Wonder. Io9, a Bay Area-based blog care of Gawker, launched yesterday, and we couldn't be more thrilled. That is, until we read about their editor, Annalee Newitz.

Not to be outdone by their wicked step-sister, UCLA, who all too tastefully/boringly galloped about in their panties on the streets of LA, UC Berkeley also had its traditional end-of-semester streak last week. But they did it in the raw. Hee.

Saturday is what is known around these here parts as "the Big Game," a kinda cute nickname for a game usually not of any importance to anyone other to us NorCal folks. This game, in particular, doesn't have much going for it as Stanford, with the exception of the 'SC upset, hasn't been very good and Cal has been more disappointing than Fred Thompson's candidacy. Nevertheless, the game is always pretty exciting and full of tradition-- all the things that makes college football what it is.

(Barry Bonds is on SFGate's Crime page. Ha!) -- A 19-year-old woman was shot -- "in the back today...at 5:39 p.m." Huh?-- during an attempted street robbery in SF's Visitacion Valley. Attacked at Velasco Avenue and Santos Street, she is currently at SFGH and listed in stable condition. And the two suspects? Are still at large. -- UC Berkeley journalism student Kevin Jones, 27, "pleaded no contest today to a misdemeanor charge of vehicular...

-- Golem: Sadly, this has nothing to do with The Lord of the Rings' heroin addict creature. Joyously, this has everything to do with the fact that this is a mist rocking six-piece Eastern European/NYC folk-punk band. Come hear them along with the Trifles, bran(...)pos, DJ Snuffy the Talking Fire Engine starting at 9 p.m. at 12 Galaxies; $12-15.

Last night 24-year-old Memorial Oak Grove tree-sitter Nate Hill fell on his tushie after plummeting 40 feet out of the tree. He suffered both a broken wrist and ankle, but is in fine, fighting, camera-ready condition. He was trying to get out of the tree, via a traverse line, to visit his poppa waiting down below. But it seems that he was not, in fact, on the line, and then took a nasty fall...

After a 10-month protest atop an oak grove next to Memorial Stadium, a judge ruled on Monday that UC Berkeley can now start removing up-in-a-tree protesters, as well as their ground support, even if police can't identify the protesters by name. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller amended his ruling from a month ago. At that time, his decree gave authorities the power to strip the environmental activists off of the UC-owned land,...

Eastern SOMA's budding, unfortunately named condo "community" BLŪ, on Folsom and Second Streets, is about ready to bloom in all of its steel and glass glory. Problem is, we don't see any lottery for affordable housing on their site. Has the lottery already happened? Or are they planning on having some sort of learning annex or UC Berkeley extension, a la The Paramount, to skirt those types? We can't seem to get anyone over at BLŪ on the phone to fill us in.

-- Behold! The Infinity apartment! [Curbed SF]

And by "van-burners," we don't mean the variety that park by Ocean Beach in their VW van toking while watching the sunset. Or maybe we do…

You know we usually try to hoard up all the crime-type news for the Tuesday and Friday blotters, but there was enough vaguely unsettling news this weekend to warrant a post a little early, we thought. To wit:

-- After 11 shootings and 3 deaths since yesterday -- since yesterday -- a Richmond gang war results in SWAT teams hitting the streets. [Chron, CBS5]