Where I Study (Maybe that's a good idea after all...)

If you haven't figured it out by now I go to the University of California, Berkeley.  A large, public University with great academics, which is, in fact, is U.S. News and World Report's #1 Public University.  Some people care, some people don't or don't even agree, but I don't think anyone can argue with that ranking. CAL's credentials speak for themselves. The environment is amazingly rich. I find people (for the most part) to be incredibly brilliant and interesting. The courses are challenging, but not impossible,  and very rewarding. Most of the Professors I've been lucky enough to have had were great as teachers and just remarkably passionate about the fields. Which is how it should be. I truly admire my professors, not just for being teachers, but enduring years of study and hard work to be where they are. So I beseech you... go knock yourself out! Check out the website. I am not without my complaints. Big lecture classes and grading policies can really suck sometimes. But you can deal with it as I have.

"...from Berkeley to Carmel..." -Simon and Garfunkel

My main gripe with Berkeley isn't the University. I'm very satisfied with the University ... inasmuch as it should have a ton more housing and should physically expand. But there's one big obstacle in its way.  The City of Berkeley. The subculture is incredibly interesting, watching people live out their nostalgia. The overwhelming selection and quality of restaurants is just amazing. No problem there. Having studied economics, I can say more strongly, if not before, how ass

Resident Phallic Symbol: Jane K. Sather Tower The Second Tallest Bell Tower of its kind in the World

The Fabled Evans Hall, home to CAL's Math, Statistics, and Economics departments

backwards the city of Berkeley is.  The city continually opposes to attempts by the University to use land, which it owns, the way it chooses. For a University with 29,000 students, of which 5,000 get housing, something has to be wrong. Development projects are either years off or severely impeded. I talked to my good friend Ernie who goes to Stanford.. He says to me, "yah if I had to do it all over again I might probably go to CAL. I'd get just as good an education for alot less." Then I told him how I needed to find my own apartment. Then he said, "Oh yes, now I remember why I pay $32,000 a year."  What's more, the city is vehemently opposed to big business. What's new? I think there is a good side and bad side to this. The good side is that we can have restaurants like "La Burrita" and "Fabuloso" insead of "Taco Bell" (although there is one two blocks west of Campus) or "Sufficient Grounds" and "Wall Berlin" as opposed to "Starbucks" (which is of course right next door to the Taco Bell on Shattuck Avenue).  I do admit that I enjoy Starbucks coffee, don't  get me wrong, but there's something different and fun about sitting in a cafe that looks, feels and

The labyrinthine Dwinelle Hall, home to almost every humanities department CAL has to offer.

tastes different from the usual green, black and white. That's precisely the reason these places exist: they offer an different product. If people cherish the uniqueness and quality of an establishment, then that establishment will thrive. If a company steps in and offers the exact same product more cheaply and more efficiently then it should be allowed to exist. Furthermore, it puts a challenge to the existing companies to lower their costs: the nature of competition. If big businesses truly use their power to drive out competition, then that's where one uses the Justice Department. Why should our standard of living be lowered at the cost of a nostalgic population's whim? This is a University town full of students with severly tight budgets. Economic development will favor all. I don't call for a major uprooting of the city. Trust me, the nostalgia can and will continue, regardless. I'll tell you what I have to say about rent control too...

Send your opinions/comments about CAL or the City of Berkeley to ross-steven@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Back Home