Congratulations! You’ve made it! Welcome to UC Berkeley! The “Best Public University in the World”! That’s what they told you at CalSO, right? We’re number one! Fuck Stanford! Blah blah blah…wait a minute, who says? How are they measuring what makes a university “the best”? How do we measure how “public” a university is? Our university just signed the largest deal between a multi-national corporation and a university in academic history (BP article, Pg. XX)! Is that what makes us the best? Does that sound “public”? Our university is responsible for manufacturing every nuclear weapon in the United States Armory! (Nukes article, Pg. XX) Should we be proud of that? Every University Regent on our board has a shady history of corrupt corporate greed and is personally appointed by Governator Schwarzenegger without any popular vote or public consent. (Meet the Regents, Democratizing, Pg. XX) But nobody tells us that in our orientation. They just tell us cute stories about how exciting it was to get accepted to Cal Berkeley! The “best public research institute in the WORLD”! Do they tell us how our curriculum is slowly being manipulated to appease our giant corporate sponsors, or how the very idea of a public university is at risk of being extinct? No! They shove more blind school spirit in our faces and tell us to buy a blue and gold t-shirt.
To say “the best university in the world” is a pretty bold statement. And we want to hold them accountable for what they claim. Is Cal Berkeley really “the best in the world”? Guess what? We don’t think so! At least not yet. What you have in your hands is the other side of the story. What we think is really going on at this institution. What we have found that does makes us proud to be a part of this academic community. We have found our favorite professors and courses that challenge the great power structure of which UC Berkeley is a part of, and compiled a list to suggest to you (Suggested classes list, Pg. XX). We have found all kinds of fun, free things to do in this town that can bring us together to enjoy each other’s company and bring some positive vibrations to the world around us (Free things to do in Berkeley, Pg. XX).
We think there is more to college than just getting extra wasted, going to “the Big Game” and having non-consensual sex (Sex in three parts, pg. XX). In fact, this guide is a testament to what we love about our university. It is the product of a few students who truly care about keeping our university public and who are dedicated to the idea of academic freedom and integrity. We believe the academy is a place where people should ask questions…lots of them…big ones, like “Where is our tuition going?”. So if this sort of stuff excites you, read on! Keep the guide for the semester and share it with your friends. If not, oh well…just don’t throw our guide away. We worked our fucking asses off writing, editing, printing and distributing this thing ourselves. So please be kind enough to pass this on to somebody who might like it, or leave it in your favorite bathroom stall so somebody can enjoy our publication during an especially satisfying poop. Thanks for caring!
Love The DisO Team