CA Walkout Pregame Show

The fall quarter begins tomorrow in the University of California system, and the tenured radicals of Roxie's World are waiting with bated breath to see how the planned walkout by faculty, staff, and students will go. The images below, which were picked up on Facebook and are used with permission but without attribution, suggest that the troops will be armed with messages about the UC's budget priorities and processes that are sharp, clear, and visually appealing. The mighty small-D democrats 'round here are particularly pleased with the slogan, "If I wanted to go to a private school, I would have been born in a rich family." Indeed.


Hungry for info? Here's a buffet of links for you to graze:

• UC Faculty Walkout blog -- Important background materials and list of famous endorsers here.
• Remaking the University -- UC Santa Barbara's Chris Newfield's indispensable blog on the California crisis. Those of you in similar situations should be sure to look at Newfield's 2-page Q&A on the UC system budget. It takes an English prof to speak budget in terms that make sense. Just sayin'.
• Why We're Walking Out -- A statement by UC Davis grad students and lecturers that cogently and eloquently articulates the rationale for the walkout. This was posted on Facebook -- Don't know if those of you who are too cool for FB will be able to access or not. Just one more reason for you to drop your utterly futile resistance to the funnest thing since Twister.
• Chronicle of Higher Ed article on the mistrust that has developed between UC system administrators and the faculty -- Access by sub only. Sorry.
• Sac Bee story on the "naked rally" that was held at UC Davis today to, um, arouse interest in tomorrow's walkout -- The story is trying to get a bead on how large the action is likely to be. It notes that 1,100 of the system's 19,400 faculty have signed an online pledge to participate.
  

As we note in the sidebar, this is our fight, too. This is everyone's fight, assuming you believe that in the 21st century a strong, accessible system of public higher education is essential to the nation's economy and its democracy -- and everybody in Roxie's World believes that, don't you? Tomorrow, we are all Californians, and tomorrow, our hearts and paws will be raised with those of our comrades in the Golden State. Be safe, be strong, be united, be clear. Justice is on your side.