<p>People who are truly of renaissance-talent are self-made. No amount of studies programs are going to create such an individual. If it were that easy I’m sure we’d have Renaissance Man Studies at the UC’s.</p>
<p>A whole major where you study Danny DeVito’s role in the film Renaissance Man?</p>
<p>^^^Well to fill out a multidisciplinary curriculum they’d probably get around to it.</p>
<p>It’s going to be hard to cut the majors that all of the protesters are part of: Woman’s studies, African American Studies, Community Studies. These students learn in class about the ‘propaganda’ and ‘the man’ and go out and do something about it. </p>
<p>There is NOTHING we can do, which is why I do not like these protests whatsoever. So there was a library ‘study-in’ the other day. Seems like these self-centered ‘kids’ just partied all night in the library, rather than do something useful like study. Fees going up = inevitable.</p>
<p>If you guys wanted to go to a university where all you learn is information you could have found on the internet, then you definitely picked the wrong school. These students are just fighting for the education they were promised, so stop the constant ridicule. Santa Cruz is known for its unconventional classes and methods. I think it is important that we still have a broad range of majors. What about plant sciences? Is environmental studies a waste of money? It’s not “environmental science” for a reason. Legal studies? Just because you aren’t interested in these things doesn’t mean they aren’t important. I think Astrophysics is a waste of time and money, but I know the majority of you would disagree. But say they were to compact the Astrophysics major with the Physics major. It’s not the same as majoring in Astrophysics. It’d be like shoving everyone from Language Studies into Linguistics. Obviously, you don’t understand the difference between the two.</p>
<p>While I agree the occupations are unnecessary and not helping, it’s also incredibly ignorant and easy to sit back and watch as the government takes away thousands of young adults’ opportunity to rise in society through education. Your apathy is what gives youth a bad name.</p>
<p>Getting back to the letter-</p>
<p>What a stupid idea. The budget cuts has exposed an interesting fact about UCSC student fees- Only 82% of the fees go back to UCSC. The other 18% goes to support the medical centers and research at ucla, ucsf, and finally, the biggest irony of it all, UCSD. Yes, ladies and gents, UCSD. If we closed UCSC, the other UCs would be impacted. </p>
<p>Finally, I think all of this finger pointing is useless. All of the majors and areas of study will be impacted. Each has its role and place. If you wanted to be surrounded by just the math and sciences you should have looked into a technical school (even Cal Tech has a Humanities and Social Science division)</p>
<p>If you don’t like the protests, don’t participate. Or you could take a “studies” course and learn that as a citizen, you have a right to voice your dissent. As a “studies” major, I don’t participate in the protests (students at UCSC usually don’t know how to protest effectively). And in terms of propaganda, not really. I don’t buy into half of the things that some of my professors support. Doesn’t mean I haven’t learned some powerful things about myself and society.</p>
<p>To RS Buletz,
Your posts really are some of the most ignorant things I have ever read. First of all, I really have to question whether you are even a student at the University of California, because your suggestion of cutting these programs completely takes away from the whole meaning of both the function and even the definition of a “university”. A university is meant to educate students in a variety of subjects and to create human beings who are prepared to create a functioning and blossoming society.
Do not get me wrong. Science is equally important as these so called “useless” studies programs. However, what if students never had the chance to STUDY the Civil rights movement or the Holocaust or the struggle for women’s rights? What if students never had the chance to STUDY or learn about the beauty of other cultures? How are we possibly supposed to function in this world without being aware of the others who have had struggles different than ours? This would be a very very terrible world without a mutual understanding between cultures.We are a SOCIETY that is full of a diversity of cultures and people, not a string of scientific compounds. This struggle within our school is one of the rich and powerful trying to cut the programs that don’t bring any significant revenue for the business that is the university. Well I am a customer of this business and I am unsatisfied with the way things are being conducted, and as a customer I have the right to make a change, and not simply withdraw my money and cop out. I care about making this world a better place to live in. Do you?</p>