That is the promise given today by Chancellor Ralph Cicerone in a letter to students, which he released to Subversity after talking to us about the protest, during which graduate students and supporters have erected tents in the center the campus since Wednesday, in an area they labelled Cicerone Projects. Nor will graduate students be limited to two years' student housing, he told us.
Graduate student leaders expect to meet next week to begin "negotiations" with the UCI Academic Senate's Graduate Council, said Debbie Davis, Associated Graduate Students leader. But Cicerone, told Subversity the council, like all senate committees, has only an "advisory" role without the right to make decisions, although he welcomed what he called a "discussion" with the student leaders.
The university earlier this year also agreed to admit domestic partners into student housing, reversing a policy that had led to a similar protest a decade or so before, when graduate students built a "shantytown" on campus to protest the recission of an earlier campus practice that had allowed gay and lesbian partners housing. That early practice had been stopped when the UC President's office found out about it.
Cicerone told Subversity that the current domestic partnership policy would not discriminate between married or unmarried students, although those with children would still get priority.
You can hear more about this protest on today's edition of Subversity, aired on KUCI, 88.9 fm in Irvine, from 5-6 p.m. and on the Web via kuci.org. We chat with Cicerone and with student leader Mike Latner on the protest.
The show is dedicated to the memory of UCSC Sociology prof. Lionel Cantu, who earned his Ph.D at UCI in 1999. On Monday afternoon friends and colleagues will gather at UCI to celebrate his life. Write me if you need more info. about the event and about where to send condolences.
Thanx for listening.
dan
Daniel C. Tsang Host, Subversity, Fridays, 5-6 p.m. KUCI, 88.9 FM and Web-cast live via http://kuci.org Subversity: http://kuci.org/~dtsang; E-mail: subversity@kuci.org Daniel Tsang, KUCI, PO Box 4362, Irvine CA 92616 UCI Tel: (949) 824-4978; UCI Fax: (949) 824-2700 UCI Office: 380 Main Library Member, National Writers Union (http://www.nwu.org) WWW News Resource Page: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/netnews1.htm AWARE: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/aware2.htm Personal Homepage: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/