Lockergate 2008
BHSA and the school administration have broken their silence and sent an update on the locker situation [posted in full after the jump].
Included in the plan is mandatory locker sharing and charging a rental fee for 3Ls.
Any thoughts?
Included in the plan is mandatory locker sharing and charging a rental fee for 3Ls.
Any thoughts?
Labels: BHSA
posted by tj at 9:16 AM
53 Comments:
Dear Fellow Boalties,
BHSA has been working with the administration to determine the best solution regarding the locker situation. We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on this very important student issue.
1) When can students expect to get lockers?
· The Administration reports that lockers will be available by October 1st.
2) How many lockers will there be?
· The new locker room will provide 500 total lockers. Our student population is approximately 1,000 students, including LLMs, transfers, and JSPs. BHSA is requesting that the university dedicate additional space for lockers as future construction makes more space available.
3) Since there are not enough lockers for the students, are we guaranteed a locker?
· Given the current space allocated for lockers, BHSA's goal is to provide locker access to as many students as possible. Based on the student feedback we solicited and received over the past two weeks, we have concluded that locker-sharing is the best option to distribute locker space to the greatest number of students.
4) How will students get lockers?
· 1Ls, transfer students, LLMs, and students with disabilities will be assigned their shared lockers by the Office of Student Services. BHSA will allocate the remaining lockers.
· BHSA will coordinate locker assignments for 2Ls and 3Ls. More specific instructions will be forthcoming as we draw closer to the installation of the lockers. If you have special circumstances that require storage-space accommodations, please email an explanation to bhsa@law.berkeley.edu. Although we cannot guarantee we will be able to address every circumstance brought to our attention, we will be responsive to students' needs and do our best to make adequate accommodations.
· 2Ls and 3Ls will have the option to choose their locker mates. If you do not select a locker-mate, one will be assigned to you. Lockers for 2Ls and 3Ls will cost each student $25/year.
5) Where is the money for locker rentals going?
· 100% of the money collected from locker rentals will be returned to YOU via funding of student organizations, student journals, and student-run programs.
BHSA will provide additional details in the coming weeks. We welcome any comments you may have regarding this important student issue. Email us at bhsa@law.berkeley.edu.
- Boalt Hall Student Association
I think it's totally disgraceful. After screwin' the pooch in the first place and not giving us lockers to start with, now we have to share AND PAY? Why would they do all this new construction and not plan such that there are lockers for all? My $31k tuition isn't enough to get me a locker??? I'm really pissed.
There is absolutely no reason to charge us $25 for them if, by sharing them, we have enough for everyone. What could the justification possibly be? This is BHSA trying to weedle additional funding out of us in a non-transparent way!
Twenty-five dollars is pretty outrageous. Unless the fee is in exchange for not having to share.
I seem to remember BHSA believing that implementing a market system will help allocate a limited number of lockers that doesn't meet the needs of the entire student body. Based on the email, 1,000 students can fit into 500 lockers if everyone shares. They're just using this as an excuse to tax the student body.
That said, the fact that Boalt can't find space for 1,000 lockers is pretty ridiculous, too. Put them in the freaking hallways, for all I care.
I don't like the idea of school-imposed sharing.
I say let's take a page from the business school's teachings and impose a free market open bidding system. People who really want/need lockers will be willing to pay for them. It's the only way I can think of to weed out those who don't really want one (in a way that a $25 charge won't do).
And if it goes to open bidding, people can choose to share with however many people they want. If it ends up that $100 is needed to secure a locker, someone can choose to share with 3 others if they for some reason cannot afford it (not likely, but just saying...).
Not to mention, BHSA would take in more money that could then be redistributed to clubs (or used to fund additional lockers elsewhere).
Sharing? How big are these lockers gonna be?
I agree there shouldn't be a fee if we're forced to share lockers.
Does anyone know how BHSA solicited student feedback in coming up with this plan? Or did they just pull it out of their collective asses?
I'm a 3L who doesn't want or need a locker. I hope I'm not stuck paying $25 to share something I won't use..
Aside: this reminds me of the airlines lately. I can see it now.. "Dear Students, due to the excessive construction noise, we are glad to announce a mandatory $100 noise-abatement fee each semester.."
"Dear Students, due to the rising price of fuel, we are glad to announce a $10 fee for each use of the Simon Hall elevator.."
Usually I don't gripe about things that I don't think are THAT big of a deal (I have more important bitchin' to do after all), but the principle behind charging $25 is pretty silly, especially if the money is just going to go straight back to us through student groups. Sharing I don't mind, so long as I don't get the guy that uses the locker as a hub for dealing the ganj.
Every time something like this happens, I just make a mental note and deduct the cost from what I would have contributed as an alum down the road.
If 200 lockers are allocated to 1L's, and 600 of the remaining students pay $25, BHSA will have raked in an efortless $15,000. If 200 upper class-folk opt out, BHSA will still enjoy a cool $10,000.
Boalties' tolerance of 90 degree classes in Booth, an exam period filled with take-homes, construction noise, private school level tuition for public school level facilities and services, and (closer to BHSA) needlessly overpriced textbooks, has been nothing short of admirable.
That tolerance is not a license, however. Don't push it.
Agreed. After all we have been forced to deal with this year, now we have to pay a locker fee that's obviously bullshit? I have heard a lot of gripes about the Boalt administration since I've come here, but this is the first time I've really been pissed off. And I don't even want a locker. It's just the principle. Like what do you need with my $25 that my already increased tuition doesn't cover? Seriously?
Anyway, I'm glad to hear 1Ls will have free lockers, at the very least. Speaking of, we could use more 1L representation on this blog, no?
Dan, your student fees (remember, no tuition at the UC) don't go to BHSA. BHSA is funded through the inflated textbook prices.
Right. Our inflated fees go to pay for the construction that we 3Ls (and 2Ls, for the most part) won't benefit from.
In happier news, it looks like they may have fixed the events calendar.
If they make me pay $25 for a shared locker, then BHSA better be throwing me one kick-ass graduation party this May with all that money. That would be the only justification worth it to me.
I just walked home, it has been enough time to cool off, and I'm still pissed.
Let's talk about those textbooks Armen mentioned. It would be good to make the issue crystal clear, just in case anyone here hasn't gotten the memo. Boalt/BHSA grants a mini-monopoly on textbook sales to a private bookstore, then takes a cut off the top. The predictable response from the bookstore is to adjust the textbook prices upwards so that BHSA's finger in the pie doesn't scoop out any of their profits. The result is that Boalties (e.g., you) pay quite a bit more than fair market value for their textbooks. (And yes, it is quite a bit more -- if it wasn't a great deal of money, BHSA would have buckled years ago under the annual pressure this issue generates.)
Moving on to that promise that the locker revenues "will be returned to YOU via funding of student organizations." (Emphasis in original.) Poppycock. It doesn't come right back to me. It is distributed among Boalt's hodgepodge of kooky and half-baked student clubs according to a calculus that is kept more tightly under wraps than a state secret. Think of it this way: if the money was going to come right back to YOU, why would YOU have to pay it in the first place? Don't feed me a line about extorting from me in order to help me -- the money is being redistributed. Otherwise you wouldn't need to collect it, now would you?
Speaking of redistribution, a commentator above characterizes the fee as a "tax." That characterization is spot on. WTF kind of government taxes the needy to fund the needy? (Maybe that's why they call it a "student government." How should I know? I'm just a caveman.) But what I do know is that the social justice interest here, to the degree that there is one at all, cuts in the opposite direction. Here are a handful of ideas, off the top of my head, all of which make more sense than taxing students: Tax the wealthy law firms who come to sleaze about the donor lobby. Tax the well-paid professors who use their offices for their private pet projects. Cap the price of coffee in Zeb, and then tax a percentage of their profits (a scheme which might also make them move faster to get sales across the counter -- wouldn't that be a peach?). Tax the various City of Berkeley organizations that use our facilities after hours, or fine undergraduates caught in the library after 5:00 p.m. Tax students who apply to transfer. Tax students who drop out. Hell, I don't care. But don't go telling me that by charging me money, you are somehow automatically conferring upon me a benefit. The real government (especially the state of California via the UC System and its so-called "fees") has bent me far enough over a barrel as it is.
The person above is right. You can totally make this money back by refusing to donate to the 3L alumni fund. I will feel no guilt either. There we go, Boalt. Even Stephen.
Is our student government - if it can even be called that - so weak that it can't lobby on our behalf for money directly from the administration? Because that's the only reason I can see for these silly fees and textbook subsidies that I keep paying.
Matt, it's a bit complicated. I attempted to research this a while back but just gave up in frustration. To the best of my knowledge, there is a formal process for proposing new fees that requires Regent approval, a referendum, etc. The powers that be think that the kick-back scheme with Ned's is easier than actually putting a student fee up for a referendum and going to the Regents. The same is true of this locker scam I suspect. Technically they're not fees, they're ummm I guess user surcharges that don't require the formal approval. Voila, extra cash without getting any input from you.
I keep struggling to make a comment in response to Matt, and it's not posting. Anyway, yes, but no. What Armen said. The textbook costs fund BHSA. Why would they challenge them?
I wasn't suggesting they should challenge anything. My assumption (and probably an incorrect one at that) was that there is a pile of money that goes to the Boalt administration each year, which comes from the fees we pay. I also assumed that BHSA would zealously advocate on our behalf to get some of that money to be spent on students - to reduce, not eliminate, the need for fundraising through these other surcharges. Additionally, I've always assumed that our campus student government had a pot of money that BHSA would have its hands in.
I'm starting to think I'm assuming wrong on all this, though - especially the zealous advocacy on our behalf part.
I don't think people are seeing why the BHSA is charging $25. From talking to those who proposed the fee, it's not to raise money.
Instead, it's merely used to charge a nominal fee to separate those who want a locker from those who truly do not. There's a lot of people who don't need a locker, but would sign up for one if it was no additional cost. It's certainly not a money-making venture. I'd predict that there'd be no difference in the number of students who sign up for a locker if they charged $100 instead of $25. Either the student needs one or the student does not. However, there'd be a big jump in locker requests if it was free.
Still, I make no excuses as to why they didn't find enough space for sufficient lockers in the first place...
To reduce demand, you could also make it a deposit. Even a $100 deposit. That will reduce the number of people to those who really want one. Or give them away on a first-come basis starting at an early hour. I mean, I haven't thought through all these procedures and their ramifications, but there's got to be some better way to reduce demand than milking us out of $10-15,000.
To put things in perspective, the school takes you at your word, as opposed to requiring a money deposit, when it comes to matriculating. I think Boalties have the honor and decency to not request lockers when they really don't need one. It's insulting that BHSA thinks they need to use a fee.
"Every time something like this happens, I just make a mental note and deduct the cost from what I would have contributed as an alum down the road."
What a douchebag. Does this mean you will be donating $9,975?
screw you, 2:37 - I totally agree with the mental note comment.
this is a crock - pay to SHARE a locker?
I agree that it is ridiculous to share lockers, especially when each textbook I have cost me well over $100. If my locker "roomie" forgets to lock the locker and my books go missing, I want to know who will be liable?
This locker policy reeks like a flaming bag of dog crap. Boalt has absolutely no excuse, NONE, to justify a regressive fee policy to skim even more money for use of a locker -- something that EVERYONE receives as an entitlement (without sharing) at any and all comparable law schools.
Regarding the "open-bidding" model, I say hiss. There's no reason to privilege or penalize students over locker quality, assignment, sharing, etc., based on their disposable incomes.
And lastly, the BHSA funding scheme is real sketch. Our "grad fees" go to the Graduate Assembly, from what I understand, not to BHSA. The GA certainly kicks a portion of this back to us, but it's not a 1:1 ratio.
Dan, the 1Ls passed N&B around to one another a while ago, so it probably wouldn't be hard to recruit someone to write.
TJ -- but it is a "money-making venture." Whatever the motive, charging for lockers results in a profit for the BHSA and is therefore, by definition, a "money-making venture."
And in my opinion, a slimy one at that.
The most ridiculous part about all of this is that we have no idea where the $25 is going. How much money is going to each group? If BHSA would tell us how much money was going to each group, I would be a lot more comfortable paying a new tax. But right now I just feel like someone is stealing from me.
I don't think we should be complaining about a $25 dollar fee when we still pay something like 10K less than our sister schools in tuition.
We used to get lockers for free. Now they take them away and want us to pay to get them back in a half-assed version of what we had before.
What's next? "Sorry, the state is in a water crisis. We'll be charging you $3.00 to wash your hands in the bathroom. And that toilet paper you just used is $0.50 per square--so pony up another $2.50." Seriously, this is so ridiculous.
If BHSA doesn't take back that fee, we need to start a petition to get rid of it. $25 is a lot of money to a student already in massive debt. Shame on BHSA -- this proposal is clearly NOT in the interest of all students. And even if the money, in theory, all goes back to us (which it doesn't), then why not just ask us to pay more for every group we join rather than taxing the upperclassmen to subsidize the rest of the students?
I agree that we should start a petition. Bitching about it on N&B is therapeutic, but we really need to bring this up to the administration in a big way. This nickel-and-dime-ing is getting out of hand, and their unapologetic attitude is infuriating.
Who is even on BHSA? How do I find out? I have no idea who those people even are. I tried looking on the BHSA website, and it appears that the "Your Representatives" link hasn't been updated since at least 2001. Great.
Who's the best person to complain to? BHSA? Ber*ing? The new Dean Ortiz?
And 754: Our sister schools don't have shit facilities like us. As has been said before in this thread, I think Boalties have been incredibly accommodating regarding all the construction and the lack of lockers in the first place. There is no reason to try to shake us down for an additional $25 just because it's trivial given how much we're already paying.
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Sounds legit, Patrick. Go for it. Last semester we got a BHSA e-mail from this address:
bhsa@law.berkeley.edu
Furthermore, the e-mail listed individuals who were on BHSA last year. I won't post their names and e-mail addresses here, but a quick search of your gmail account should pull up the e-mail. Perhaps search for the phrase "paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms" as that was one of the issues they mentioned being on top of.
After further thought and consideration, I don't want a locker. I want a mail slot. Will $5 buy me a mail slot?
that's an excellent writing sample patrick (though i would have liked some citation to caselaw). but the fee will be leveled by the administration, not by bhsa, from what i understand.
you might want to email d.e. or new vicki.
of course, you could also just stop the madness altogether and let the student organizations - which you so off-handedly dismiss - get some damn money. those event lunches don't pay for themselves. the tax ain't regressive because it redistributes to the student organizations with the least money, which are often identity-oriented or public interest groups.
25$ = skip a couple of bar reviews or your daily latte. i'm sure students with sincere financial need will find a friendly ear at the administration if they are unable to pay, but those of us who are able should stop whining.
The Boalt admin doesn't any more authority to assess from students a voluntary fee for the use of University property than BHSA does. That authority belongs to the Regents, and their designated counterparts. To the degree those fees are used to support a, "activity of a student government or a Registered Campus Organization," they violate the Regents' Standing Order.
The issue isn't whether I can pay $25, or whether I should forego my daily latte (though it if was, I'd still raise a ruckus). The issue is that I feel like a supposed scarcity of locker space is being used to extort ten to fifteen grand from the student body. If the letter had read something like, "student groups are hurting and truly need your help -- here are some numbers," I would be much more likely to pony up. I don't see how 500 lockers for 1000 students necessitates a both locker sharing and massive redistribution of cash. Do you?
it's simply like one of those nominal deductibles. it's sole purpose is to see who really wants one of these scarce lockers, as opposed to who would merely like one if it were free and non-scarce. so, why get agitated. and instead of never donating here, why not just find something here you've really enjoyed and then donate just to that?
$25 is not nominal - it's trying to gouge extra money out of the students. $5 is nominal.
4:29, that's a bullshit rationale. It's absolutely regressive; if BHSA needs more funding, then just ask for it outright. I would be more than happy to contribute an extra $10 so that "less funded" organizations have a better shot. But don't walk around things and levy a $25 locker tax for a physical accommodation that SHOULD already be provided for the student body.
For those who think $25 is a nominal amount, maybe it is for you. For some of us that can fund at least 5 meals this week, or two hours of childcare, or the cost of a (super cheap) 15 minute massage to fix the damage carrying all this weight will do to my back.
@3:34, I think you miss the point. I'm not upset because $25 is going to break my piggy bank. I'm upset for the same reasons as Patrick and other people. BHSA, which is supposed to be representing student interests, took advantage of a supposed scarcity of resources to gain leverage over students, and then used that leverage to stuff their own coffers with 10-15k of students disposable income. (And could someone please explain how 500 lockers for 1000 students is a scarcity, since we are going to be sharing? Does 500/1000 no longer = 2?) BHSA should be working to leverage student interests during the construction, not profiteering by selling off the scraps. That's why I am upset.
9:06 here. 1000/500, not 500/1000.
@#$%$ my humanities degree.
I think many of us are behind you, Patrick. Send the letter and post on N&B if you need our vocal support somehow.
So this is slightly off topic, but still on the topic of the school making our lives more difficult... How much does it suck that all of our in class finals this December start at 4pm?
@ Matt and Mike, who wondered about student group budgets and transparency. From Cal's Grad Student Assembly budget, it appears that BHSA does not get funding from them, although several law school journals and other umbrella student organizations do. The GSA is probably where the BHSA could ask for funding, but since you wondered about it, we can also see that BHSA doesn't get funding from GSA's parent organization, the ASUC, although you can see that the ASUC funds a large part of the GSA's budget ($400+k). At any rate, both of those groups do a reasonable job of disclosing funding, and if any student group has trouble getting funding from the BHSA, they should apply directly for funding from the graduate assembly.
The BHSA website is amazingly out of date.
"The Boalt Hall Student Association (BHSA) is composed of all registered students at the UC Berkeley law school." Then we should all get to vote on something as important as a student-wide tax on lockers.
Patrick, please send your letter.
Thanks, I sent it several days ago.
Anyone who wishes is more than welcome to copy the letter and send it themselves. It would be sort of nice to have some company. If you do, note that the date needs to be corrected -- the BHSA sent their e-mail on the 5th, not the 4th.
BHSA has yet to disclose the amount of funding it grants to each student organization. There's speculation of wide disparities in funding between different organizations.
Why should we trust BHSA with more of our money when they haven't released this very basic info?
taxation without representation!
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