What ails California?
"What Ails California?," a daylong conference held last week on the Berkeley campus, at times resembled an episode of the TV show House -- but without the "aha" moment in which the patient's disease is identified and the cure prescribed. The state's voters, it seems, want change. But what kind of change? And will it help solve California's budget crisis?
(27 October)

Goldman School to have greater impact, thanks to $5 million gift
Over the years, the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley has emerged as a leader in proposing solutions to major issues facing society, and now a new $5 million gift from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund will make it possible for the school to make a greater impact in the world.
(23 October)

Study says California furloughs will save less than anticipated
Much of the savings from California state workers’ three-day-a-month mandatory furlough will be offset by reduced revenue and increased costs to the state general fund in future years, says a study released today (Thursday, Oct. 15) by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
(15 October)

Wither healthcare reform? Policy experts at Berkeley offer insights and predictions on the debate
ational healthcare reform continues to dominate the headlines, with Congress laboring over various proposals and President Obama making his case for reform to the public. To help shed light on where the debate stands today, and where it may be headed, the NewsCenter queried heathcare-policy experts at Berkeley for their insights — asking what they would like to see in a comprehensive healthcare plan, what compromises they expect from Congress, and what they predict will finally emerge.
(21 September)

Mondale: Connecting the dots between U.S. security and foreign development aid
In an event sponsored by the Blum Center for Developing Economies, the 81-year-old Mondale invoked the spirit of the Peace Corps as he argued the case — though "argued" might be too strong a word for the mild-mannered Minnesotan, who goes by the nickname "Fritz" — for U.S. development aid to countries in need.
(18 September)

U.S. signs on to international disability-rights agreement
The United States' signing last week of the United Nations' international convention on disability rights brought cheers from Berkeley academicians and activists involved in efforts to assure the quality of life for disabled people — and reminders that there remains much to do to, both here and around the world.
(06 August)

Can we reduce medical costs while expanding the availability of health care?
Without reform, the current U.S. healthcare system will well make the federal government "go the way of GM — paying more, getting less, and going broke," President Obama warned recently. In a Q&A with the NewsCenter, Dean of Public Health Stephen Shortell, an adviser to the Obama administration on pending health care legislation, speaks about needed changes — from a center for comparing effectiveness of various treatment options to better incentives for doctors and hospitals to reduce costs.
(25 June)

A Latina judge's voice
Foes of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination Tuesday to the U.S. Supreme Court have focused in part on her comments on the role of ethnicity, gender and life experience in judicial rulings. Read the full text of Sotomayor's speech on the subject, delivered Oct. 26, 2001 at U.C. Berkeley as the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture.
(26 May)

Why do we tolerate a massive prison system that produces 70% recidivism rates?
Legal scholar Jonathan Simon discusses the social and fiscal impacts of California's approach to crime and punishment. Unless we confront its central flaws, he says, "everything is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." Part 2 of a two-part Q&A.
(07 May)

Why parole does not work in California
California's criminal justice system has been thrust into the national spotlight by the shooting deaths of four Oakland police officers by a recently released state prisoner. Criminal-law expert Jonathan Simon talks about the 'broken' system he has studied since the 1980s.
(06 May)

Experts weigh in on the battle for national healthcare reform
As the herculean and unpredictable political battle over national healthcare reform unfolds on Capitol Hill, a panel of experts explored "considerations for the Obama administration" at an April 1 campus event. Four experts in health policy, politics, law, and labor focused on needed changes, with emphasis on what is realistically achievable.
(06 April)

Goldman School portal takes the worry out of 'experiments of concern'
How concerned should we be about breakthroughs in synthetic biology that might also be useful to bioterrorists? An online advice portal developed at Berkeley may help to minimize those risks.
(02 April)

Should California consider Australia's wildfire policy?
Berkeley fire researchers caution that any state wishing to emulate Australia's policy of preparing citizens to defend their homes against wildfire needs to take responsibility for properly training and supplying them.
(04 March)

Berkeley Law dean charged with 'fixing the educational pipeline'
Berkeley Law dean Chris Edley — who taught Barack Obama at Harvard and worked in Bill Clinton's White House — mixes Beltway savvy and legal acumen in his role as special adviser to UC President Mark Yudof.
(26 February)

Obama's race not a factor in election, say economists
Reinforcing the notion of a "post racial" nation, two University of California, Berkeley, researchers' analysis of voting patterns indicates that voters were not motivated by race in the 2008 U.S. election of Barack Obama, the country's first black president.
(12 February)

The march to war, from Bonaparte to Bush
This year's Jefferson Lecturer, Stanford's David Kennedy, talked about how today's all-volunteer U.S. military not only makes it easier for a president to go to war, but jeopardizes crucial aspects of American democracy.
(12 February)

Blue sky ideas for Obama sought by new campus website
The campus that's been called "White House West" now has a new website, "Blue Sky: New Ideas for the Obama Administration." Launched by Berkeley law professor and Academic Senate Vice Chair Christopher Kutz, the site features -- and is seeking -- short essays by Cal faculty with fresh federal policy ideas, and is drawing raves both on and off campus.
(10 February)

Survey Research Center marks half-century of data-based insight
Not just accumulating and disseminating reams of data, but interpreting it to help shape public policy, is the mission of Berkeley's Survey Research Center.
(05 February)

Bringing it all back home
It took a quarter century for Wilda White to land the social-justice job of her dreams: helping to train the next generation of public-interest lawyers.
(05 February)

Research explores policy research and impressions of bias
A University of California, Berkeley, study shows that when people learn about research findings that conflict with their own beliefs about politically controversial topics, they not only doubt the conclusions, but also question the researcher's objectivity.The study by Robert MacCoun, a UC Berkeley professor of public policy, law and psychology, will be published in the February issue of the journal Political Psychology and already is online.
(03 February)

Throngs at Berkeley witness dawn of the Obama era
The mood was one of elation on UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza as one of the site's largest crowds to date witnessed the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama on big-screen TV.
(20 January)

News reports link Steven Chu to energy secretary announcement
Berkeley physicist Steven Chu, with focus on climate change and carbon-neutral fuels, heading to Washington?
(11 December)

RFK Jr. vs. 'corporate plunder'
In his Mario Savio Lecture, Kennedy argues that America's 'environmental destiny' hinges on an energetic democracy and a responsible press.
(11 December)

Two lawyers with cameras help reform Mexican 'justice'
While studying for their PhDs in public policy, lawyers Layda Negrete and Roberto Hernández made a film about one man's encounter with Mexico's deeply flawed criminal-justice system. Their new doc, "Presumed Guilty," debuted recently at the 21st International Documentary Film Festival, in Amsterdam, where audiences rated it among their 10 favorite entries.
(01 December)

Christina Romer named top U.S. economist
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama announced today (Monday, Nov. 24) his intention to nominate University of California, Berkeley, macroeconomist Christina D. Romer, an authority on monetary policy and business cycles, to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
(24 November)

New report details shattered lives of released Guantanamo detainees
Detainees released from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Afghanistan live shattered lives as a result of U.S. policies in the war on terror, according to a new report by human rights experts at UC Berkeley.
(12 November)

Berkeley professors help with presidential transition
UC Berkeley professors Laura Tyson and Robert Reich have been named to President-elect Barack Obama's advisory board for economics, and Chris Edley, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, joins about a dozen people on an advisory board that will work with Obama's formal transition team.
(07 November)

Restoring citizens' confidence in the vote
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, speaking at UC Berkeley Oct. 29, described a "top to bottom" review of county voting systems — along with other reforms, recent and future, to the state's election system.
(31 October)

UC Berkeley students weigh in on the 2008 election
Interest in the 'presidential election is running high at UC Berkeley, where more than 9,000 new voters registered this year. In the final days of the campaign, nine undergraduates share their views — on the issues, indecision, political disagreement, citizenship, making history, and more.
(31 October)

In what ways is Obama ‘different’?
Twenty-five years after he first measured the so-called Bradley effect, Charles Henry weighs in on race, unity, and the perspicacity of Chris Rock
(29 October)

An online resource for resourceful voters
Polls, endorsements, analysis: Public Affairs’ election website pulls it all together
(22 October)

Advice for the next president: Talk frankly about the limits of U.S. power
The next president must talk frankly about the limits of U.S. power, not be engulfed by outdated ideas and the chattering class, and confront problems like climate, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation that require multilateral solutions, says Harry Kreisler, executive director of UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies.
(08 October)

Asian Americans could play key role in presidential race, study shows
Among Asian American voters, many are supporting presidential candidate Barack Obama, but another sizable portion remains undecided - a development that could set the stage for Asian Americans to play a pivotal role in the outcome of the election, according to a new national survey released today (Monday, Oct. 6) by researchers from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside); and University of Southern California.
(06 October)

Nuclear weapons: Countdown to zero?
Berkeley experts join George Shultz, others on Commonwealth Club panel to assess the mother of all security challenges
(01 October)

UC Berkeley study tests impact of terrorism threats on presidential race
Presidential candidates who play up the threat of terrorism to bolster votes may want to rethink their game plan. New research from UC Berkeley suggests the war on terror has less impact on presidential popularity than it did during President Bush's first term.
(01 October)

Vice presidential debate watch to take place Thursday
UC Berkeley students will gather at the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) on Thursday, (Oct. 2) to watch the vice presidential candidates' debate. The IGS event is co-sponsored by two student groups: the Berkeley College Republicans and Cal Berkeley Democrats. It will take place 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the institute’s library, Room 109, Moses Hall. In addition, an experts panel discussion will occur 5 to 6 p.m.
(29 September)

Courts reporter supreme on the law and the press
In two campus appearances, former New York Times correspondent Linda Greenhouse looks back on three decades at the U.S . Supreme Court.
(24 September)

Student recalls daily life on an Iraq War ER unit
Cleavon Gilman, a UC Berkeley undergrad, dreamed of "action," possibly even killing a person, when he deployed to Iraq. He indeed saw blood, lots of it, during his tour of duty, though not on the terms he expected, he told a spellbound audience at UC Berkeley Sept. 19. The Cal transfer student spoke at a day-long teach-in on the Iraq war and lessons to be drawn from the Vietnam War era.
(22 September)

A week of Constitutional conversation
Journalists, judges, politicos, and scholars share the spotlight as the campus observes Constitution Day
(11 September)

Journalism school hosts "American President" photo exhibit
While political conventioneers work themselves into a frenzy over who will occupy the White House for the next four years, a new photo exhibit at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism is taking a different tack by looking at the presidencies of the past."The American President" shows off more than two dozen 16-by-20-inch images taken by Associated Press photographers of the men in the Oval Office, primarily since World War II. The exhibit at North Gate Hall on campus is open to the public through Inauguration Day (Jan. 20, 2009).
(27 August)

To preserve, protect, defend, and hang out
Like the art of photography itself, presidential image-making has come a long way since the days of the first formal, daguerreotype portraits of William Henry Harrison. Nowhere is the form on better display than in “The American President,” a collection of black-and-white and color images of U.S. presidents, future presidents, and former presidents — along with the odd would-be president — taken by Associated Press photographers over the past century and a half.
(27 August)

What Biden brings to the party
As the Democrats convene in Denver, Berkeley’s top pundits and political handicappers assess Barack Obama’s choice for veep
(27 August)

Cal freshman, an Obama youth leader, takes a seat at the Democratic National Convention
After spending more than a year as a lead strategist for Barack Obama's youth campaign, Molly Kawahata, 18, will get to vote in her first election this November. But before that event — and her first day at UC Berkeley — she's taking a detour to Denver, as a delegate representing California's 14th Congressional District.
(25 August)

Faculty election experts
On the eve of national conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties, University of California, Berkeley experts are available to national and major regional news outlets to offer analysis and historic perspective on a wide range of topics relating to the 2008 presidential race.
(22 August)

Economists' new research shows positive effects of minimum-wage increases
As legislators in various states and Barack Obama propose minimum-wage increases, researchers at UC Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment have found that such increases, contrary to some arguments, have positive effects on the employment of the lowest-paid workers.
(23 July)

Tom Lantos archive donated to The Bancroft Library
The papers of the late Tom Lantos of California, a leading champion of human rights and the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress, are now part of the University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library. The materials reflect how Lantos's lifelong dedication to human justice sprung from his remarkable early experience: the loss of his family to the Holocaust, his escape from a forced labor camp in his native Hungary during World War II; and his participation as a youth in the Nazi resistance.
(24 June)

Point of view: Campus opinions on same-sex marriage
Following the State Supreme Court's May 15 affirmation of same-sex marriage rights, members of the UC Berkeley campus community offer their reactions.
(16 May)

Quok Shee on Angel Island
Of all 200,000 immigrants held in the detention barracks on Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay, none spent longer than 20-year-old Quok Shee, a new arrival from Hong Kong in the days of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In his new book Immigration at the Golden Gate, Institute for Business and Economic Research administrator Robert Barde tells her story as part of a broader look at the West Coast's immigration system then, a narrative that resonates today. Far from being the "Ellis Island of the West," welcoming newcomers from afar, Barde says, Angel Island existed to keep them out.
(30 April)

Bush under fire, friendly and otherwise
A Pulitzer-winning historian, a Washington bureau chief, a neoconservative pundit, and the chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign gathered on campus last week to assess the Bush presidency. History, it seems, hath no fury like a brain-truster scorned.
(16 April)

The Torture Memos and Academic Freedom
In an open letter, Christopher Edley, Jr., dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, discusses law professor John Yoo's "torture memos" for the Bush administration in the context of Yoo's employment at UC Berkeley and academic freedom.
(11 April)

Conference on California climate change politics, prospects
Changing Climates: Class, Culture, and Politics in the Era of Global Warming," an April 11-13 conference, will explore the challenges, conflicts and politics of climate change in California.
(03 April)

Prime-time torture gets a reality check
Among the many fans of Fox TV's 24 are U.S. Supreme Court justices and the head of Homeland Security. But the program Newsweek called "a neocon sex fantasy" also has its devotees in the U.S. military, where, according to some critics, it's viewed less as fantasy than as a training manual.
(05 March)

The commander-in-chief and the courts
The winner of the 2008 presidential election will potentially shape the future composition of the U.S. Supreme Court. This aspect of the presidential contest, infrequently discussed in media coverage of the primaries, took center stage Feb. 21 at the UC Berkeley School of Law, where a group of legal experts discussed "The Next President and the Courts."
(25 February)

Statistician's new method will test election outcomes
The first test of a UC Berkeley professor's new procedure for conducting hand tallies to verify election outcomes will be tested in next Tuesday's California primary. It will provide election officials with a long-awaited, reliable way to judge the accuracy of the vote count or tell them how much to expand hand tallies in the event of a close race.
(31 January)

Faculty, students available for presidential campaign interviews
As the California primary approaches, University of California, Berkeley, students, faculty and staff are available to provide news outlets with interviews and analysis of major campaign issues such as the economy and immigration. In addition, several election-related forums and events will be held on campus during the campaign season.
(30 January)

For Obama, the act’s the thing
Theater professor Shannon Steen peers into the candidate’s political persona and finds Horatio Alger, Abe Lincoln, and Stanislavski looking back at her.
(30 January)

Student viewpoints on the '08 presidential contest
Sixteen UC Berkeley undergrads weigh in on the election — the issues that concern them and their decision (or indecision) on the candidates.
(30 January)

New Web site highlights campus's 2008 election experts
As the U.S. presidential campaign heats up and attention begins to turn to the Feb. 5 California primary, expect to see more UC Berkeley experts quoted in the print and broadcast media.
(10 January)

Experts available regarding presidential campaign
UC Berkeley experts from a variety of disciplines and perspectives are available to discuss issues and developments in the U.S. presidential race, especially as attention turns to the Feb. 5 California primary. A listing of key experts, along with background on their areas of expertise and research, is available on a new elections web page created by the Media Relations office.
(10 January)