I’m a hypocrite. For the past two years, various moments in my life have blurred the lines between working for The System, working to change The System and working against The System. You know which System I’m talking about; it’s the nameless, faceless, domineering council of historically privileged institutional powers set to keep the masses in their place.

If ever I felt like a double agent, this was the week. On Tuesday, I attended the rally on the Quad when my noon class was cancelled. Then I left the rally early to attend a class that wasn’t cancelled. Wednesday, I walked past students occupying Mrak Hall to a practice interview for a scholarship clad in a suit. Then I drove to the Capitol to join other UC students lobbying against spending cuts in education. Later that day I headed to Central Park to attend the general assembly of Occupy Davis. On Thursday, I crossed the picket line once more to make class while my peers were rallying on the Quad.

If location is any guide to my politics, being in spaces of protest marks my support for radical change, lobbying at the Capitol marks a willingness to work for change through the system, and attending classes while preparing for a fellowship interview marks my complicity with the status quo.

Then there was the scholarship interview this weekend. While students were facing police in riot gear on the Quad, I was schmoozing with other finalists and panelists at a cocktail party.

The last question I was asked during the interview was whether anything in the interview made me feel uncomfortable. It was an odd question to end an otherwise light-hearted conversation, so I said no. But perhaps an honest answer would have been that I was uncomfortable championing social justice in a conference room while those fighting for it on the front lines were getting pepper sprayed.

Finally, I woke up Sunday morning to a Facebook newsfeed of viral videos, petitions calling for Chancellor Katehi to resign, articles from the national press directed toward events on our campus this week and a private message from a high school friend now at UC Berkeley. He knew that I worked with the chancellor on a couple occasions and wondered if I was privy to her personal reaction. To his credit, he seemed to want more information about the behind-the-scenes before signing the petition. Though I wasn’t there to witness the scene, I get the sense that it was complicated.

I think I’m not alone on the blurry side of things. To some extent, we all have a relationship to change and the status quo marked by inconsistencies, hypocrisy, complicity and radicalism. If you’re in college, there’s a sense in which you have already passed one threshold to greater privilege in this country, a sense in which you’re playing “the game” right, whatever that means.

To speak from my own experience, what this means is that you fight for change because you can see social, economic and political inequalities around you. But there’s also a kind of anxiety to overthrowing a system that is, in some measure, working in your favor. If we’re successful in bringing radical change, some of us stand to lose the favorable standing we have with privilege.

Surprisingly, a cocktail conversation I had this weekend with a fellowship judge shed some light on the paradox here. The judge in question was Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and current professor at UC Berkeley known for his campaign against massive inequality and support for progressive change. I asked him how he simultaneously negotiated being a successful part of the system and an opponent to it. Reich paused for a moment and said, in his characteristically axiomatic wisdom, that we’re all part of the system.

One reason why it’s so hard to clearly balance our allegiance to and antagonism of the system is because we assume there is a clean break between ourselves and the system. However, we don’t exist outside the system. If the system is indeed nameless and faceless, it’s because we’re all a part of it. If that sounds like an argument in favor of keeping things the way they are, it isn’t.

Read this way, our incoherent role within and against the system is the stage in which we sort out what we want to keep and what we want to change. It’s precisely because we are the system that we have the power to recreate it from the inside out.

RAJIV NARAYAN thinks having an opinion column doesn’t give you a valid opinion, so he wants to hear yours at rrnarayan@ucdavis.edu.

We are writing to you on behalf of the Chilean Cultural Association of Davis (ChileCAD) in regards to previous letters you have published, reflecting confusion between our association and the recently created Association of Chilean Students at UC Davis. ChileCAD was founded in 2003, also as a UC Davis student organization that soon grew to include non-student residents in the areas of Davis, Sacramento, Bay Area and even Chile.

Even though today ChileCAD collaborates actively with the newly created Association of Chilean Students at UC Davis, these two organizations are separate entities. ChileCAD has carried out extensive work in the region to promote and keep Chile as a source of different cultural manifestations. ChileCAD also carries out fundraising activities to support the education of children living in isolated zones of Chile.

As such, ChileCAD expresses concerns regarding the current Education Movement in Chile, which has become internationally known and debated. ChileCAD supports the efforts and the movement of the Chilean students to strive for a better and more inclusive education for everyone and hopes to continue to play a role from California. ChileCAD condemns the increasing abusive use of state dissuasive violence against students, which are the leading force of this movement. ChileCAD also condemns the violence and destructive methods used by a few people that, with a separate agenda, only damage the goals of the Student Education Movement supported by the majority of peaceful Chileans.

ChileCAD will do its best to foster academic and social debate about the education, to continue to contribute to the improvement of education in Chile and to regard this as a long standing goal, a state-task, that must be part of the agenda of any government, regardless of its political affiliation.

As we said earlier, our members are Chileans, studying, living and working here in this region; however we also count on the support of many non-Chileans, close friends of Chile, that participate incessantly to achieve the ChileCAD goals. ChileCAD has much at stake in advancing the public policy agendas that will lead to a much stronger, openly accessible and more equitable public system of education in Chile.

ChileCAD Board of Directors

Letter #1:

Like many, I was surprised and distressed by the images of UC Davis campus police dispassionately spraying pepper gas in the faces of obviously non-threatening protesters. As a UC Davis alumnus from a time when there was even more campus protest (1972), I was perhaps more surprised than others at the unwarranted and, frankly, counter-productive police response in this situation.

One of the reasons that during the late ’60s and early ’70s the Davis campus avoided the violence that faced many campuses during that time — a violence that reached its tragic height in the shooting deaths of four protesters at Kent State — was that the administration, led by Chancellor Meyer, declined to engage in strong-arm, repressive tactics in response to student protests. Instead, Chancellor Meyer met with protest leaders, engaging them in a serious exchange about their grievances and demands, and set a tone of moderation that avoided aggravating the campus situation. In a later interview, Chancellor Meyer referred to the tear gassing of protesters at UC Berkeley as “one of the dumbest things that anyone ever could think of.”

This approach was not limited to the campus administrators and police, either. When more than a hundred people sat on the railroad tracks to stop the transportation of war supplies to the Oakland shipping yards, the city of Davis Police responded moderately and respectfully.  Protesters were advised that they were on private property and that if they didn’t leave they would be subject to arrest. Each was given a chance, before arrest, to leave voluntarily. Everyone was instructed about the difference in charges that would result if, instead of cooperating in their arrest, they were to “go limp”, which was considered resisting arrest.

Cooperating individuals were escorted one-by-one to the police cars;  non-cooperating individuals were carried by two or three officers to the police car. No one actively resisted arrest. The only violence that was even hinted at was when a Southern Pacific train that was being blocked tried to advance toward the protesters on the tracks, forcing some protesters to scramble from the tracks to avoid being hit. The police quickly ordered the train to stop. The entire process of clearing the tracks took much longer than it would have had the police simply pepper sprayed the crowd. But, no one was injured and the police response didn’t provoke additional protests.

I hope officials on the Davis campus and those in the larger community find the wisdom to avoid responding to protests in a way that endangers protesters, police officers, media representatives and by-standers and serve only to encourage greater disruption.

Don Hubin
Class of 1972

Letter #2:

As a UC Davis mechanical engineering alumnus and 2012 Presidential candidate, I am saddened by the disturbing images of Friday’s pepper spraying incident. During the mid ’80s to early ’90s, students on campus routinely expressed their discontent through peaceful demonstrations, protests and sit-ins. To my knowledge, none were greeted with close-range, facial aerosol sprays. Last Friday’s encounter is completely contrary to the UC Davis community of my memory and fondness.

Jeff Lawman class of 1991
2012 Presidential candidate

Letter #3:

I understand that Professor Brown is probably quite intelligent, but I would like unshakable proof of police spraying into students’ mouths.  Clear visual or audiovisual media content would be appreciated (not everyone has time to watch every clip on Youtube).

In addition, it’s all very well and nice to have Chancellor Katehi leave but wouldn’t there be a replacement? As inadequately qualified for the chancellor position as Katehi is, I consider people who are of her paygrade despite working in education, a vocation in which most quality educators are underpaid, to be as corrupt as your friendly neighborhood politician.

I must therefore conclude that her replacement would not be any better. Whereas if she stayed, she could be dealt a more appropriate punishment (such as a nice, large pay cut) and the students would have a chancellor who would know that her misdemeanors in leadership would be punished.

Meanwhile, might I add that this hullabaloo about UC Davis is not only ludicrous when considering the UC Berkeley incident in comparison, but it also distracts from the causes the students were originally protesting for.  It must be quite amusing for the “1%.”

Speaking of the Occupy movement, I have a pet theory. If the people who help manage the assets of the 1% (whether by monitoring their finances or by scrubbing their floors, they all play their roles) collected their allotted salaries and quit, and no one else came to replace them, that would be much more efficient than protesting. For the middle class, most of these tasks are DIYs, but the wealthy have too much to handle on their own. They would still be able to afford to continue their luxurious lifestyles, but if they were not allowed to, they simply wouldn’t be able to.

Rebekah Lee
Animal biology major

Letter #4:

It is regrettable that some students were pepper sprayed by a Police Officer last Friday November 18th during a protest regarding UC finances and budget cuts.  However, it seems that pleas for her resignation are short sighted.  UC budget cuts are more of a state legislative matter than a campus matter. Thus far, the issue has become a national news story and there are thousands of signatures supporting her resignation. Most likely a high ranking officer commanded the police to pepper spray the students, not the Chancellor.  The Chancellor has already demanded that the officers be censured.

There are so few women in Engineering, let alone women chancellors in the U.S. who are also Engineers.  Chancellor Katehi is a noted Engineer and seems to have overcome a great deal of adversity as a female to reach her position on campus.  Although not all of her policies have been popular, she has carried out her position with marked professionalism.  In light of current events, she seems to be in the cross-roads of a series of circumstances.

We as UC Davis Scientists and Engineers support Chancellor Katehi and denounce her calls for resignation.

Dr. Boaz Arzi. DVM. Resident
Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, Ph.D., P.E. Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering (as himself and not representing the department as a whole)
Bess-Carolina Dolmo, MPP & PhD Candidate Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Jerry Hu
Dr. Angelique Y. Louie. Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Jeni Lee

I messed up. I realized this when my phone began to update me with Facebook messages from people that I had never met saying that they thought my last column was racist and ignorant, among other qualities. I’m going to be honest with you all: I burst into tears each time; it didn’t matter that I was in the library, in class or even at the CoHo. Each one made me realize how many people I had hurt through my column. This was never my intention and the very least that I can do is apologize to those that were affected by my words and take it upon myself to learn from this experience.

Obviously, word choice throughout the column was flawed, to say the least. While reading through the many responses to the column, I decided to contact Dr. Halifu Osumare, an African American studies professor, and Lori Fuller at the Campus Unions center, who works closely with the Black Student Union, to better understand the implications behind my words.

The term “jungle fever,” as I learned from Dr. Osumare, refers to a time in which African American men and women were killed for having interracial relationships. Dr. Osumare also mentioned Spike Lee’s movie of the same name, and the racial stereotypes that have formed about what the black male represents.

My understanding of the term prior to this was solely in a colloquial sense because I had heard people use it when referring to a general infatuation with African American men and women. In the same way, I used the word “ghetto” to describe certain rap music in a way that is sadly common. Also, when I said that I “came out,” to my fraternity, I did not think about the associations that were made with the struggles of coming out for the LGBT community. My use of these phrases was sheer ignorance on my part, and I apologize profusely.

I also received e-mails and responses asking me how I would feel if someone had written about the Indian community using such blatant stereotypes.

I spoke to Lori Fuller at the Campus Unions center and when she asked me the same question, we discussed the portrayal of different cultures in the media.

There has been such an obvious display of stereotyping Indian culture that I, personally, had become somewhat desensitized to it. If someone assumed that my dad owns a Kwik-E Mart like Apu from “The Simpsons,” that all I eat is curry, or even that my entire life is like a Bollywood movie, I wasn’t too bothered by it because I had become so used to it.

As Ms. Fuller and I discussed this more, we talked about how there is more to Indian culture than convenience stores and curry and in the same way, African American culture is much more than rap music. The way that my column was written, associating culture with solely one genre of music, was far more hurtful than my intention.

My conversation with Dr. Osumare taught me that corporations utilize stereotypes about African American to sell products, and even some rappers play into those stereotypes to make money. She went on to say that people, including myself, don’t realize the complex history behind such stereotypes and we are educated with omission of so much information that we become culturally illiterate.

Dr. Osumare encouraged me to continue my research, and I certainly plan on enrolling in African American studies courses in the near future.

Words hurt. Whether they’re written by me or to me by someone else, they do. I never intended to hurt anyone through my words and I deeply regret doing so through my ignorance and lack of understanding. However, I am glad that this turned into an opportunity to educate myself. Even though this is a work in progress, this is by far one of the best learning experiences I have had.

Contact MEDHA SRIDHAR at mdsridhar@ucdavis.edu.

Every Thanksgiving I participate in my family’s tradition of writing down three things we are thankful for on a card. This is followed by passing the cards around, reading them aloud, and attempting to guess who has written each card. Although my submission last year of “bitches, money and mo’ bitches” was particularly popular, especially after it was mistakenly attributed to my grandma, I decided that this time around I might have to take the activity a little more seriously.

Realistically, there are many things we can be thankful for at our school. Half-priced coffee at the CoHo during finals week, being able to find a bike parking spot near the entrance to the library on a cold day and professors who cancel their class for no reason are all worthy of our appreciation.

Unfortunately, I promised to take this a bit more seriously, which is why I’m going to write about things every Davis student should actually take a moment to give thanks for. I know you’re thinking that sounds pretty sappy, but hear me out and I think you’ll appreciate it. Or stop reading now, I probably won’t notice.

Some people don’t think Davis is so great. If you end up downwind of Tercero, you’ll smell cows for hours on end or until you become immune to it. We don’t have any hills for admiring beautiful sunsets from. Our McDonald’s is one of those weird privately owned ones that doesn’t run all the promotions or even have a drive-thru. It may seem like I’ve just poked too many holes in my theory that Davis is worth being thankful for, but the redeeming factors lie in how well this location caters to us college kids.

While we don’t get to appreciate scenic vistas, we should be thankful Davis is flat. Being able to bike just about anywhere is a blessing few of us remember to appreciate. Try riding that fixed gear up and down hills beside the trolleys in SF and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Davis is friendly to more than just our bikes, however. Our taste buds and wallets are also thankful for the presence of the five dollar rolls of Oshio’s, the five dollar breakfast of Delta of Venus, and the five dollar footlong of Subway. There’s also our two dollar bowling alley and five dollar Tuesday movies. Any way you look at it, Davis is one of the last real college towns in America, and that’s worth appreciating.

Our campus is filled to the brim with under-appreciated resources. The Internship and Career Center offers help on resumes, organizes career fairs, holds on-campus interviews and will help individual students line up jobs specifically targeting their major. I am also told that there is a program on campus where hyper-literate students will literally edit your essay for you. Isn’t that against our honor pledge?

While I would no doubt prefer to have an on-campus water slide park (We could call it the Aggie Aquarium you guys, it would be so cool!), I guess we should probably give thanks for these sort of campus resources who try to help the students be productive, even if they’re a little less fun.

When making your thankfulness list, don’t limit yourself to the simple things. It’s easy to say I’m thankful for my bike, but that doesn’t mean it’s the thing that’s been most helpful to me recently. At the risk of breaking my promise against being sappy, I’m pretty damn thankful for the people around me, and you should be too.

With the value of our degrees in question, the friends we make at school are likely the most worthwhile thing we will come away with. I’m talking about the people who make beer runs because they’re sober for a test tomorrow, who went to that awkward faculty party with you so you wouldn’t feel weird, and who actively encourage and make acceptable the shenanigans we so regularly participate in. They are what we should be thankful for. Bitches, money, and mo’ bitches are great and all, but give me friends, hanging out, and mo’ friends any day.

AARON WEISS can be reached at atweiss@ucdavis.edu.