Berkeleyside » UC Berkeley

Cal frat boy Kyle Crews a hit with Jennifer Lopez & co

Tracey Taylor — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:38 +0000

American Idol fans know that when a judge says “you’re going to Hollywood”, that’s very good news. These words were spoken by former Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler to UC Berkeley undergraduate Kyle Crews recently when he auditioned for the show in San Diego, which also happens to be his hometown.

Crews, who dedicated his rendition of Monica’s “Angel of Mine” to Tyler’s fellow judge Jennifer Lopez (telling host Ryan Seacrest beforehand that he couldn’t stop thinking of her “voluptuous lips”), made an impression despite his loud plaid shirt (“you’re going to have to lose that shirt,” said Tyler). Third judge Randy Jackson simply whooped and declared: “That’s crazy. You sound nothing like you look.”

The 19-year-old, whois an enthusiastic member of Cal’s Kappa Alpha fraternity, will now go through to the next rounds in Hollywood.(...)

Read the rest of Cal frat boy Kyle Crews a hit with Jennifer Lopez & co (46 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: American Idol, Jennifer Lopez, Kyle Crews, Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler, UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley Alpha Kappa

A latchkey kid roams Berkeley ghost town full of promise

Guest contributor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:45:07 +0000

Aged 11, Greg Fuson wandered the hallways of the old School for the Deaf and Blind "in idle search of who knows what". Photo: Jason Holmberg

By Greg Fuson

Nostalgia, like politics and real estate, is local.

Which helps explain how a 40-something man returns to the Berkeley California School for the Deaf and Blind (Clark Kerr Campus, as you know it today) and becomes the 11-year-old boy of his childhood.

I spent the better part of two years at that school, daydreaming in its classrooms, kicking a football across its playing fields, climbing its rooftops when adventure or mischief (or both) swelled up in me, but mostly just wandering its hallways in idle search of who knows what.

I confess: I broke some things. Windows. Drywall. Light fixtures. Toilet paper dispensers.

No teachers ever told me to stop. How could they?

The place was abandoned.(...)

Read the rest of A latchkey kid roams Berkeley ghost town full of promise (683 words)

By guest. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Post tags: Berkeley School for the Deaf and Blind, Clark Kerr, UC Berkeley

Scholarship awarded in honor of child killed in Berkeley

Tracey Taylor — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:30:11 +0000

Scholarship winner Daniela Milian-Cavenecia and her daughter Sofia

Daniela Milian-Cavenecia, a junior at UC Berkeley, has been awarded the first Zachary Michael Cruz Memorial Scholarship, which was established to preserve the memory of Zachary Cruz, who was run over and killed by a truck on a crosswalk in Berkeley in 2009 when he was five years old.

Frank Cruz, Zachary’s father, said he is thrilled they have found such a worthy candidate for the inaugural scholarship, which is worth $5,000 and will be awarded every semester.

“Daniela is a great student and has a great story,” he said.

Milian-Cavenecia, a ~~single~~ mother who transfered to Cal from Berkeley City College, is an undergraduate in Hispanic Languages and Bilingual Issues. Along with her academic achievements to date, she also has a history of community service, including as a volunteer interpreter for the cities of Berkeley and Oakland.(...)

Read the rest of Scholarship awarded in honor of child killed in Berkeley (446 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 7 comments |
Post tags: Daniela Milian-Cavenecia, Re-entry and Student Parent Center, Transfer, UC Berkeley, Zachary Cruz, Zachary Michael Cruz Memorial Scholarship

Student-run project works to rebuild Navajo community

Guest contributor — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:00:13 +0000

Project Pueblo, a 100% student-led organization, conducts week-long service trips to Navajo communities

By Grace Garey

During the first week of January, when most college students are lounging at home nursing New Year’s Eve hangovers and enjoying meals and laundry courtesy of mom, 60 California students will be working with the Berkeley-based non-profit Project Pueblo to help rebuild a Navajo Nation community devastated by a 43-year federal ban on development.

The founder of Project Pueblo is 28-year-old Sean Wycliffe. In 2002, Wycliffe was mid-way through his second year at Cal when he opted dropped out to oversee the expansion of a marketing business he’d started on the side. “I wanted to be financially independent,” Wycliffe said, “and I knew I had a good idea, so I just went for it.” Allowing himself to pursue his spontaneous instincts paid off; the business generated over $1 million in new revenue during his first year.(...)

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By guest. | Permalink | 9 comments |
Post tags: Bennett Freeze, Forgotten People, Navajo Nation, Project Pueblo, UC Berkeley

Impact of on-campus diesel fuel spill felt around Berkeley

Tracey Taylor — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:46:56 +0000

A sheen of diesel fuel could be seen on the surface of the creek water at Strawberry Creek Park Monday. Photos: Tracey Taylor

Update, 4:15 pm: Officials involved now estimate that 1,290 gallons of fuel were discharged into the environment outside of Stanley Hall out of a total of 1,700 gallons spilled inside the building. According to UC Berkeley, these calculations are based on estimated measurements of fuel that remain inside the UC Berkeley small generator tank and another portable tank.

Original story: A clean-up operation was still ongoing Monday morning after around 1,700 gallons of diesel fuel overflowed on the UC Berkeley campus Saturday evening, some of which was then channelled through sump pumps into Strawberry Creek which leads to the Berkeley Marina and the bay.

Local residents reported seeing and — even more — smelling the fuel in the creek.(...)

Read the rest of Impact of on-campus diesel fuel spill felt around Berkeley (431 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 5 comments |
Post tags: Diesel fuel spill Berkeley, UC Berkeley

Oil spill on campus, environmental impact being assessed

Tracey Taylor — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:36:04 +0000

Environmental services crews working on scene at Stanley Hall on the UC Berkeley campus Sunday at around 1:00 pm. Photos: Tracey Taylor

Update, 12.12.11, 9:20 am: UC Berkeley reports that emergency crews on Sunday removed hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel from Stanley Hall. About 1,700 gallons of fuel spilled within the building, with some fuel reaching Strawberry Creek and a smaller amount making its way to San Francisco Bay. Stanley Hall reopened Monday morning in time for the beginning of final exams.

If members of the public see fuel that may be pooling as a result of the spill, they are asked to avoid touching it, and should report it to (510) 664-4406.

We will continue to provide updates on this story.

[See update at foot of story.]

Emergency crews were on the scene Sunday morning cleaning up a diesel fuel spill that occurred Saturday evening at Stanley Hall on the UC Berkeley campus after what appears to be a pump valve failure.

Staff from East Bay Regional Parks were also assessing the extent of the spill which has flowed into Strawberry Creek. Other agencies called to the incident include UCPD, Berkeley Fire Department, the Coast Guard, and crews from the campus Environmental Health and Safety and Physical Plant.

The clean-up operation began on Saturday night after the diesel spill was discovered, and continued Sunday

The incident forced the closure of the Stanley building, which houses Cal’s bioengineering department, after gallons of fuel spilled into the basement and out through pumps to Strawberry Creek, according to a UC Berkeley News Center posting.(...)

Read the rest of Oil spill on campus, environmental impact being assessed (364 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 6 comments |
Post tags: Diesel oil spill Berkeley, Stanley Building, Strawberry Creek, UC Berkeley

Poet writes about Occupy Cal, protesters plan next steps

Tracey Taylor — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:00:48 +0000

Robert Hass, professor of poetry and poetics at UC Berkeley, attended Occupy Cal this month and wrote about his experience in an op-ed piece for the New York Times on Sunday titled “Poet-Bashing Police”.

He decided to go on campus with his wife, Brenda Hillman, after hearing about police beating protesters with truncheons in order gain access to, and dismantle, tents that had been declared unauthorized by the Cal administration.

“I wanted to see what was going to happen and how the police behaved, and how the students behaved. If there was trouble, we wanted to be there to do what we could to protect the students,” he writes.

As we reported on November 14th, the former poet laureate ended up being hit by police and his wife was knocked to the ground. The experience, he writes, got him thinking that “life is full of strange contingencies.” Read the full column in the New York Times.(...)

Read the rest of Poet writes about Occupy Cal, protesters plan next steps (240 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 10 comments |
Post tags: Occupy Cal, Occupy movement, Robert Hass, UC Berkeley

At Occupy Cal: Let books take the place of banned tents

Tracey Taylor — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:45:24 +0000

The police may have forcibly evicted slumberers and their tents set up Wednesday night by Occupy Cal protesters on campus, but never let it be said that Berkeley students aren’t creative. Replacing the tents we have — fittingly enough for a storied institution of learning — books, or rather books made to look like tents. Symbolic perhaps, but making a point nonetheless. Thanks to Arturo Snuze for the photograph which was taken after today’s pre-dawn eviction.

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 25 comments |
Post tags: Occupy Cal, Occupy movement, UC Berkeley

Man shot at Cal’s Haas School identified, died in hospital

Lance Knobel — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:49:58 +0000

Chris Travis, who died yesterday after being shot on UC Berkeley campus by a police officer

Update, 5:34 pm: More details continue to emerge in the case. According to information released by UC Berkeley at 5:23 pm, UCPD Captain Margo Bennett said that four officers, not three as previously reported, entered the school’s computer lab where the suspect Christopher Travis had gone on Tuesday. Nine people were in the room at the time, in addition to Travis, she said. The Alameda County coroner’s office conducted an autopsy this morning on Travis and a report will be released at a later time. Since the shooting, at least 20 witnesses have been interviewed, she said, and video surveillance footage has been reviewed. The Associated Press reports that Bill Travis, the suspect’s father, sobbed during a brief telephone interview with from his home in Lodi. He said he learned his son had been shot Tuesday night and didn’t want to make any further comment.

Update, 3:46 pm: New details have been revealed about the shooting, including the fact that Travis sustained multiple gunshot wounds during the confrontation with police officers. He was carrying a loaded Ruger semi-automatic 9 mm handgun, which was registered in his name in San Jose, according to UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett who spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon, according to the Daily Californian.

Bennett said when police entered the Haas computer lab, Travis looked up, saw police officers and pointed his gun at them. Nine other people were present in the room at the time, three of whom were “in the line of fire,” Bennett said. After telling Travis multiple times to lower his weapon, one officer shot Travis.

University spokesman Dan Mogulof told Berkeleyside that police review of the video in the computer lab “appears to corroborate all the accounts” of the incident, including the multiple warnings to the suspect and that he was pointing his gun at the police. Mogulof also said that there had been reports that the suspect’s behavior “had changed” in recent weeks. Police officers informed Travis’ family in Lodi of his death last night, Mogulof said.

Update, 2:48 pm: More information about Chris Travis, the 32-year-old Cal transfer student who died yesterday after being shot by a police officer on campus, has emerged. In a video produced by Allied Barton, the security services company where Travis formerly worked as a shift supervisor, a narrator describes Travis as having had a difficult childhood. The narrator says: “Imagine growing up with no direction, disappointing your parents, taking pills to take your own life, dropping out of school…”. Travis made a successful career for himself over three years at Allied Barton and then went back to school, first at Ohlone College in Fremont, then as an undergraduate business major at Cal. Travis volunteered at VITA, an organization that provides free income tax preparation assistance, and, according to the video, had aspirations to do an internship at the United Nations and develop a career in international business.

Update 12:50 pm: Christopher Travis, the man who died after being shot by UC Police at the Haas School yesterday, worked as a security guard for Allied Barton for five years until June this year, according to his LinkedIn profile. He listed his role as “supervisor” for security services at a biotech group.

Update 11:23 am: The dead gunman has been identified as 32-year old Christopher Nathen Elliot Travis. He transferred to the university this fall. He had attended Ohlone College, based in Fremont, where he graduated in June.

Update 9:52 am: University spokesman Dan Mogulof confirmed to Berkeleyside that the suspect died yesterday afternoon at Highland Hospital. The still-unidentified man was an undergraduate transfer student in his 30s and a business major, according to Mogulof.

Mogulof said that over 20 witnesses were being interviewed by police and the witnesses had been corroborating the original account of the story, detailed yesterday.

“There is no suggestion that this is anything other than an isolated incident,” Mogulof said.

Original story: The gunman who was shot by UC Police yesterday afternoon at the Haas School of Business has died at Highland Hospital, according to reports this morning. Berkeleyside will update the story as more information emerges.

By lance. | Permalink | 21 comments |
Post tags: Haas School of Business, Shooting at UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley, UCPD

Cal students vote to set up Occupy camp on campus

Tracey Taylor — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:25:50 +0000

General assembly of Occupy Cal protesters on Sproul Plaza on Tuesday evening. Photo: Tracey Taylor

At the Occupy Cal general assembly held Tuesday night on the UC Berkeley campus, protesters voted to set up an encampment in the style of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland tent-cities both of which have been forcibly dismantled by authorities this week.

The vote to establish a camp was passed by 1,267 people according to the Daily Californian reporting on Twitter.

UC Berkeley administration issued a statement last week saying it would not tolerate an encampment. When tents were erected on the last day of action, on Wednesday November 9th, attempts to remove them by police resulted in violent confrontations.

According to reporters on the ground, tents were being erected immediately after the vote was announced, just after 8:00pm. Concurrently, UC Berkeley professor of public policy and former U.S. secretary of labor Robert Reich had begun delivering the annual Mario Savio Memorial Lecture on Sproul Plaza.

In his afternoon press conference on the Haas School shooting, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau reiterated that the administration would allow “no encampment”. “If any of you reported on the trees which we had for 19 months,” he said, “we don’t want to repeat that experience.” Tree sitters occupied a stand of oaks outside Memorial Stadium for 19 months in 2006-08 in an attempt to stop building of the Student-Athlete High Performance Center.

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | 20 comments |
Post tags: Occupy Cal, Occupy Wall Street, UC Berkeley