Dear Annonymous Donor

I’m going to assume, since the email I received informing me of your donation in my honor to a really cool project at donorschoose.org referenced the 2008 Bloggers Challenge, that you are aware of my blog and may actually see this.

On behalf of the kids, I say, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Best wishes always,

Kevin

Black Bloggers For Education

As I wrote the other day, I’m participating in the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge ‘08. Several AfroSpear members and other black bloggers have now grouped together and we have our own Black Bloggers for Education group. Please check out either the page or my widget on the far right sidebar and consider donating to a worthy educational cause. The projects that I’m choosing are focused on literacy and arts education. Any amount helps these kids out.

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

Proposals range from “Magical Math Centers” ($200) to “Big Book Bonanza” ($320), to “Cooking Across the Curriculum” ($1,100). Any individual can search such proposals by areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the project(s) they find most compelling. In completing a project, donors receive a feedback package of student photos and thank-you notes, and a teacher impact letter.

I’m particularly happy today. One of the proposals that I chose to hi-light and draw support for was the Inspiring African American as Class Role Models project. Until today, there were no donors, but I’m happy to say that today an A Slant Truth reader donated $100 to the project. They are now that much closer to reaching their goal. My most heartfelt thanks goes out to the reader and any other readers who decide to donate.

Here are the current bloggers working together under Black Bloggers for Education. Check ‘em out.

T.A. Negro’s Good Karma Challenge (The Assimilated Negro)
SES: Science, Education & Society (SES: Science, Education & Society)
BDPA Foundation (BDPA Foundation)
Jack & Jill Politics (Jack & Jill Politics)
Springer’s Journal (Springer’s Journal)
Fackin Truth Blog Friends (Fackin Truth Blog)

See also, the Blogher Giving Group (Blogher.com)

Ok, now let’s do this, y’all!

Donors Choose 2008 – Literacy Matters

I’m participating in Donors Choose 2008. Here’s how it works:

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

Proposals range from “Magical Math Centers” ($200) to “Big Book Bonanza” ($320), to “Cooking Across the Curriculum” ($1,100). Any individual can search such proposals by areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the project(s) they find most compelling. In completing a project, donors receive a feedback package of student photos and thank-you notes, and a teacher impact letter.

This is a great cause. I’m doing this as part of the Blogger Challenge 2008, but I’m not as interested in the challenge as I am in folks helping students get the books that they need in their classrooms, even if it’s a small contribution. That said, I ask A Slant Truth readers to consider going to my Giving Page and donating to one of the projects that I’ve selected. I’ve chosen projects that focus on literacy in low income schools. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated.

I also ask that any one that decides they’d like to donate to take a look at the Inspiring African Americans as Class Role Models Project. They need $384 and haven’t received a penny yet. Of course, you should donate to whichever project moves you, but this seems like a really good one to consider.

Big props to The Urban Scientist for asking me to participate in this great endeavor.

UC Berkeley Hamstrung By Budget Cuts

I just got this from a grad student friend at UC Berkley. I was, unfortunately, unaware of this situation until now. I’ll be keeping up on it and posting as I learn more.

For Immediate Release: May 14, 2008
Contact: Snehal Shingavi
sshingav@berkeley.edu

UC Berkeley Hamstrung By Budget Cuts: Ability to Provide Required Courses to Undergraduates Severely Affected

(Berkeley, CA) — Statewide cuts to the budget of the University of California will have an immediate impact upon UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students. After a decade of incremental budget cuts, the university has very little ‘fat’ left to trim. As a result, vital areas of the university will now be affected, depleting the ability of core departments to provide basic instruction.

The impact of the cuts will be felt as early as this coming spring, when the English department alone may be forced to deny entry into required Reading & Composition classes, known as R&Cs, to as many as 300 undergraduates. R&C classes are already difficult to get into.

“The classes fill up lightning-fast because almost every student needs to complete the R&C requirement,” Ahmed Owainati, a Computer Science undergraduate, commented. “The only solution is to dedicate your Phase One
enrollment to getting that coveted slot, despite the many other lower division requirements one might have, and even then nothing is guaranteed. I completed my first class in Fall ‘06, and did not get into the second until three semesters later in Spring ‘08, despite spending each Phase One in between trying to get into some R1B class.”

Although no clear information is available yet as to the total reduction in the number of R&C classes across the university, it is likely that some Class of 2009 seniors will be unable to graduate from the university as a result.

Christine Chang, a third year double major in Molecular & Cell Biology and Public Health, recounted her difficulties in completing the R&C requirement:

“Trying to enroll in a Reading & Composition course was a struggle,” she said. “After failing to receive a spot in an R1A class in the first semester I attempted to sign up, I was able to secure one in my second round, at the cost of a class I needed for my major. This semester I finally took my R1B. In the first few weeks, 40 students were crowded into a small classroom in hopes of getting a spot; many had to sit on the floor. Approving the proposed budget cuts would mean that the UC will be requiring a class and simultaneously further hindering students from taking it.”

The impact of these cuts upon UC Berkeley’s English department is severe. The university has been forced to deny teaching appointments to graduate students and lecturers, which it relies upon to teach lower level English and foreign language classes. Now tied as the top graduate program in the country with Harvard and Yale, according to US News and World Report, the department may be forced to reduce support to its graduate students. Students who rely upon teaching appointments for fee remission, health insurance, child-care, and access to research facilities will lose these
basic services. Students who have already passed their qualifying exams may be forced to withdraw from the program.

Hillary Gravendyk, the recent recipient of the UC Berkeley Teaching Effectiveness Award and an English Department Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award, said, “While I’m honored to have the University acknowledge me for my commitment to teaching, I’m frustrated and saddened that the proposed budget cuts would remove the opportunity for me to continue teaching at Berkeley for even one more semester. I rely on teaching for fee remissions and financial support; without that support my ability to even complete the PhD could be compromised. It is ironic to be congratulated for teaching excellence by the same administration that is making it impossible for me to continue teaching.”

The University of California, responding to Governor Schwarzenegger’s statewide budget cuts, has mandated a 10% reduction to the Temporary Academic Salaries budget, used to pay for Graduate Student instruction and
assistant lecturer positions. Across UC Berkeley’s campus, the same fiscal crisis will result in the widespread dismissal of lecturers. Departments that are particularly hard-hit include the prestigious English department,
East Asian Languages and Cultures, French, German, and others.

Ian Duncan, Chair of the English Department at UC Berkeley, summed up the implications of the situation. “The projected cuts to the TAS budget pose a serious threat to our ability to sustain our PhD program in the long
run. Most of our graduate students enter the program with the expectation that they will be able to support themselves with at least four years of teaching, since we are not able to provide the five-year fellowship packages offered by our peer-institution competitors (all of them wealthy private universities, such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford). At risk, in short, is nothing less than the core mission of the top-ranked English Department at the top-ranked public university in the country.”