Reject Rausser Zine

IS NOT OUR COLLEGE

WE WANT TRANSPARENCY & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

NOT THE PRIVATIZATION OF OUR PUBLIC EDUCATION

WE ARE A GROUP OF UC BERKELEY STUDENTS IMAGINING AND WORKING FOR AN ENVIRONMENTALLY JUST FUTURE. THIS ZINE IS THE RESULT OF MULTIPLE WAVES OF STUDENT ORGANIZING SINCE 2020 AND OUR EFFORTS TO RESIST INSTITUTIONAL ERASURE AND AMNESIA. WE CHOSE THIS MEDIUM AS A WAY TO WRITE ABOUT, VISUALIZE, AND SHARE THIS STORY ON OUR OWN TERMS.

IN 2020, UC BERKELEY’S COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES (CNR) ACCEPTED A $50 MILLION DONATION FROM GORDON RAUSSER, AN ECONOMIST AND FORMER DEAN WITH A PROBLEMATIC TEACHING HISTORY. CITING THE COLLEGE’S TIGHT BUDGET, CNR RECHRISTENED ITSELF AS RAUSSER COLLEGE.

The research university constantly teaches students to turn their gaze outwards, towards issues in the world. We are turning it inwards instead. CNR’s choice to swiftly accept this donation with little input from the academic community expands the privatization of our public education and the university’s research. Even more, the neoliberal values Rausser represents are at odds with the environmental justice education and future we are fighting for. We Reject Rausser.

GORDON RAUSSER

Gordon Rausser was the chairman of the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics and the Dean of the College of Natural Resources for two terms between 1994 to

Before his time at Berkeley, Rausser served as a senior economic advisor to the federal government during Reagan’s presidency, playing a role in the development of

As a professor at UC Berkeley, Rausser taught an undergraduate “Introduction to Environmental Economics and

Rausser’s Guide to Teaching ENVECON C1: Publicly shame those who do poorly on exams. Mock student questions. Refuse

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS:

“terrorized students in class making an uncomfortable and unsafe learning environment”

“repetitively racist and sexist in student interac tions and in course material”

is a Swedish pharmaceutical corporation, among the largest in the world.

In 1998, as dean of CNR, Rausser led the BerkeleyNovartis Agreement, granting $25 million to the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology over a 5-year period.

The university granted Novartis first right to negotiate licenses on roughly 1⁄3 of the department's discoveries including the results of research funded by state and federal sources. It also granted the company 2/5 seats on the department's research committee.

Research would become less about serving the public and more about finding profitable discoveries for Novartis. When the agreement was first announced, many students and faculty viewed it as an attack on educational freedom.

The content of the agreement was not disclosed until its official signing.

JANUARY 14, 2020: ACKERLY SUBMITS PROPOSAL CNR's current dean, David Ackerly, submits a "Proposal for New Donor Recognition," requesting the renaming of CNR to become the "Rausser College of Natural Resources."

FEBRUARY 27, 2020: ESPM TOWN HALL

CNR staff and faculty raise concerns over the college’s increasing dependence on private donations. This was the first and only public meeting held to discuss the donation.

FEBRUARY 29, 2020: DONATION ACCEPTED

Two days after the town hall, CNR announces the acceptance of the donation and the renaming of the college.

THE 2020 GIFT TO CNR

In 2020, Rausser made his $50 million donation to CNR and a decision was made to add his name to the college.

There was a complete lack of transparency throughout the renaming process between CNR administrators, faculty members, and students.

The donation was widely opposed by students because:

i) it was made amidst COVID budget cuts and GSI Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) strikes

ii) they feared a conflict of interest with CNR’s mission, research, and goals

As community members, we advocate that students be treated as valid stakeholders in decision-making processes. These choices have a direct impact on us and our education. Where the money comes from matters. And further, students of CNR should have a say in the distribution of Rausser’s donation.

Today, we are dealing with the issue of transparency when it comes to the allocations of the donation. Only few approved persons can access the information regarding the funds and their allocations.

PRIVATE DONATIONS 4 PRIVATE INTERESTS

Rausser’s donation institutionalized an economist’s view of the environment — one that is in direct conflict with the intersectional, anti-colonial, and anti-capitalist culture of environmentalism we are actively trying to foster.

Private donations will always serve private interests.

The renaming implicates futher privatization and is not separate from the decline in state and federal funding for public universities like UC Berkeley.

NEOLIBERAL IDEOLOGY PROMOTES THE IDEALS OF PRIVITAZATION AND DEREGULATION TO SERVE

CORPORATE AIMS

As public universities increasingly rely on private donations & partnerships, our educations become commodified, and the integrity and autonomy of public research are put at risk.

CNR’s slogan reads “see the bigger picture, make a better world.”

But are they willing to see the bigger picture here?

Many buildings on UC Berkeley’s campus have been unnamed due to the colonial and white supremacist legacies of their former namesakes (Boalt, Kroeber, Barrows, Moses, etc). We find it ironic that CNR has chosen to uphold the name of someone that has harmed students with racist, ableist, and sexist teaching practices.

CNR administrators have vehemently defended the donation and name change, citing a lack of state funding. But ultimately, admin was the only voice on the renaming of the college.

created an undergraduate role for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the college’s executive committee.

But this position has not allowed the student filling the role to enact any concrete change. Creating the DEI role has not substantively addressed the concerns of the RR Movement.

GETTING TO WORK

The UC (the largest employer in California) and UC Berkeley must recognize the implications of privatization within the public university system to ensure that its students’ voices are prioritized. Though we may not be able to reverse the donation, beyond unnaming the college, we call for transparency in future funding decisions and increased commitment to the university’s and CNR’s BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

- Use “CNR” instead of “Rausser College”

- Raise awareness about the name change and the privatization of our education, especially with younger classes (2021 and beyond)

- Advocate for most funds to go towards BIPOC and LGBTQ+ oriented environmental initiatives

- Mobilize to form an undergraduate student oversight committee with formal input on the allocation of donations

- Demand stricter requirements and community-based processes for naming buildings & colleges across UC Berkeley’s campus

- Pressure CNR admin to be more transparent about funding allocation and decision-making

#REJECTRAUSSER

ASUC ECO-OFFICE

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CAMPAIGNS

SERC ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

COALITION

SPRING 2023