amateur ramblings

Earlier this week, I tried to register a name for a new student group with the Office of Student Life (OSL). One of the advantages of registering a group with the OSL is that it makes it relatively easy to reserve rooms for meetings, events, and other activities. I’ve done this in the past and have never run in to any problems. This time, however, the name for my group was rejected because it included the word “Berkeley,” and that this was not allowed because it might “suggest [that] the university sponsors” the group.

This was strange to me because I know that a number of student groups use the word “Berkeley” in their name. Furthermore, the OSL website itself states the following:

Registered student groups may not use the University of California, Berkeley or any abbreviations (e.g. UC) as part of their name or in conjunction with their programs. Other terms, such as ‘campus’ or ‘Berkeley campus’ may be used by a registered organization as part of its name.

I responded pointing these things out, and received the following response from Susan ten Bosch Paull. I’ve added emphasis to the more troubling information:

We certainly understand your frustration. In the last year or so, our office has not only had to abide by the Berkeley Campus Regualations but also policy set forth by the Office of Marketing and Management of Trademarks. They have had to become even more strict in the use of the Berkeley name for liability reasons.

Student groups who were here long ago that start with “Cal” or “Berkeley” have been grandfathered in and, at this point, have not yet been asked to change their names. That is the reason the Berkeley College Republicans are still able to start their student group name with “Berkeley.”

Thank you for calling it to our attention that the explanation of what names will or will not be approved on our website is outdated. We are currently working on our website and will change that section right away.

Below is a generic explanation of what we normally send to groups when their group names are being denied. We hope this guideline will be a help to you as you create a new name:

Your proposed student group name could not be approved according to the Berkeley Campus Regulations and policy set forth by the Office of Marketing & Management of Trademarks (OMMT) at UC Berkeley.

The name “Berkeley” can be used in your student group name only if it is reference to geographic location, i.e., “at Berkeley” or “of Berkeley.” You may not use the name “Berkeley” in any other way.

Additionally, the following names and corresponding variations may also not be used in your student group name: “Cal, at Cal, California, at California, UC Berkeley, and at UC Berkeley.”

There are two things of importance here. One is that the OSL now has to abide by regulations posed by this Office of Marketing and Management of Trademarks, which apparently has imposed its rules without consulting existing student groups, and maybe not even student leaders. The other is that all existing student groups will be affected by the change in rules at some point in the future, if not already, as the e-mail suggests (the groups have “yet” to be asked to change their names). It seems to me that this would include both the Berkeley College Republicans and the Cal Berkeley Democrats.

These things alone should draw the attention and concern of all people who are associated with any student group on campus. But I also want to point out a couple things that I think this apparently recent change to be emblematic of:

1) An increasing trend of administrative decisions affecting all students that are made without student input, oversight, or control. Sometimes the University will conduct “focus groups” or some other survey and will consider this to be sufficient involvement by students. I tend to think that students should have more direct control over what is going on on their own campus. That is, students should not simply be “consulted” when the administration decides to do things. They should be actively involved and should have an authoritative voice on the matter.

2) A transformation of the public University into a corporate and commercial enterprise. Why the hell is “UC Berkeley” trademarked, besides for making all that sports insignia and the like? It is one thing to not have “UC Berkeley” allowed in student group names, because that clearly implies institutional support for the group. But words like Berkeley, Cal, and California? Is it really the case that we no longer have a right to identify with our campus? When was this institution of higher learning commercialized, and who is responsible?

Ms Bosch Paull was very cooperative and gave me relevant information about who concerns about these changes should be directed to. While everybody she referred to is outside of the OSL, I think we should also work towards getting the OSL on our side as well. I hope that the Daily Cal, ASUC Senators, student group leaders, and other people on campus will take note of this and do what they can to investigate what is going on as well as to challenge it.

Specifically, she wrote that efforts should be directed at the Office of Marketing and Management of Trademarks. Maria Rubinshteyn (mrubinsh@berkeley.edu), Director, and Jan Gonsalves (jang@berkeley.edu), Manager of Business and International Operations, were the individuals she named.

While these people are a good start, I think we should also attempt to involve the OSL directly as well as other parts of the complicated University bureaucracy. Hopefully somebody else who is more familiar with it can shed some more light on this.

I would be more than happy to contribute my effort and support to any campaign fighting these new decisions, but unfortunately I do not have the time to pursue the matter indefinitely in order to re-assert some semblance of student control over campus matters like this, especially ones which have far-reaching consequences for the student population. My time is split between many things right now. If anybody has any ideas or is interested in working on this, please contact me at ysalahi@gmail.com and we can try to arrange something. For starters, drafting a letter signed by student group leaders might be a good start. An ASUC resolution or a meeting with the relevant administrators may also be helpful. Whatever happens, it can’t happen without active student input and effort. So, please, do what you can.