For over 40 years, since 1969, UCSC was home to the acclaimed Community Studies program, a multidisciplinary program combining the humanities and social studies. The goal was to create a corps of community leaders and activists committed to social justice and change. Graduates of the program went on to work for a variety of major nonprofits, including the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, the Community Action Board and Barrios Unidos. Their teachers included local activists including Santa Cruz’s current mayor, Mike Rotkin, who oversees the program’s fieldwork component.
But those were kinder, simpler times, before Glenn Beck began spewing his bile and helping others was a virtue, not a vice. Now, university officials are trying to figure out if the program can be saved after years of “chipping away” at it. Until then, the program has been suspended. It will no longer be accepting new students, and some faculty members, including Rotkin, have been laid off. “It’s a tragedy,” he said, referring to the students and the community. “People can do this, make a living and a difference in the world.” And that’s something worth saving. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
