Statements & news

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to share with you information about the fifth annual Next Opportunity at Work (NOW) Staff Career Development Conference, which will take place on Wednesday, July 26^th in Pauley Ballroom and throughout the MLK Student Union building.

Francis, or "Frankie," Guzman, a 2007 UC Berkeley graduate, returned to his alma mater Sunday afternoon to address the second graduating class of the Underground Scholars Initiative, or USI, a pioneering program unique to UC Berkeley that connects campus resources to formerly incarcerated students and students with formerly incarcerated family members.

Guzman, who went behind bars at 15 years old, recounted a childhood in which police presence was to be expected, a sentiment reiterated by several other underground scholars.

Natalie Ruiz hears this a lot from people: "I don't know how you do it."

To grasp why they ask, we have to go back nearly four years. Ruiz had just moved into her dorm at UC Berkeley, a transfer student from Solano Community College who worked hard to get into the No. 1-ranked public university in the United States.

And the pregnancy test she was looking at was positive.

UC President Janet Napolitano hosted a joint interview Friday afternoon with student journalists from across the UC campuses and UC Student Association President Ralph Washington Jr. The students and Washington asked questions regarding the recently released UC Office of the President audit, and Napolitano's subsequent apologetic response.