Berkeleyan
News Briefs
12 April 2007
Gen. Anthony Zinni, a critic of the Iraq war, to speak on campus April 23
Gen. Anthony Zinni,who led American troops in the Middle East as head of the U.S. Central Command and later broke with the Bush administration over the Iraq war, will deliver the 2007 Sanford S. Elberg Lecture in International Studies on Monday, April 23, in Wheeler Auditorium.
A decorated Vietnam veteran and a retired four-star general, Zinni was an outspoken opponent of the Iraq invasion and has continued to be critical of the war's execution. In Battle Ready, a 2004 memoir co-authored with Tom Clancy, he attacked what he called "at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility; at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Speaking of the war that year, he said, "I have seen this movie; it was called Vietnam." Yet despite his disapproval of the administration's conduct of the Iraq war, he told The New York Times last November he was unsure of the Iraqi government's ability to stop sectarian violence and favored sending additional troops to "regain momentum" in efforts to stabilize the country.
Zinni's talk on "Challenges for U.S. National Security" is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, but tickets are required and are available at Cal Performances' Zellerbach Hall box office.
Campus Earth Week line-up includes Strawberry Creek cleanup and a transportation fair
Next week's "green" events leading up to Earth Day (Sunday, April 21) include the semi-annual Strawberry Creek cleanup. At the work event, set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30, Tuesday, April 17, members of the campus community can help remove trash from the creek's north, south, and main forks. Come to the Environment, Health, and Safety table on Sproul Plaza for assignments and safety gear.
Also on the schedule are a Tuesday evening screening of Discovering Hetch Hetchy (which makes the case for draining and restoring the magnificent valley) and a Sustainable Transportation Fair. The latter - featuring information on Bay Area mass-transit options and alternative-fuel and transportation technologies - is set for Thursday, April 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sproul Plaza. For a full list of campus Earth Week talks, workshops, presentations, and concerts, see earthweek.berkeley.edu.
Iraq war documentary to screen April 16
Drawing on interviews with high-level government officials, military personnel, and journalists, first-time director Charles Ferguson zeroes in on the months immediately before and after the fall of Saddam Hussein in his new documentary No End in Sight, winner of a special jury prize at Sundance. A member of the Council of Foreign Relations and a co-founder of Vermeer Technologies, Ferguson will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, April 16, in the Pacific Film Archive Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way.
Human Resources has a new address
The Berkeley campus's Office of Human Resources has relocated to the Power Bar building at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. Benefits and Employment Services, formerly located on the ground floor of University Hall, and Records Management can now be found on the seventh floor of the Power Bar building; HR Administration, Compensation, Employee and Labor Relations, and Strategic Initiatives have moved to the sixth floor of the new headquarters. The Staff Equity and Diversity Services unit and the Center for Workforce Develop-ment will remain at University Hall.
The new address is 2150 Shattuck Ave., Room 750, Berkeley, CA 94704-3540; the campus mail code is 3540. Phone numbers remain unchanged. For information, e-mail hrweb@berkeley.edu or visit hrweb.berkeley.edu.
Institute of Industrial Relations gets new name
The Institute of Industrial Relations has been renamed the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).
"California academics are leaders in many areas, such as analyzing living-wage and minimum-wage policies, the impact of 'big-box retailers,' workforce demographics, new trends among labor unions, and 'smart' urban and regional planning," explains IRLE director Michael Reich. "IRLE is well-poised to advance the study not only of organized labor and its role in society, but of newly emerging fields."
UC labor programs began 60 years ago, when former UC President Clark Kerr founded the Institute of Industrial Relations at Berkeley, followed the same year by a similar institute at UCLA. Two decades later, the Center for Labor Research and Education was established to carry out service and outreach activities with union and community partners.
Afghan ambassador to speak April 17 on 'winning the peace' in his country
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said Tayeb Jawad, and Shamim Jawad, international chair of the Roots of Peace Penny Campaign, will speak on "Winning the Peace in Afghanistan: Challenges and Opportunities," on Tuesday, April 17, in the Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler. Scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m., the event is sponsored by International and Area Studies' teaching program and a number of other campus and off-campus organizations.
For the record...
A story in the Berkeleyan's April 5 issue, concerning the first William Sloane Coffin Jr. Awards, established to recognize moral leadership tied to the UC Berkeley community, contained several errors regarding one of the two winners, Elliott Professor Emeritus of Sociology Robert Bellah. A corrected version of the story is online at newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/Coffin.