At Berkeley

I went to Berkeley in the 1960s and it was a transformative experience. While there I did research for Martin Meyerson, at the time acting Chancellor during the Free Speech Movement )and other campus protest movements). I was also a Teaching Assistant and active in the anti-war movement of the time. I was intimately connected to University governance, which is the main business of this film. Being in Berkeley then to take part in a thrilling moment in history... that this long, long film entirely misses. The film, as much as I could take of it, consists of boring classroom sessions during which students discuss issues of concern, alternating with classroom discussions held by various faculty committees discussing philosophical and intellectual concerns regarding the operation of a large public institution. If you have ever been to a college faculty meeting then you know how deadly it can be. This film completely ignores the many artistic and political events that made UC Berkeley such an exciting place to be in the 1960s. The University was pivotal in social change of the time: anti-war, civil rights, feminist issues, police-citizen relations, the place of a university in a time of social upheaval. In the time I watched, none of these vital issues were discussed in the film. If you are an administrator, or someone who is interested in the philosophical and moral issues involved in running a billion dollar institution, then this four hour film might be for you. It mostly takes place in classrooms and committee meetings. It was like a series of graduate seminars in governance. I found it a real snoozer.