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<p>Yep, greatesteyn, I suspect you are right. But that’s not the point. The problem is that the departments will often times make excuses that they are not getting enough resources to take in more students. So I offer the idea of providing more resources to, if nothing else, take away these excuses. </p>
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<p>The problem with this idea is simple - why would Hinshaw care? So a bunch of undergrads couldn’t get into the major and they protest. So what? That’s no skin off him. It doesn’t hurt him in any way. </p>
<p>That’s why, if change is going to happen, it’s going to have to involve the help of the administration at large. After all, you said it yourself, the psych department has plenty of space and plenty of profs and funding. But where does it get this space? It doesn’t “own” the space that it has. And it certainly doesn’t “own” all of its funding sources. The administration has the power to say that if the psych department doesn’t want to take in more students, then the administration is going to take back some of the department’s buildings. Like I said, those buildings are owned by Berkeley at large, not by the department. The administration can also yank whatever general funding and general university support the department is getting. For example, one simple example is that the administration can simply say that the psych department will no longer be allowed to use any of Berkeley’s libraries like Doe or Moffitt. After all, the department is not “entitled” to use Doe/Moffitt. The department doesn’t own those libraries. Berkeley psych profs will no longer get free parking and will no longer have access to the RSF. If they need computers, too bad, they will have to get their own, and they will have to support them by themselves as they no longer have access to Berkeley IST. </p>
<p>The point is, departments are not (or should not be) free to do whatever they want. They use plenty of general university resources, so they should be contributing to the welfare of the general university. If you’re not going to do that, then you shouldn’t be allowed to use general university resources.</p>