I write to welcome you to ECS 188 and, more than that, to tell you of the unusual beginning of class this term. Our class is scheduled to start this Thursday, but I have decided to CANCEL Thursday's class. I do so in sympathy with the goals of the combined faculty, student, and staff walkout. I suspect that all of you have heard about this from other directions, so I will not elaborate on the background, except to indicate that I have collected some links for you on-line (embedded in the schedule; follow the link below).
Within my own department, Computer Science, there is little support for the walkout. But I see participating in it as a tiny step towards fostering at UCD a culture in which people feel more empowered and inclined to collectively act. A greater willingness toward collective action is not just desirable, but, in my view, it is something necessary for the survival of our species. Conversely, carrying out business-as-usual on Thursday -- even taking "time-out" to address UC's woes, as some professors plan to do -- might ultimately suggest an obsequious bowing toward authority. This is the opposite of what I hope you internalize, and the opposite of what an ethics course ought to help engender. All that said, I recognize that many well-meaning folks come to completely different conclusions from my own.
During our scheduled Thursday class I will instead be in my office, 3009 Kemper. I would be pleased if you would drop by, introduce yourself, and maybe chat a bit.
As far as course administration, our course web page is at http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/fall09/ . You will find there a course-information sheet. Please read it. There is also a schedule, which will grow as our course goes on. It contains your assignments, including the first one, which is due next Tuesday. I believe you will want to pick up the hardcopy Course Reader, which is now available. If you want to grab anything from the on-line version of the course reader, you can do so with a login of "188" and a password of [deleted].
The oddness of our start of term will continue into next week because, unfortunately, I am out of the country on Tuesday. That day Prof. Prem Devanbu will cover our class. Absolutely do go to class next Tuesday! An assignment is due, there will be a short discussion, and -- unless the discussion is going so well that Prof. Devanbu refuses to stop it! -- we will show a remarkable short film by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski.
As always, you are kindly invited to share your thoughts with me.
phil rogaway
22 September 2009