What a weekend

My wife Kelly Weisberg and our son Aaron were joined by first-year law student Sahar Maali at a reception for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

I can hardly believe it's been 10 years since the campus first hosted the Scholarship Benefit Dinner. This weekend's dinner has to have been one of the very best, with alumni speakers Kevin Beggs (Porter '89) and Edison Jensen (Oakes '86), student speaker Autumn Johnson, and alumni emcees Santa Cruz Mayor Hilary Bryant (Porter '94) and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend (Porter, '01). What a line-up!

Kevin was inspiring and delightful. We talked over dinner about new modes of television viewing, and how some fans today like to watch episode-after-episode in a single sitting, while others prefer to watch their favorite shows one week at a time. As president of Lionsgate Television Group, Kevin has a good excuse to sit on the couch and watch TV for hours—he's working!

Edison is a model for our students of social commitment and contribution, having overseen the expansion of health care services to farmworkers in Santa Cruz County. Autumn spoke eloquently about what financial aid has meant for her in terms of creating opportunity, and Hilary and Zach's banter about narrative evaluations was delightful. All in all, what a great way to raise money for scholarships!

SBD was a hard act to follow, but it was an honor to host an afternoon tea on Sunday for U. S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. What an impressive woman. She is articulate, engaged, and assertive, although she doesn't speak publicly about her court record. Her iCivics.org web site utilizes games, so it was a pleasure to refer her to our computer gaming wizard Michael Mateas.

To cap it off, UCSC alum Rick Carter won an Oscar for production design on Lincoln, and alum Dency Nelson was working behind the scenes. Slugs are everywhere, doing amazing things wherever they go!

Comments or questions? Write to chancellor@ucsc.edu and put “SBD-Justice" in the subject line.