URPE at UC Berkeley: The Activities, Protests, and Legacy of the Economics Students and URPE’s Once Largest Chapter

Abstract

Students at UC Berkeley helped found the Union for Radical Political Economic (URPE) in 1968. The Berkeley chapter of URPE worked with economic students to successfully press that a radical economist be hired, which also resulted in a political economy field concentration. URPE at Berkeley provided a supportive community for graduate students, and intellectual stimulation and support for students who were interested in non-neoclassical training and research. URPE with other students provided study groups and taught political economy courses to undergraduates. Although this chapter of URPE no longer exists, its legacy is a more plural department that is more representative, thanks to former economics graduate students who attended this university.