How UC Santa Cruz became unique (in just over eight minutes)

bill domhoff
Distinguished professor emeritus G. William Domoff's video history of UC Santa Cruz clocks in at just over eight minutes. (Photo by Guy Lasnier)

“How UC Santa Cruz Became Unique,” a snappy eight-minute history of UC Santa Cruz’s first 50 years and its effect on the town, has been produced by founding faculty member G. William Domhoff.

The video is based on comments Domhoff, distinguished professor emeritus, made to Pioneer Class alumni during a Saturday morning reunion on Founders Weekend in September. The video has now been enhanced with graphics and corrections (along with a couple of second thoughts), and posted online.

It can be found on Domhoff’s website, whorulesamerica.net, and also on YouTube.

Domhoff joined the campus in 1965 as a professor of psychology and sociology. He retired in 1994 and has continued to teach – two courses this year – and conduct research in two areas: dreams and the power structure of the nation.

His book, Who Rules America, chronicled the 1 percent long before the Occupy movement.  Another book, Leftmost City: Power and Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz, co-written with Richard Gendron, one of his former graduate students, is a look at the rise of progressive politics in Santa Cruz after the founding of UCSC in 1965