The University of California, Berkeley, got a last-minute reprieve from a court decision that would have forced it to slash the size of its incoming freshman class because it was barred from expanding student housing.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that effectively overturned a previous ruling that forced UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment at the same level it had in 2020, multiple news outlets reported. The bill, approved by the state Assembly and Senate, and written by Senator Nancy Skinner of Berkeley and Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco, will no longer classify college enrollment as a separate consideration under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Now, CEQA will cover long-term development plans, as well as a university’s total population and schools will have 18 months to rework plans if a judge rules that more students – and housing to accommodate them – mean a “significant” impact on the environment. Only then would a judge be able to order a school to shrink its size.
The new law ends, at least for now, months of back-and-forth negotiations between the city of Berkeley, the university, and a local group, Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, which sued the school for admitting more students without providing enough housing. Berkeley has beds for only about a fifth of its student population, the lowest among California’s state universities.
Opponents including the neighborhood group’s president, Phil Bokovoy, said the new law was poorly drafted and confusing. Bokovoy said more than 10 percent of UC Berkeley students are homeless and even more go hungry. “We don’t want new students to have to live in cars, campers and hotel rooms like they are in Santa Barbara,” he said.
A judge had ordered a temporary enrollment cap this month, upheld by the state Supreme Court, that would have required the university to withhold about 5,000 letters of admission to cut next fall’s enrollment by 2,629 students.
“On behalf of the thousands of students who will benefit from today’s vote, I want to thank California’s legislators for their quick and effective response,” UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said in a statement.
Read more
Politics
San Francisco
Suit claims UC Berkeley, city reached illegal pact for student housing
[SFC] — Victoria Pruitt