A Cal-amity in Admissions

On Feb. 14, University of California, Berkeley announced a recent court decision that would reduce the enrollment of the incoming freshmen class by one-third. 

The resident group, Save Berkeley Neighborhoods (SBN), filed a lawsuit against UC Berkeley for failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

The Alameda County court claimed this violation stems from overpopulation of students, hence why they decided to reduce enrollment for the upcoming admission cycle. 

If this lawsuit is not appealed by the Supreme Court, 5,100 prospective applicants that would normally be offered admission, will not be admitted. 

This group stated that the university is at fault for not providing enough housing while continuing to admit more students than feasible. 

In a Feb.17 press release, Save Berkeley Neighborhoods president Phil Bokovoy called Berkeley’s refusal to notify students of the possible decrease in admissions a “cynical political move [that] uses our deserving young Californians as pawns in a political effort to avoid the severe impacts that unmitigated enrollment growth has had on low income tenants in the city of Berkeley.”

The land-poor UC Berkeley only provides housing “for about a quarter of its students, while the rest of us have to find housing off-campus,” PVHS Alumni and UC Berkeley freshman Richard Criley said.

Because of this lack of housing, Berkeley residents are being displaced in favor of Cal students whose parents are able to afford apartments, furthering the homelessness crisis in the Bay Area. 

This issue, however, is more complex than just the overpopulation of students.

 “The UC Berkeley campus, regardless of enrollment numbers, tends to attract homeless people because students are more likely to be generous with money or food,” Criley said. 

“The city of Berkeley has a history of activism devoted to preserving areas for homeless encampments like People’s Park.”

The decrease in student enrollment would cause the institution to lose $57 million in tuition and subsequently cut financial aid given to low-income California prospective applicants. 

With enrollment being cut, UC Berkeley plans to increase the percentage of Californians on campus. In 2021, 70% of freshmen were Californians. In 2022, UC Berkeley will increase this number to 90%.  1,000 freshmen will be moved to remote classes for their first fall semester in an effort to comply with the lawsuit while still providing educational opportunity for as many Californians as possible. 

In 2021, 36 PVHS students were admitted to UC Berkeley. The lawsuit, however, might decrease this number in 2022. The lawsuit continues to cause frustration to the high school seniors who have worked for four years to be “worthy of admission to this university,” senior Bence Peti-Peterdi said. 

Because of its prestige, diverse student body and unique genetics and plant biology major, Peti-Peterdi considers UC Berkeley one of his top choices. 

“When I first heard about the lawsuit, I felt distraught,” Peti-Peterdi said. 

He along with other students believe that the CEQA is being taken advantage of at the cost of prospective applicants. 

“Although the [CEQA] is a good piece of legislation, it has been used to block construction including bike lanes, public transit and especially affordable housing,” Peti-Peterdi said. 

“This kind of legislation shouldn’t be used against the well-being of students.”

Many accuse Save Berkeley Neighborhoods of ulterior motives because of Bokovy’s history with UC Berkeley. 

“When I moved into my house, there were 27,000 students,” Bokovy said. 

“Now it has 45,000 students. I didn’t choose to live in a town with 45,000 students.”

This attitude has caused many students to call this group out on its hypocrisy through the acronym NIMBY’s (Not In My Backyard). 

They state that the CEQA, which historically has been abused and misused, is being manipulated to push a separate agenda, regardless of environmental concerns.

Criley believes their environmental argument is valid “only to a certain extent.” 

SBN are using the traffic, noise and the housing displacement that comes with overpopulation as justifications for their lawsuit.

“Berkeley has and always will be primarily a college town,” Criley said. 

“[Car traffic] can’t be fairly attributed to students because very few students have cars, and those that do seldom drive. I feel the same way about noise—if you want peace and quiet at night, don’t live on frat.”