The A-G Charge

Yesterday, we noted that on August 11, the Academic Council had charged BOARS with analyzing the possible return of the SAT for admissions purposes. The Council also charged BOARS with analyzing the A-G requirements for high school students seeking admission to UC:

The Academic Council charges the 2026-27 Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to: 1) initiate an overarching review of UC’s A-G framework to determine whether the number and general subject areas of currently required and recommended A-G courses adequately prepare first-year applicants for academic success at UC; and 2) submit an initial report to the Academic Council by May 14, 2027. BOARS should recognize, per Senate Bylaw 145.B.7, that “[t]he committee shall consult with representatives from the State Board of Education and K-12 

subject matter specialists on proposed changes to course requirements for undergraduate admissions.” As appropriate, BOARS may convene one or more subcommittees and identify subject matter specialists and partners or consultants from other California education segments (e.g., California State University, California Community Colleges) to assist in their study.

Full document at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-boars-charges-on-undergraduate-admissions.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 439

From the NY Times: The president of the major sociology association, Shelley Correll, had just taken the stage at the discipline’s big annual conference in New York City on Sunday when a few dozen sociologists began chanting “Free Palestine” and unfurled a banner. The short disruption was partly drowned out by turning up Dr. Correll’s entrance music, Dolly Parton’s “Big Dreams and Faded Jeans.” Tuning out the broader cacophony around sociology is not so easy, however.

Republicans in some states have singled out sociology as a poster child of everything that is wrong with academia, saying that it has become a hotbed of leftist activism. And rifts have formed within the discipline over whether to take political stances on issues like the war in Gaza. At the same time, fewer students are signing up for sociology classes, making the debates feel all the more urgent.

...“We lost something through this pursuit of partisanship,” said Fabio Rojas, a professor at Indiana University who writes about schisms in sociology, adding, “There are a lot of people who are just like, ‘I want to go to work and not hear about Palestine.’”

Sociology is sprawling. It includes ethnographers who conduct in-depth interviews, data-driven researchers and those who do both. Many sociologists study crime, demography, religion and other topics that do not generally irk conservatives. Sociology has also become a home for scholars who examine sexism, racism, policing, immigration and other politically charged topics... Many sociologists argue that it’s impossible to study human society deeply without seeing inequality and discrimination. And those who support activism argue that it is not a big step to then use that knowledge to push for public policy changes...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/us/activist-sociology-independent.html.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 188

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is considering requiring some staff in academic departments to return to the office four days a week, according to a person familiar with the matter and a message sent to members of Harvard’s staff union. Under the proposal, staff in some faculty- and student-facing roles would be required to come in up to four days a week. Formal implementation would not take place until at least January, according to the person. The proposal is the latest move toward stricter in-person work requirements across Harvard this summer. Harvard College announced in June that it would move toward a five-day in-office mandate. One month later, Harvard’s Alumni Affairs and Development Office unveiled a two-day in-person requirement for roughly 150 staff...

Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers leaders acknowledged that some staff had heard of potential changes via coworkers, supervisors, or new job descriptions, adding that there would likely be an exceptions process if the new policy were to be implemented. “We have not yet begun negotiations with administrators about this proposed change, but those discussions will likely begin soon,” organizers wrote in the message...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/18/fas-four-day-office-requirement/.

Academic Council asks BOARS for its thoughts on SAT

On August 11th, the chair of the Academic Council sent the chair of BOARS the charge below to be accomplished by February 12th of next year, which happens to be Lincoln's birthday:

The Academic Council charges the 2026-27 Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) to: 1) assess the potential advantages and disadvantages of the use of standardized test scores in UC undergraduate admissions as well as the various ways that such test scores could be used in admissions decision-making; and 2) submit a final report and policy recommendations to the Academic Council by February 12, 2027. BOARS should recognize that the Assembly of the Academic Senate in 2020 endorsed the Standardized Testing Task Force (STTF) report’s recommendation that “the University revisit within five years whether the added value of the SAT/ACT still holds, using the methods employed in the STTF report,” and that standardized tests and the admissions context have since changed. As appropriate, BOARS may convene a subcommittee and identify subject matter specialists and other partners or consultants to assist in their study.

Full document at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-boars-charges-on-undergraduate-admissions.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 438

From Inside Higher Ed: Thirty senators wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging his agency to process international student and scholar visas in time for the start of the academic year. Led by Alex Padilla, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, the letter cited “the ongoing unavailability of visa appointments during the peak visa application season for students and scholars.” No timely visa appointments are available for students at some embassies and consulates, the senators said. 

“These challenges come at a time when major academic institutions need skilled, international talent to begin their semesters. Without a fix, the repercussions will be felt across the academic and skilled-technical talent pipeline,” the letter argued...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/13/senators-prod-state-dept-process-international-visas. 

ICE Hazard

From the Daily Californian: The Berkeley International Office, or BIO, announced... that it is temporarily suspending all applications for Course Credit Curricular Practical Training, the program that allows international students to work in paid off-campus internships. The suspension follows an Aug. 12 memo from ICE warning all Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified universities — nearly all American colleges — that officials who improperly authorize Curricular Practical Training, or CPT, could face personal liability. ICE threatened to remove universities’ abilities to enroll international students if they did not comply. CPT is a work authorization program that allows international students to work and gain practical experience off campus, either as a requirement of their degree or in exchange for course credit. 

...ICE urged that work authorizations only be approved for major requirements, meaning F-1 students* will be unable to apply for work opportunities in exchange for course credit... International students are still eligible for on-campus jobs, limited to 20 hours a week...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-yields-to-ice-threat-suspends-course-credit-work-applications-for-international-students/article_f7d3e264-99a5-456f-9ed0-87d48b1dc1be.html.

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*An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant academic student visa that allows foreign nationals to study full-time at an SEVP-certified college, university, high school, or language training program in the United States. SEVP = Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

People's Park

Meanwhile, back at the park...

From the San Francisco Standard: Over the decades, People’s Park at UC Berkeley has been different things to different people: a physical manifestation of the Free Speech movement, a place for teens to light a joint and throw DIY concerts, a neglected magnet for criminal behavior. Since January 2024, however, the main symbol for the park’s future has been a 17-foot wall of 160 stacked shipping containers erected around its rectangular perimeter. At the site, a red crane now extends into the sky and tall towers of glass have emerged from behind the barrier.

The city’s most controversial housing project is set to be completed by the time students arrive for next year’s fall semester. The $312 million Judith E. Heumann House, named for the disability rights pioneer, will offer apartment-style housing for more than 1,100 undergraduates. However, a long-promised project meant to house the people the development displaced has yet to begin...

No Berkeley housing fight has been this bitter... Protesters tore down a fence the university erected for preliminary soil testing in January 2021, months before the UC Board of Regents approved the project. What followed was years of sustained protest and escalating legal challenges from a coalition of NIMBY and activist groups, including Make UC a Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group.

On Jan. 4, 2024, the university moved to clear the park overnight during winter break, cutting down trees and erecting the shipping-container barrier. Seven protesters were arrested, some of whom had chained themselves to trees and equipment. State lawmakers rushed to pass laws to allow for the development, and a June 2024 California Supreme Court ruling put a nail in the coffin of the legal avenues to pushback. The law, Assembly Bill 1307 — the Make UC a Good Neighbor Act — negated one of the primary arguments against the project. The case, Make UC a Good Neighbor v. Regents of the University of California, was decided unanimously...

Full story at https://sfstandard.com/2026/08/06/peoples-park-berkeley-dorm-unhoused/.