A Strange Political Retreat from UC-Berkeley

UC-Berkeley was the beneficiary of much outrage when a court decision - and eventually a state Supreme Court decision - capped enrollment. Lots of angry editorials and op eds erupted saying that Berkeley was the victim of NIMBYism, that CEQA was being abused, etc. And it looked like the legislature and governor were going to do something to reverse the decision.

Now, however, Berkeley seems to be deflating that balloon by saying, in effect, not to worry, we'll fix it with little damage by cutting back on out-of-state and international students and graduate students. Those kinds of students have no pull in the legislature. From the LA Times:

UC Berkeley will boost the number of Californians and significantly reduce out-of-state and international students this fall as it scrambles to meet a court-ordered enrollment cap for the coming academic year just a few weeks before admission decisions are set for release. Overall, the campus plans to enroll about 5,370 first-year California students both in-person and online this fall, an increase of about 500 over last year. They would make up about 90% of all freshmen, compared with 70% last year. Among them, 4,370 would be enrolled on campus, while 1,000 would spend fall semester in remote classes and move to in-person instruction for spring semester beginning in January 2023, the university announced Friday...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-04/uc-berkeley-will-increase-california-student-enrollment.

Suggesting to politicians that maybe nothing needs to be done is a good way to ensure that nothing will be done. Just saying...