Public Comment

Thank you, Margot Smith, for your important letter, which was published in the LA Times. Many people are twisting the facts and failing to see the urgent need for the court order to be upheld capping enrollment. The city foolishly sent a letter of support to our alma mater to continue its reckless policy of over-enrolling and under-promising housing. And no, destroying a historic park or evicting rent controlled tenants and demolishing their building is not solving the housing crisis - six other opportunity sites were identified to build student housing that remain available. It is reckless and cruel to students left scrambling for housing (as you know- Cal provides the least housing of all UCs) AND harmful to the local community to create a huge increased demand for services without providing the infrastructure to meet that demand.

Remember when the city didn’t have enough ambulances when a number of students fell ill from partying and the city had to contract outside cities to transport sick and injured Berkeley residents and students to the hospital? There is a long list of rational, justifiable, critical and urgent reasons the court order stopping reckless over enrollment must be upheld. The Mayor spoke in support of the UC practice of over-enrollment as necessary and that if denied would result in the denial of enrollment to thousands of Students of Color. He said that the lawsuit by concerned community was ‘bludgeoning’ the problem instead of performing a surgical solution. Can someone outline a compelling rebuttal -? Rhetoric 101– don’t allow a fallacious argument go by without a swift and persuasive counter argument.

I know by observation and anecdotal evidence that the excessive number of enrolled students is not done for the purpose of enrolling more Black, Brown and Indigenous students. Our alma mater has a horrible track record of under enrolling a racially diverse population and only adopted initiatives recently after Black students, staff and alumni waged a strategic series of protests six years ago with a list of demands. #BlackLivesMatter - I was a part of that historic process.  

I worry about the fallout and consequences of over-enrollment. I get calls all the time from young people accepted at Cal who cannot find safe, affordable housing — whose excitement from the admission letter fades when they cannot get admission to a place to live. I know too many students (many Black and Brown) who arrive ready and excited to start school at Cal who end up sleeping in their car or couch surfing.  

The real bludgeoning is the failure to meet the students need for housing to accompany that admission letter - and the cruel and reckless policy of saying ‘welcome to Cal, but sorry there’s no room for you to be housed.’  

Go Bears!