UC Berkeley Admissions Could Hinge On Court Fight Over Enrollment Effects On Housing, Environment

BERKELEY (KPIX 5) -- Thousands of prospective UC Berkeley students have found out their chance of admission might be greatly decreased thanks to an ongoing battle between the university and the community in Berkeley.

A letter sent out Tuesday warned that 3,000 spaces at the school might not be available this coming year because of the environmental impact of increased enrollment.

"This is a court ruling that is asking the university to treat enrollment increases as if it was a construction project. We've been asked to analyze the environmental impacts of enrollment increases," said university spokesman Dan Mogulof. "For example, the court wants the university to study how an enrollment increase impacts homelessness. That's never been done. There are no tools, no processes."

The problem dates back to 2005 when UC Berkeley submitted a long-range campus plan with projected enrollment numbers and studied the effect under CEQA - the California Environmental Quality Act.

"The actual levels of enrollment are much higher than the levels of enrollment that Berkeley anticipated in 2005 and studied," said Prof. Dave Owen of UC Hastings College of the Law.

Neighbors like Phil Bokovoy from Save Berkeley Neighborhoods say the deviation from the 2005 enrollment plan is illegal and obtained a court order to reduce enrollment levels this year to alleviate the housing crisis in Berkeley.

"It's a huge, huge problem," said Bokovoy. "You've seen the homeless encampments in Berkeley. The judge found that the university's enrollment growth had really contributed to these problems with housing and displacement. Our gripe is that the university should not be adding students unless they are also adding housing."

The university says the ruling could drop acceptance rates down to the single digits.

"Just because there aren't seats at Berkeley doesn't mean there aren't places for them at the other UC campuses," said Bokovoy. "Other UC campuses have better ability to house than UC Berkeley does."

Owen, who teaches environmental law, says there are no winners here.

"I think the university should never have put itself in a position to have to defend this lawsuit and I think the neighbors never should have filed it," said Owen."I think everyone here is wrong."

The university has appealed the court order to the California Supreme Court. That court could give the school some relief over the cap on enrollment if they take up the case.

Admission letters to incoming freshmen are expected to go out in late March, and for community college transfer students in April.