BERKELEY (Calif.) — On Thursday, the University of California, Berkeley was directed by California’s Supreme Court to stop undergraduate enrollment at 2020-21 levels. This means that it will be able to accept at most 3,000 fewer students than originally planned for the upcoming academic school year.
Thursday’s decision was the result of a legal battle between Save Berkeley Neighborhoods and a residents group called . They sued the university for failing address the effects of student enrollment increases on housing, traffic, and noise.
Officials at stated that they are “extremely disappointed” by the decision. It leaves intact an earlier court order and rejects the university’s request to lift its enrollment cap. The university will appeal the original lawsuit brought by the neighborhood group.
The university stated that this was devastating news for thousands of students who worked hard to earn a place in our fall 2022 class. “Our fight for every student continues.”
Alameda County Superior Court sided in Berkeley residents and suspended a proposed project for classroom construction and faculty housing. The court also ordered that the campus limit enrollment to just over 42,000 students by 2020-2021.
The school sent out letters to applicants announcing that it would have to reduce undergraduate enrollment by at most 3,000 students. This panicked prospective students and their families.
UC’s request for an exemption from the enrollment freeze was denied by an appeals court. The case is continuing. Governor. Gavin Newsom filed a friend-of-the court brief asking for the California Supreme Court’s cancellation of the enrollment cap. He stated that a lawsuit shouldn’t “get in the path of education and dreams of thousands” of students who will be our future leaders and innovators.
The university has frozen enrollment at the 2020-21 level. This means that it cannot offer additional 3,050 seats to incoming students or transfer students, as planned for fall 2022.
According to the university, it will lose $57 million in tuition if the additional students are not admitted.
