Source: KQED TV
UC Berkeley Admissions Restored Under Senate Bill 118
California legislators acted with unusual speed this week to protect UC Berkeley from the consequences of a court ruling governing the number of students it could admit. Senate Bill 118, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday, exempts all state universities and colleges from certain portions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which had been invoked by a local group suing UC Berkeley.
That group, called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, had sued the university for growing its student population by 30% over the past two decades without doing enough to account for the environmental impact of those students. For now, the university can proceed with its planned enrollment for this fall, but broader questions raised by the lawsuit remain unanswered. We talk to one of the authors of the newly enacted law, Assemblymember Phil Ting from San Francisco.