Education

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Mills College Closes, but Opens Its Doors to Berkeley Students

A new solution to Cal’s housing and classroom shortage In early March, the leadership of Mills College announced that the institution would discontinue its enrollment for first-year students after fall 2021. By 2023, the small private college in Oakland, established in 1852 for the education of undergraduate women, will be officially closed. When one door […]

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The Edge Episode 11: A Completed Life

Five years after 29-year-old, terminally ill Brittany Maynard makes national news by choosing to end her life early, medically assisted death continues to face enormous legal and social barriers. And yet public support of the practice is high. As life-expectancy and palliative care improve, we face new questions: Under what circumstances are people allowed to choose when and how they die?

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Editors’ Picks: What To Read, Watch, and Listen To This Winter

Some of our favorite new books, films, and podcasts, for your entertainment Our editors have curated a list of entertainment to indulge in this autumn. Here are their top picks of web series, podcasts, films, and more, all produced by UC Berkeley faculty and alumni. Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast Co-hosted by Matt Levin […]

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Deworming Reaps Long-Term Health and Economic Rewards For Young Kenyans

A cheap pill improves education and career outcomes among students. The findings of the 2004 study were startling: A campaign to treat thousands of children in western Kenya for parasitic worms yielded significant, long-term health and educational benefits. Across the 75 primary schools involved, rates of intestinal worms and student absenteeism decreased—the latter by around […]

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Stiles Hall, Always in Style

From the beginning, Stiles Hall has been a safe haven for students. For Arlinda Ruiz the road to higher education was not an easy one. A 45-year-old domestic violence survivor, she worried there wouldn’t be a place for her in the world of academia. “I’m this short Mexican girl, dark, Indigenous, blasted up with tattoos,” […]

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The UC System Has Officially Gone Test Optional. What Now?

Inside the University of California’s bold move to reinvent admissions amid a pandemic IN DECEMBER, KAWIKA SMITH, a 17-year-old high school student from Los Angeles, along with fellow students and advocates, sued the UC system. The goal? Completely reinvent the admissions process by jettisoning standardized testing forever. After a whirlwind year of protests, a pandemic, […]

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A Historic Vote May Restore Affirmative Action in California

Earlier this year, the UC Regents backed the repeal of Prop 209. In mid-June, the UC Board of Regents held a historic vote, unanimously endorsing a state proposal to repeal Proposition 209, California’s controversial ballot initiative which banned the consideration of race, sex, or ethnicity in public education, employment, and contracting throughout the state.  In […]

Drawing of kids learning in a bubble surround by viral particles Pandemic pods and other distance learning efforts threaten to widen the racial equity gap within K-12 education. // Photos courtesy of iStock, Pixabay / Illustration by Leah Worthington

Will Distance Learning Make Education Inequality Worse?

Ever since Bay Area school districts announced they would begin the fall 2020 school year with distance learning due to the still-increasing rate of COVID-19 infection across the region, parents have been scrambling to figure out how to manage their children’s schooling. One solution many are considering is “pandemic pods,” small learning groups organized by […]

EdNote Image source: Marcus Manschen

Editor’s Note: Adjust Your Eyes.

A word of advice to Berkeley’s graduating class of 2020 Let me begin with heartfelt congratulations to the 2020 graduates of Berkeley who, like their peers across the country, were deprived of their commencement ceremonies by the coronavirus and the need for social distancing. They deserved better. And yet, this ending to their undergraduate experience […]

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Chancellor’s Letter: The Year of Implementation

Budget balanced and plans aplenty as the new school year begins As you read this, a new academic year is getting underway on the Berkeley campus. It’s a wonderful time of renewal and excitement; an excellent opportunity to reflect on the road we have recently traveled as well as the one that lies ahead. Cal’s […]

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Chancellor’s Letter: Anxiety and Admissions

Berkeley’s admissions policies for athletes include a number of checks and balances specifically designed to protect the integrity of the admissions process and to ensure that students are qualified both in academics and athletics. There should not be side or back doors for admission to Berkeley. While we are committed to doing what we can […]

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Chancellor’s Letter: Diversity Initiatives

The Chancellor talks about the importance of campus diversity for meeting Berkeley’s educational and multicultural goals. One of my most important goals for Berkeley is to advance and expand diversity on our campus, in its broadest sense and every form. We are now launching the first wave of new, accelerated efforts to support and expand […]