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2022 Summer

Road block: Phil Bokovoy, Cal alum and president of Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods. Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Berkeley v. Berkeley

By Dhoha Bareche

In March, the public was stunned to learn that state courts had ordered UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment at 2020–21 levels, meaning that about 2,600 fewer seats would be available to first-year and transfer students for in-person enrollment in the fall. The news came less than a month before admission offers were to be sent to incoming freshmen. 

Berkeley Loses the CRISPR War

By Meher Bhatia

In February, Berkeley was dealt a major legal blow over one of the most promising technologies to come out of the university. The tribunal of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruled that the rights for CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing in human and plant cells belong to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, not to Berkeley, potentially ending a years-long battle between the academic institutions.

(iStock.com/Searsie)

Mooooove Over, Meat

By Krissy Waite

Giving up hamburgers and ice cream in the next 15 years could save us from global climate catastrophe.

(NISARGMEDIA/Alamy Stock Photo)

Beware Second Hand Bong Smoke

By Krissy Waite

Most people today recognize the health risks of inhaling tobacco smoke, even secondhand. Fewer are aware of the dangers of cannabis smoke.

(Anas Alkharboutli/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

The World Has Become Desensitized to Our Pain

By Dhoha Bareche ’23

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, countries around the world have rallied their support for Ukrainians. NATO allies have united like never before, imposing severe economic sanctions on Russia and making Vladimir Putin an international pariah. At the same time, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become a celebrity in the West. What explains the outpouring of support?

(Illustration by Christina Dallorso)

First Person

By Alexa Zahlada '23, as told to Anabel Sosa

Back in 2009, I moved from Ukraine to the U.S. to live with my mom, who was studying to become a doctor. Years later, I remember her sitting me down in the car and saying, “I cannot afford to raise you here and I don’t know what to do.”

(stock.com/Viktoriia Oleinichenko)

Editor’s Note

By Pat Joseph

Generally speaking, we like things to be black and white. Give us heroes and villains, saints and sinners, good versus bad, and we’re happy. Give us grays—moral ambiguity, countervailing facts, good and bad swirled together—and the result is what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. We don’t like it.

Irene Yi/2022 UC regents

Chancellor’s Letter

By Chancellor Carol T. Christ

Last February, I was grateful to be present when a beautiful, sacred basket was finally returned to the people of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians. The basket had been, for many years, held by the Hearst Museum, one item among thousands that await repatriation to their rightful owners. It was a deeply moving occasion, another step toward building better relationships between our university and Native American tribes. Yet, we still have much work to do to repair the damage done, and to facilitate the sort of reconciliation that is incumbent upon Berkeley as an institution built by the people, for all the people.

Snapp Chats

By Martin Snapp

After graduating from Berkeley Law in 2014, Yoana Tchoukleva, J.D. ’14, served in many roles before she found her dream job: setting up the Restorative Justice Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Illustrations by Patrick Welsh

Spotlight

By Krissy Waite

Berkeley's best in the fight against climate change.

(UC Berkeley Capital Strategies)

Now This

By Pat Joseph

The campus master plan.

What To Read, Watch, and Listen to this Summer

Here are a few of our favorite books, shows, and exhibits by people from Berkeley