University of California, Berkeley

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
  Not to be confused with Berkeley College, Berkeley College (Yale University), or Berklee College of Music.
University of California, Berkeley
Seal of University of California, Berkeley.svg
Seal of the University of California, Berkeley
Motto Fiat lux (Latin)
Motto in English
Let there be light
Type Flagship
Public research university
Land Grant
Established March 23, 1868
Endowment $4.045 billion (2015)
Chancellor Nicholas Dirks
Students 37,581 (Fall 2014)[3]
Undergraduates 27,126 (Fall 2014)
Postgraduates 10,455 (Fall 2014)
Location Berkeley, California, U.S.
Campus
Urban
Total 1,232 acres (499 ha) Core Campus 178 acres (72 ha)

Total land owned 6,679 acres (2,703 ha)
Yearbook The Blue & Gold
Colors Berkeley Blue & California Gold[6]
       
Athletics NCAA Division I – Pac-12
Sports 27 varsity teams
Nickname Golden Bears
Mascot Oski the Bear
Affiliations
University of California system, AAU, IARU, URA, APRU, APLU
Website www.berkeley.edu
Logo of the University of California, Berkeley.svg
The University of California, Berkeley (also referred to as Berkeley, UC Berkeley, California or simply Cal) is a public research university located in Berkeley, California. It is the flagship campus of the University of California system, one of three parts in the state's public higher education plan, which also includes the California State University system and the California Community Colleges System.

It is considered by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings as one of six university brands that lead in world reputation rankings in 2015 and is ranked third on the U.S. News' 2015 Best Global Universities rankings conducted in the U.S. and nearly 50 other countries.The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) also ranks the University of California, Berkeley fourth in the world overall, and first among public universities. It is broadly ranked first in science, third in engineering, and fifth in social sciences, with specific rankings of first in chemistry, first in physics, third in computer science, fourth in mathematics, and fourth in economics/business. The university is also well known for producing a high number of entrepreneurs.

Established in 1868 as the result of the merger of the private College of California and the public Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College in Oakland, UC Berkeley is the oldest institution in the UC system and offers approximately 350 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The University of California has been charged with providing both "classical" and "practical" education for the state's people. Cal co-manages three United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Berkeley faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 72 Nobel Prizes (including 30 alumni Nobel laureates), nine Wolf Prizes, eight Fields Medals (including 3 alumni medalists), 20 Turing Awards, 45 MacArthur Fellowships, 20 Academy Awards,11 Pulitzer Prizes and 105 Olympic gold medals (47 silver and 33 bronze). To date, UC Berkeley scientists have discovered six chemical elements of the periodic table (californium, seaborgium, berkelium, einsteinium, fermium, lawrencium). Along with Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley researchers have discovered 16 chemical elements in total – more than any other university in the world. Berkeley is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and continues to have very high research activity with $730.7 million in research and development expenditures in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014.

Contents :

1 History
1.1 1866 - 2014
1.2 Funding
1.3 Name
2 Academics
2.1 Undergraduate programs
2.2 Graduate and professional programs
2.3 Faculty and research
2.4 Library system
2.5 Rankings and reputation
2.5.1 Global
2.5.2 National
3 Campus
3.1 Architecture
3.2 Natural features
3.3 Environmental record
4 Organization and administration
4.1 University finances
4.1.1 Financial aid and scholarship programs
5 Admissions and enrollment
6 Student life and traditions
6.1 Student housing
6.1.1 University housing
6.1.2 Cooperative housing
6.1.3 Fraternities and sororities
6.2 Student-run organizations
6.2.1 Student government
6.2.2 Communications media
6.2.3 Student groups
6.3 Athletics
6.3.1 California – Stanford rivalry
6.3.2 National championships
7 Notable alumni, faculty, and staff
7.1 Faculty
7.2 Alumni
8 See also
9 Notes and references
10 Further reading and viewing
11 External links



History:
View, from Memorial Glade, of Sather Tower (The Campanile), the center of UC Berkeley. The ring of its bells and clock can be heard from all over campus.
Main article: History of the University of California, Berkeley
1866 - 2014
In 1866, the private College of California purchased the land comprising the current Berkeley campus. Because it lacked sufficient funds to operate, it eventually merged with the state-run Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College to form the University of California, the first full-curriculum public university in the state.

Ten faculty members and almost 40 students made up the new University of California when it opened in Oakland in 1869. Frederick H. Billings was a trustee of the College of California and suggested that the college be named in honor of the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley. In 1870, Henry Durant, the founder of the College of California, became the first president. With the completion of North and South Halls in 1873, the university relocated to its Berkeley location with 167 male and 222 female students and held its first classes.

Beginning in 1891, Phoebe Apperson Hearst made several large gifts to Berkeley, funding a number of programs and new buildings, and sponsoring, in 1898, an international competition in Antwerp, Belgium, where French architect Émile Bénard submitted the winning design for a campus master plan. In 1905, the University Farm was established near Sacramento, ultimately becoming the University of California, Davis. By the 1920s, the number of campus buildings had grown substantially, and included twenty structures designed by architect John Galen Howard.

Robert Gordon Sproul served as president from 1930 to 1958. By 1942, the American Council on Education ranked UC Berkeley second only to Harvard University in the number of distinguished departments.


UC Berkeley Students participate in a one-day Peace Strike opposing U.S. involvement in World War II. April 19, 1940
During World War II, following Glenn Seaborg's then-secret discovery of plutonium, Ernest Orlando Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory began to contract with the U.S. Army to develop the atomic bomb. UC Berkeley physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer was named scientific head of the Manhattan Project in 1942.[28][29] Along with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (formerly the Radiation Lab), Berkeley is now a partner in managing two other labs, Los Alamo's National Laboratory (1943) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1952).

Originally, military training was compulsory for male undergraduates, and Berkeley housed an armory for that purpose. In 1917, Berkeley's ROTC program was established, and its School of Military Aeronautics trained future pilots, including Jimmy Doolittle, who graduated with a B.A. in 1922. Both Robert McNamara and Frederick C. Weyand graduated from UC Berkeley's ROTC program, earning B.A. degrees in 1937 and 1938, respectively. In 1926, future fleet admiral Chester W. Nimitz established the first Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at Berkeley. During World War II, the military increased its presence on campus to recruit more officers, and by 1944, more than 1,000 Berkeley students were enrolled in the V-12 Navy College Training Program and naval training school for diesel engineering. The Board of Regents ended compulsory military training at Berkeley in 1962.

During the McCarthy era in 1949, the Board of Regents adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath. A number of faculty members objected and were dismissed; ten years passed before they were reinstated with back pay.

In 1952, the University of California became an entity separate from the Berkeley campus. Each campus was given relative autonomy and its own Chancellor. Then-president Sproul assumed presidency of the entire University of California system, and Clark Kerr became the first Chancellor of UC Berkeley.


Sather Tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais.
Berkeley gained a reputation for student activism in the 1960s with the Free Speech Movement in 1964, and opposition to the Vietnam War. In the highly publicized People's Park protest in 1969, students and the school conflicted over use of a plot of land; the National Guard was called in and violence erupted. Then governor of California Ronald Reagan called the Berkeley campus "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters, and sex deviants." Modern students at Berkeley are less politically active, with a greater percentage of moderates and conservatives.Democrats outnumber Republicans on the faculty by a ratio of 9:1.

Various human and animal rights groups have conflicted with Berkeley. Native Americans conflicted with the school over repatriation of remains from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Animal-rights activists have threatened faculty members using animals for research. The school's response to tree sitters protesting construction caused controversy in the local community.

On May 1, 2014, UC Berkeley was named one of fifty-five higher education institutions under investigation by the Office of Civil Rights "for possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual violence and harassment complaints" by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. The investigation comes after 31 female students made three federal complaints: first, a Clery Act complaint was filed in May 2013, and then, after a lack of response from the University, a second Clery Act Complaint and Title IX complaint were filed on February 26, 2014.

Funding
As state funding declined, Berkeley turned to private sources: BP donated $400 million over 10 years to develop biofuels, the Hewlett Foundation gave $113 million to endow 100 faculty chairs, and Dow Chemical gave $10 million to research sustainability. The BP grant has been criticized for diverting food production to fuel production. The 2008–13 Campaign for Berkeley raised $3.13 billion from 281,855 donors.

Name[edit]
The original name University of California was frequently shortened to California or Cal. UC Berkeley's athletic teams date to this time and so are referred to as the California Golden Bears, Cal Bears, or just Cal. Today, University of California refers to a statewide school system. Referring to the University of California, Berkeley as UCB or University of California at Berkeley is discouraged[51] and the domain name is berkeley.edu. Moreover, the term "Cal Berkeley" is not a correct reference to the school, but is occasionally used. Berkeley is unaffiliated with the Berklee College of Music or Berkeley College.

Academics[edit]
Berkeley is a large, primarily residential research university with a majority of enrollments in undergraduate programs but also offers a comprehensive doctoral graduate program.The university has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission since 1949. The university is one of only two UC campuses operating on a semester calendar, (the other is UC Merced). Berkeley offers 106 Bachelor's degrees, 88 Master's degrees, 97 research-focused doctoral programs, and 31 professionally focused graduate degrees.The university awarded 7,565 Bachelor's, 2,610 Master's or Professional, and 930 Doctoral degrees in 2013-14.

Berkeley's 130-plus academic departments and programs are organized into 14 colleges and schools in addition to UC Berkeley Extension.[4] "Colleges" are both undergraduate and graduate, while "Schools" are generally graduate only, though some offer undergraduate majors, minors, or courses.

College of Chemistry
College of Engineering
College of Environmental Design
College of Letters and Science
College of Natural Resources
Graduate School of Education
Graduate School of Journalism
Haas School of Business
Goldman School of Public Policy
School of Information
School of Law (Boalt Hall)
School of Optometry
School of Public Health
School of Social Welfare
UC Berkeley Extension
UC Berkeley does not have a medical school; however, the university offers the UC Berkeley – UCSF Joint Medical Program with the University of California, San Francisco, a standalone medical school that is located nearby.

Undergraduate programs[edit]
The four-year, full-time undergraduate program has a focus on the arts and sciences with a high level of co-existence in undergraduate and graduate programs. Freshman admission is selective but there are high levels of transfer-in.[52] 106 Bachelor's degrees are offered across the Haas School of Business (1), College of Chemistry (5), College of Engineering (20), College of Environmental Design (3), College of Letters and Science (67), College of Natural Resources (10), and other individual majors (2).[54] The most popular majors are Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Political Science, Molecular and Cell Biology, Environmental Science, and Economics.[56]

Requirements for undergraduate degrees come from four sources: the University of California system, the Berkeley campus, the college or school, and the department. These requirements include an entry-level writing requirement before enrollment (typically fulfilled by minimum scores on standardized admissions exams such as the SAT or ACT), completing coursework on "American History and Institutions" before or after enrollment by taking an introductory class, passing an "American Cultures Breadth" class at Berkeley, as well as requirements for reading and composition and specific requirements declared by the department and school.[57] Three-hour final examinations are required in most undergraduate classes and take place over a week following the last day of instruction in mid-December for the Fall semester and in mid-May for the Spring semester.[58] Academic grades are reported on a five-letter scale (A,B,C,D,F) with grade points being modified by three-tenths of point for pluses and minuses.[59] Requirements for academic honors are specified by individual schools and colleges, scholarly prizes are typically awarded by departments, and students are elected to honor societies based on these organizations' criteria.[60]

Graduate and professional programs[edit]
Berkeley has a "comprehensive" graduate program with high coexistence with the programs offered to undergraduates, but no medical school.[52] The university offers graduate degrees in Master's of Art, Master's of Science, Master's of Fine Art, and Ph.D.s in addition to professional degrees such as the Juries Doctor and Master of Business Administration.[61] The university awarded 887 doctoral degrees and 2,506 Master's degrees in 2012.[62] Admission to graduate programs is decentralized; applicants apply directly to the department or degree program. Most graduate students are supported by fellowships, teach assistant ships, or research assistant ships.[62] The 2010 United States National Research Council Rankings identified UC Berkeley as having the highest number of top-ranked doctoral programs in the nation.[63] UC Berkeley doctoral programs that received a #1 ranking include Agricultural and Resource Economics, Astrophysics, Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, English, Epidemiology, Geography, German, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Genomics, and Development, Physics, Plant Biology, and Political Science. UC Berkeley was also the #1 recipient of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships between 2001 and 2010, with 1,333 awards.[62]

Faculty and research[edit]
Main articles: List of UC Berkeley faculty, Research centers and laboratories at UC Berkeley and List of Nobel laureates associated with University of California, Berkeley

Seventy-two Nobel Laureates have been university faculty, alumni or researchers. Special signs indicate campus parking spaces reserved for the Laureates.
Berkeley is a research university with a "very high" level of research activity. In 2013 Berkeley spent $727 million on research and development (R&D).[64] There are 1,620 full-time and 500 part-time faculty members dispersed among more than 130 academic departments and more than 80 interdisciplinary research units.[65] Berkeley's current faculty includes 235 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows, 3 Fields Medal winners, 77 Fulbright Scholars, 139 Guggenheim Fellows, 73 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 144 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7 Nobel Prize winners, 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 125 Sloan Fellows, 7 Wolf Prize winners and 1 Pritzker Prize winner. 72 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university as faculty, alumni or researchers, the most of any public university in the United States and sixth most of any university in the world.[citation needed]

Faculty at UC Berkeley are more likely to be registered Democrats than Republicans; this is similar to findings at Stanford University.

Library system

The north side of Doe Library with Memorial Glade in the foreground.
Main article: University of California, Berkeley Library System
Berkeley's 32 libraries tie together to make the fourth largest academic library in the United States surpassed only by Harvard University Library, Yale University Library and University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign Library. However, considering the relative sizes and ages of these University libraries, Berkeley's collections have been growing about as fast as those at Harvard and Yale combined: specifically, 1.8 times faster than Harvard, and 1.9 times faster than Yale. In 2003, the Association of Research Libraries ranked it as the top public and third overall university library in North America based on various statistical measures of quality. As of 2006, Berkeley's library system contains over 11 million volumes and maintains over 70,000 serial titles. The libraries together cover over 12 acres (4.9 ha) of land and form one of the largest library complexes in the world. Doe Library serves as the library system's reference, periodical, and administrative center, while most of the main collections are housed in the subterranean Gardner Main Stacks and Moffitt Undergraduate Library. The Bancroft Library, with holdings of over 400,000 printed volumes, maintains a collection that documents the history of the western part of North America, with an emphasis on California, Mexico and Central America.

Rankings and reputation
University rankings
National
ARWU 4
Forbes 35
U.S. News & World Report 20
Washington Monthly 4
Global
ARWU[77] 4
QS[78] 26
Times 13
Global
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015–2016 ranks Berkeley 13th in the world for academics and 6th in the world for reputation. In its 2016 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Berkeley 3rd in their "Best Global University Rankings".In 2015, Berkeley was ranked 4th in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)[10] and 26th in the QS World University Rankings.The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) ranked the university 7th in the world based on quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, publications, influence, citations, broad impact, and patents in 2015.

National[edit]
The 2016 U.S. News & World Report "Best Colleges" report ranked Berkeley first among public universities and 20th among national universities. The Washington Monthly ranked Berkeley fourth among national universities in 2015, with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. The Money Magazine Best Colleges ranking for 2015 ranked Berkeley 9th in the United States based on educational quality, affordability and alumni earnings. For 2015 Kiplinger ranked Berkeley the 4th best-value public university in the nation for in-state students, and 6th for out-of-state students. The 2015 Forbes America's Top Colleges report ranked Berkeley 35th among all universities and liberal arts colleges in the United States.

In 2014, The Daily Beast's Best Colleges report ranked Berkeley 11th in the country. The 2013 Top American Research Universities report by the Center for Measuring University Performance ranked Berkeley 8th over-all, 5th in resources, faculty, and education, 9th in resources and education, and 1st in education. Berkeley was listed as a "Public Ivy" in Richard Mull's 1985 Public Ivies.[89]

Campus[edit]
Main article: Campus of the University of California, Berkeley
The Berkeley campus encompasses approximately 1,232 acres (499 ha), though the "central campus" occupies only the low-lying western 178 acres (72 ha) of this area. Of the remaining acres, approximately 200 acres (81 ha) are occupied by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; other facilities above the main campus include the Lawrence Hall of Science and several research units, notably the Space Sciences Laboratory, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, an undeveloped 800-acre (320 ha) ecological preserve, the University of California Botanical Garden and a recreation center in Strawberry Canyon. Portions of the mostly undeveloped, eastern area of the campus are actually within the City of Oakland; these portions extend from the Claremont Resort north through the Panoramic Hill neighborhood to Tilden Park.

To the west of the central campus is the downtown business district of Berkeley; to the northwest is the neighborhood of North Berkeley, including the so-called Gourmet Ghetto, a commercial district known for high quality dining due to the presence of such world-renowned restaurants as Chez Panisse. Immediately to the north is a quiet residential neighborhood known as North-side with a large graduate student population; situated north of that are the upscale residential neighborhoods of the Berkeley Hills. Immediately southeast of campus lies fraternity row, and beyond that the Clark Kerr Campus and an upscale residential area named Claremont. The area south of the university includes student housing and Telegraph Avenue, one of Berkeley's main shopping districts with stores, street vendors and restaurants catering to college students and tourists. In addition, the University also owns land to the northwest of the main campus, a 90-acre (36 ha) married student housing complex in the nearby town of Albany ("Albany Village" and the "Gill Tract"), and a field research station several miles to the north in Richmond, California.

The campus is home to several museums including the University of California Museum of Paleontology, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Lawrence Hall of Science. The Museum of Paleontology, found in the lobby of the Valley Life Sciences Building, showcases a variety of dinosaur fossils including a complete cast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Outside of the Bay Area, the University owns various research laboratories and research forests in both northern and southern Sierra Nevada.


360-degree-view of the UC Berkeley campus
Architecture[edit]

South Hall (1873), one of the two original buildings of the University of California, still stands on the Berkeley campus
What is considered the historic campus today was the result of the 1898 "International Competition for the Phoebe Hearst Architectural Plan for the University of California," funded by William Randolph Hearst's mother and initially held in the Belgian city of Antwerp; eleven finalists were judged again in San Francisco in 1899.[92] The winner was Frenchman Émile Bénard, however he refused to personally supervise the implementation of his plan and the task was subsequently given to architecture professor John Galen Howard. Howard designed over twenty buildings, which set the tone for the campus up until its expansion in the 1950s and 1960s. The structures forming the "classical core" of the campus were built in the Beaux-Arts Classical style, and include Hearst Greek Theatre, Hearst Memorial Mining Building, Doe Memorial Library, California Hall, Wheeler Hall, (Old) Le Conte Hall, Gilman Hall, Haviland Hall, Wellman Hall, Sather Gate, and the 307-foot (94 m) Sather Tower (nicknamed "the Campanile" after its architectural inspiration, St Mark's Campanile in Venice). Buildings he regarded as temporary, nonacademic, or not particularly "serious" were designed in shingle or Collegiate Gothic styles; examples of these are North Gate Hall, Dwinelle Annex, and Stephens Hall. Many of Howard's designs are recognized California Historical Landmarks[93] and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Built in 1873 in a Victorian Second-Empire-style, South Hall is the oldest university building in California. It, and the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Piedmont Avenue east of the main campus, are the only remnants from the original University of California before John Galen Howard's buildings were constructed. Other architects whose work can be found in the campus and surrounding area are Bernard Maybeck[94] (best known for the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco), Maybeck's student Julia Morgan (Hearst Women's Gymnasium), Charles Willard Moore (Haas School of Business) and Joseph Esherick (Wurster Hall).

Natural features[edit]

The south fork of Strawberry Creek, as seen between Dwinelle Hall and Lower Sproul Plaza.
Flowing into the main campus are two branches of Strawberry Creek. The south fork enters a culvert upstream of the recreational complex at the mouth of Strawberry Canyon and passes beneath California Memorial Stadium before appearing again in Faculty Glade. It then runs through the center of the campus before disappearing underground at the west end of campus. The north fork appears just east of University House and runs through the glade north of the Valley Life Sciences Building, the original site of the Campus Arboretum.

Trees in the area date from the founding of the University in the 1870s. The campus, itself, contains numerous wooded areas; including: Founders' Rock, Faculty Glade, Grinnell Natural Area, and the Eucalyptus Grove, which is both the tallest stand of such trees in the world and the tallest stand of hardwood trees in North America.

The campus sits on the Hayward Fault, which runs directly through California Memorial Stadium. There is ongoing construction to retrofit the stadium. The "treesit" protest revolved around the controversy of clearing away trees by the stadium to build the new Student Athlete High Performance Center. As the stadium sits directly on the fault, this raised campus concerns of the safety of student athletes in the event of an earthquake as they train in facilities under the stadium stands.

Environmental record[edit]
Two committees and the Office of Sustainability and Energy at UC Berkeley work formally to implement sustainability initiatives on campus. The university encourages green purchasing when possible including installing energy-efficient technologies around campus such as steam trap systems and economizers.[98] UC Berkeley has a green building policy. Two buildings on campus are LEED certified, and six others meet LEED standards. Multiple building spaces have been re purposed for alternative use, and almost all waste from construction projects is diverted from landfills. Water conservation technologies have been installed across campus, and the university employs a variety of techniques to manage storm water.[98] UC Berkeley heats, cools, and powers its lab equipment utilizing power from an on-campus natural gas plant.[99] UC Berkeley's efforts toward sustainability earned the school a B on the College Sustainability Report Card; overall, the school's grades within the sections were high—it earned A's in the majority of the Report Card.

Organization and administration[edit]
The University of California is governed by a 26-member Board of Regents, 18 of which are appointed by the Governor of California to 12-year terms, 7 serving as ex officio members, a single student regent and a non-voting student regent-designate.The position of Chancellor was created in 1952 to lead individual campuses. The Board appointed Nicholas Dirks the 10th Chancellor of the university in 2013 after Robert J. Birgeneau, originally appointed in 2004, announced his resignation. 12 vice chancellors report directly to the Chancellor. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost serves as the chief academic officer and is the office to which the deans of the 14 colleges and schools report.


Haas School of Business
The 2006–07 budget totaled $1.7 billion; 33% came from the State of California. In 2006–07, 7,850 donors contributed $267.9 million and the endowment was valued at $2.89 billion.

UC Berkeley employs 24,700 people directly and employees are permitted to unionize and are represented by AFSCME, California Nurses Association (CNA), CUE-Teamsters Local 2010 (formerly the Coalition of University Employees (CUE)), UAW, UC-AFT, and UPTE.

University finances[edit]
See also: University of California finances
UC Berkeley receives funding from a variety of sources, including federal and state authorities, and private donors. With the exception of government contracts, public money is proportioned to UC Berkeley and the other 9 universities of the University of California system through the UC Office of the President.

State funding has, historically, been very high at the University of California. In 1987, the state provided 54% of the UC Berkeley's budget. However, due in part to the 2008–11 California budget crisis, recent educational appropriations to the university have seen a significant decline. State educational appropriations such as general support given in the state's annual budget, and appropriations given to the state through the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) dropped $37M in 2010–11 from the previous calendar year. In 2013, state general support dropped to 12% of the university's total revenues. State budget shortfalls as well as rising costs in pensions have been cited by the university as two of the leading reasons for its current financial woes. In response to revenue shortfalls, the UC Regents have raised tuition, and the university is trying to increase the number of non-resident undergraduates, who will pay the more costly out-of-state tuition. Nearly one-third of revenues from tuition and other student fees are returned to students as scholarships and fellowships.

Cal has controversially borrowed $445 million to fund the $321 million renovation of seismically unsafe Memorial Stadium and construction of a new $153 million student athletic center, both of which opened in 2012. (See Athletics section for additional details).

In 2014, Cal presented a plan to the Board of Regents that would create a venture capital fund that would fund student and faculty startups.

Financial aid and scholarship programs[edit]
See also: Student financial aid in the United States
Students and prospective students of UC Berkeley are eligible for a variety of public and private financial aid. Most[weasel words] financial aid inquiries are processed through the UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. Some graduate schools, such as the Haas School of Business and UC Berkeley School of Law have their own financial aid offices.

Admissions and enrollment[edit]
Fall Freshman Profile
  2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010
Applicants
78,863
73,771
67,691
61,702
52,953
50,372
Admits
13,332
12,795
14,101
13,038
13,523
12,914
Admit rate
16.9%
17.3%
20.8%
21.1%
25.5%
25.6%
Enrolled
N/A
5,909
5,979
5,365
5,640
5,247
SAT range

N/A
1840-2230
1870-2240
1840-2240
1870-2230
1840-2230
ACT range

N/A
28-33
27-33
27-33
28-33
27-33
GPA (unweighted)

N/A
3.85
3.86
3.84
3.83
3.84
The Freshman Fall 2015 undergraduate acceptance rate at Berkeley was 16.9%. For Fall 2014, Berkeley enrolled 27,126 undergraduate and 10,455 graduate students, with women making up 52.1% of undergraduate enrollments and 45.2% graduate and professional students.California residents comprise 79% of Fall 2012 undergraduates and 40% of Fall 2013 graduate and professional students.

Of the Fall 2011 cohort, 97% of freshmen enrolled the next year. The four-year graduation rate for the Fall 2007 cohort was 61%, and the six-year rate was 88%. Enrolled freshman for the fall of 2014 had an average fully weighted high school GPA of 4.39 and an average unweighted GPA of 3.85. Fall 2014 admitted freshman applicants had an average ACT Composite score of 32–33, and average combined SAT scores of 2124 for in-state admits and 2171 for out-of-state admits.Berkeley's enrollment of National Merit Scholars was third in the nation until 2002, when participation in the National Merit program was discontinued.31% of admitted students receive federal Pell grants.

Demographics of student body (Fall 2014)[3][128]
Undergraduate Graduate California U.S. Census
Black 3.3% 3.7% 6.6% 13.1%
Asian 38.9% 17.9% 13.9% 5.1%
Non-Hispanic White 26.6% 38.8% 39.4% 63.0%
Hispanic (of any race) 13.5% 6.8% 38.2% 16.9%
Native American 0.7% 0.9% 1.7% 1.2%
International 13.5% 22.4% N/A N/A
Other/Unknown 3.5% 9.5% 4.1% 2.6%
Student life and traditions[edit]

Sather gate and Sather tower (the Campanile) from Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus
The official university mascot is Oski the Bear, who debuted in 1941. Previously, live bear cubs were used as mascots at Memorial Stadium. It was decided in 1940 that a costumed mascot would be a better alternative to a live bear. Named after the Oski-wow-wow yell, he is cared for by the Oski Committee, whose members have exclusive knowledge of the identity of the costume-wearer.

The University of California Marching Band, which has served the university since 1891, performs at every home football game and at select road games as well. A smaller subset of the Cal Band, the Straw Hat Band, performs at basketball games, volleyball games, and other campus and community events.

The UC Rally Committee, formed in 1901, is the official guardian of California's Spirit and Traditions. Wearing their traditional blue and gold rugbies, Rally Committee members can be seen at all major sporting and spirit events. Committee members are charged with the maintenance of the five Cal flags, the large California banner overhanging the Memorial Stadium Student Section and Haas Pavilion, the California Victory Cannon, Card Stunts and The Big "C" among other duties. The Rally Committee is also responsible for safekeeping of the Stanford Axe when it is in Cal's possession. The Chairman of the Rally Committee holds the title "Custodian of the Axe" while it is in the Committee's care.

Overlooking the main Berkeley campus from the foothills in the east, The Big "C" is an important symbol of California school spirit. The Big "C" has its roots in an early 20th-century campus event called "Rush," which pitted the freshman and sophomore classes against each other in a race up Charter Hill that often developed into a wrestling match. It was eventually decided to discontinue Rush and, in 1905, the freshman and sophomore classes banded together in a show of unity to build the Big "C".Owing to its prominent position, the Big "C" is often the target of pranks by rival Stanford University students who paint the Big "C" red and also fraternities and sororities who paint it their organization's colors. One of the Rally Committee's functions is to repaint the Big "C" to its traditional color of King Alfred Yellow.

Cal students invented the college football tradition of card stunts. Then known as Bleacher Stunts, they were first performed during the 1910 Big Game and consisted of two stunts: a picture of the Stanford Axe and a large blue "C" on a white background. The tradition continues today in the Cal student section and incorporates complicated motions, for example tracing the Cal script logo on a blue background with an imaginary yellow pen.

The California Victory Cannon, placed on Tightwad Hill overlooking the stadium, is fired before every football home game, after every score, and after every Cal victory. First used in the 1963 Big Game, it was originally placed on the sidelines before moving to Tightwad Hill in 1971. The only time the cannon ran out of ammunition was during a game against Pacific in 1991, when Cal scored 12 touchdowns.

Other traditions have included events that span only a few years. William (or Willie) the Polka Dot Man was a performance artist who frequented Sproul Plaza during the late 1970s and early 1980s.[135] The Naked Guy (now deceased)[136] and Larry the Drummer, who performed Batman tunes, appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[135]

A few current traditions include streaking during finals week in the Main Stacks, the Happy Happy Man, and Stoney Burke.

Student housing[edit]
Students at UC Berkeley live in a variety of housing that cater to personal and academic preferences and styles. The university offers two years of guaranteed housing for entering freshmen, and one year for entering transfer students. The immediately surrounding community offers apartments, Greek (fraternity and sorority) housing and cooperative housing, twenty of which are houses that are members of the Berkeley Student Cooperative.

University housing
Main article: Housing at the University of California, Berkeley

Cunningham Hall and Towle Hall, part of the Unit 2 residence hall complex
The university runs twelve different residence halls, ranging from undergraduate residence halls (both themed and non-themed) and family student housing, to re-entry student housing and optional international student housing at the International House. Undergraduate residence halls are located off-campus in the city of Berkeley. Units 1, 2 and 3, located on the south side of campus, offer high-rise accommodations with common areas on every other floor. Units 1 and 2 share a common dining hall, called Crossroads. The oldest unit, Unit 3, is the oldest of the three and has its own dining hall on the bottom floor called Cafe 3. Further away and also on the south side of campus is Clark Kerr, an undergraduate residence hall complex that houses many student athletes and was once a school for the deaf and blind.


Bowles Hall at the 2003 Homecoming and Parents Weekend
In the foothills east of the central campus, there are three additional undergraduate residence hall complexes: Foothill, Stern, and Bowles. Foothill is a co-ed suite-style hall reminiscent of a Swiss chalet. According to the Chancellor, it is considered one of the best residence halls at UC Berkeley. Just south of Foothill, overlooking the Hearst Greek Theatre, is the all-women's traditional-style Stern Hall, which boasts an original mural by Diego Rivera. Because of their proximity to the College of Engineering and College of Chemistry, these residence halls often house science and engineering majors. They tend to be quieter than the southside complexes, but because of their location next to the theatre, often get free glimpses of concerts. Bowles Hall, the oldest state-owned residence hall in California, is located immediately north of California Memorial Stadium. Dedicated in 1929 and on the National Register of Historic Places, this all-men's residence hall has large quad-occupancy rooms and has the appearance of a castle.

The Channing-Bowditch and Ida Jackson apartments are intended for older students.[138][139] Family student housing consists of two main groups of housing: University Village and Smyth-Fernwald. University Village is located 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of campus in Albany, California, and Smyth-Fernwald near the Clark Kerr campus.