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University of California, Berkeley

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University of California, Berkeley
Seal of UC Berkeley (Trademark of UC Regents)
MottoFiat lux (Let There Be Light)
TypeFlagship State University
EstablishedMarch 23, 1868
Endowment2.23 billion (2005)
ChancellorRobert Birgeneau
Academic staff
1,950
Undergraduates22,144
Postgraduates8,125
Location
Berkeley
,
California
CampusUrban, 1,232 acres (5 km²)
MascotGolden Bears
(mascot: Oski)
Websitewww.berkeley.edu
File:Ucb campanile GG.jpg

The University of California, Berkeley (also known as the University of California at Berkeley, UC Berkeley, Cal, California, or Berkeley) is the oldest and flagship campus of the ten-campus University of California system. Many people refer to the University as "Cal", although this nickname is typically used with reference to sporting activities. Founded in 1868, the campus is located in Berkeley, California, occupying about 200 acres on a wooded slope, plus an additional 1000 acres (4 km²) covering the steeply sloping Berkeley Hills overlooking San Francisco Bay.

Berkeley's academic programs have been considered among the best in the world since the end of World War II, and surveys such as those by the National Research Council and the American Council on Education have praised the university for its broad range of academic strengths, not just in mathematics, science and engineering, but in the arts, humanities and social sciences as well.

Berkeley physicists played a key role in developing the atomic bomb during WWII and the hydrogen bomb soon afterwards, and the University has managed the nation's two principal nuclear weapons labs (now also used for more peaceful research) at Livermore and Los Alamos ever since. Berkeley scientists invented the cyclotron, discovered the anti-proton, played a key role in developing the laser, explained the processes underlying photosynthesis, discovered plutonium, isolated the polio virus, designed experiments that confirmed Bell's Theorem, and discovered numerous elements, including Plutonium, Berkelium, Lawrencium and Californium. But Berkeley faculty have a no less distinguished record in fields outside the sciences as well.

Berkeley still enjoys a certain notoriety for its history of student activism. The Free Speech Movement (1964), a protest that began when the university tried to remove political pamphleteers from campus[1], and the People's Park riots (1969) were part of a wave of international student protest that took place during the 1960s, associated with an accompanying "hippie" counterculture. For all of its student activism and rebellious history, however, the Berkeley campus is remarkably serene, with numerous quiet, green areas on campus and many architecturally distinguished buildings.

History

File:Berkeley1940.jpeg
U.C. Berkeley campus circa 1940

In 1866, the land which is now the Berkeley campus was purchased by the private College of California (established by Congregational minister Henry Durant in 1855). Lacking sufficient funds to operate, the College of California merged with state-run Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College, forming the University of California on March 23, 1868. Durant was the first president. In 1869, the university opened in Oakland using the former College of California's buildings.[2] In 1873, with the completion of North and South Halls, the university relocated to its current location with 167 male and 222 female students. [3]

The university came of age under the direction of Benjamin Ide Wheeler, who was University President from 1899 to 1919. Its reputation grew as President Wheeler succeeded in attracting renowned faculty to the campus and procuring research and scholarship funds.[2] The campus began to take on the look of a contemporary university with Beaux-Arts and neoclassical buildings designed by architect John Galen Howard.[4] These buildings form the core of UC Berkeley's present campus architecture.

Robert Gordon Sproul assumed the presidency in 1930 and, during his tenure of 28 years, UC Berkeley gained international recognition as a major research university. Prior to taking office, Sproul took a six month tour of other universities and colleges to study their educational and administrative methods as well as to establish connections through which he could draw talented faculty to the campus in the future.[5]

In spite of funding cutbacks caused by the Great Depression and World War II, Sproul maintained academic and research excellence by campaigning for private funds. By 1942, the American Council on Education ranked UC Berkeley second only to Harvard University in the number of distinguished departments.[6]

During World War II, Ernest Orlando Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory in the hills above Berkeley began to contract with the U.S. Army to develop the atomic bomb, based on Berkeley's cutting-edge research in nuclear physics (including Glenn Seaborg's then-secret discovery of plutonium). Physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer was named scientific head of the Manhattan Project in 1942.[7] [8] Room 307 of Gilman Hall, where Seaborg discovered plutonium, is now a National Historic Landmark. Two other University of California-managed labs, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, were also established during this period, in 1943 and 1952, respectively.

During the McCarthy era in 1949, the Board of Regents adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath to be signed by all University of California employees. A number of faculty members objected to the oath requirement and were dismissed.[9] They were reinstated with back pay ten years later. [10] One of them, Edward C. Tolman—the noted comparative psychologist—now has a building on campus named after him housing the departments of psychology and education. An oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic” is still required of all UC employees. [11][12]

In 1952 the University of California became an entity separate from the Berkeley campus as part of a major restructuring of the UC system. Each campus was given relative autonomy and its own Chancellor. Sproul assumed the presidency of the entire University of California system, and Clark Kerr became the first Chancellor of UC Berkeley.[13]

The University's academic achievements were partly upstaged by its student activism during the Free Speech Movement in 1964 [14] UC Regent Edwin Pauley turned to CIA Director John McCone and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover for assistance, and FBI files were revealed to him to discredit UC Chancellor Clark Kerr and others. (This information was not confirmed until 2002, after a 17-year FOIA legal battle.)[15] Student protests continued into the early 1970s, with some more violent in tone than those of the Free Speech Movement. In 1969, a group of Berkeley students claimed an empty lot that the University was going to convert into a dormitory as "People's Park". California governor Ronald Reagan -- who had said in his gubernatorial election campaign that he would "clean up the mess" at Berkeley, and who managed to get Chancellor Clark Kerr fired weeks after he took office because Kerr refused to crack down on the Free Speech Movement -- called in National Guard troops. The University eventually gave in to the protestors, but not until over a dozen people were hospitalized, a police officer stabbed, and one student killed.[16]

Memorial Glade, at the center of the Berkeley campus.

Today, students at UC Berkeley are less politically active and liberal than their predecessors and have opinions similar to students at most other American universities. [17] More students at UC Berkeley are identifying themselves as "moderate" or "conservative" than in the past decades.

Campus architecture and architects

Main article: University of California, Berkeley Campus Architecture

The campus is approximately 1,232 acres (5 km²) in its entirety, though the main campus is on the western 178 acres (0.7 km²). The campus is bordered on the west by Downtown Berkeley, on the north by older neighborhoods, and on the east by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Berkeley Hills. The south campus area includes student housing and Telegraph Avenue, a raffish shopping strip that was heavily populated by "street people" during the 1990s.

The campus is divided by two branches of Strawberry Creek. The south fork appears by the Haas School of Business and runs along the edge of the campus core 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 also contains numerous wooded areas including Founders' Rock, Faculty Glade, Grinnell Natural Area, and the Eucalyptus Grove, said to be the tallest stand of hardwood trees in North America.

View of the Berkeley Campus from the Big C on the foothills to the east

Several research units overlook the campus from the rugged eastern foothills, notably the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Space Sciences Laboratory, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, and the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Residential halls and administrative buildings dot the city of Berkeley, mostly south of the main campus.

The campus and surrounding community are home to a number of buildings designed by early 20th-century campus architect John Galen Howard, his peer Bernard Maybeck (best known for the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco), and Maybeck's student Julia Morgan. Later buildings were designed by architects such as Charles Willard Moore (Haas School of Business) and Joseph Esherick (Wurster Hall).

File:South Hall.jpg
Built in 1873, South Hall is one of the few original buildings still standing on the Berkeley campus

Very little of the original University of California (c. 1868–1903) remains, with the Victorian Second Empire-style South Hall and Piedmont Avenue (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted) being notable exceptions.

Built in 1873, South Hall is the oldest university building in California. What is considered the historic campus today was the eventual 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, 1899).[18]

Much of the older campus is built in the Beaux-Arts Classical style, today referred to as the “classical core” of the campus.

Howard designed over twenty buildings, which set the tone for the campus up until its expansion in the 1950s and 1960s. These included the Hearst Greek Theatre, the 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 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, such as North Gate Hall, Dwinelle Annex, and Stephens Hall.

Many of these and other campus buildings are recognized California Historical Landmarks and are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[19]

Organization

Chancellors

The position of Chancellor was created in 1952 during the reorganization and expansion of the University of California; there have since been nine inaugurated chancellors (one was acting chancellor):

  1. Clark Kerr (1952–58)
  2. Glenn T. Seaborg (1958–61)
  3. Edward W. Strong (1961–65)
  4. Martin E. Meyerson (1965, acting)
  5. Roger W. Heyns (1965–71)
  6. Albert H. Bowker (1971–80)
  7. Ira Michael Heyman (1980–90)
  8. Chang-Lin Tien (1990–97)
  9. Robert M. Berdahl (1997–2004)
  10. Robert J. Birgeneau (2004–-present)

Colleges and schools

Haas School of Business

Berkeley's 130-plus academic departments and programs are organized into 14 colleges and schools. ("Colleges" are both undergraduate and graduate, while "Schools" are graduate-only, the exception being the School of Business.):

Labor unions representing U.C. Berkeley employees

  • UPTE University Professional and Technical Employees - health care, technical and research workers
  • CUE Coalition of University Employees - clericals
  • UC-AFT University Council-American Federation of Teachers - faculty and librarians
  • UAW United Auto Workers - Academic student employees
  • AFSCME American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees- service workers and patient care technical employees.
  • CNA California Nurses Association - Nurses
Berkeley has had 19 Nobel Laureates on its faculty and 54 affiliated with the university

Academics

Berkeley is an exceptionally comprehensive university, offering over 7,000 courses in nearly 300 degree programs. The university awards over 5,500 bachelor's degrees, 2,000 master's degrees, 900 doctorates, and 200 law degrees each year. The student-faculty ratio is 15.5 to 1, among the lowest of any major public university, and the average class consists of 30 students (not including discussion sections led by graduate student instructors). However, introductory classes consisting of hundreds of students are not unusual, and some Berkeley professors are criticized for being more interested in research than in undergraduate teaching.

Berkeley's faculty includes 221 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows, 83 Fulbright Scholars, 139 Guggenheim Fellows, 87 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 132 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 6 Nobel Prize winners, 3 Pulitzer Prize winners, 84 Sloan Fellows, and 7 Wolf Prize winners.[20]. 58 Nobel Laureates are associated with the university, the sixth most of any university in the world. Nineteen have served on its faculty. (see list of distinguished Berkeley faculty)

Berkeley has graduated more students who go on to earn doctorates than any other university in the United States, and its enrollment of National Merit Scholars was third in the nation until 2002, when participation in the National Merit program was discontinued.[21] Berkeley's acceptance rate to medical school of 63.4% is among highest of all public universities.[22]

Campus Enrollment

The following statistics are calculated from the Fall 2004 enrollment and were released by the University of California system (the 2005 statistics will be released Fall 2006):

  • Total Enrollment: 30,269
  • Undergraduate Enrollment: 22,144
Women: 12,019
Men: 10,125
  • Graduate Enrollment: 8,125
  • Undergraduates by Ethnicity:
African American: 3.8%
American Indian: .6%
Asian/Pacific Islander: 38.8%
Chicano/Latino: 10.9%
White: 31.5%
Other: 5.3%
Not Stated: 9.1%
  • Undergraduates Living on Campus: 34%

Rankings

According to the National Research Council, Berkeley ranks first nationally in the number of graduate programs in the top ten in their fields (97%, 35 of 36 programs) and first nationally in the number of "distinguished" programs for the scholarship of the faculty (32 programs).[23] Berkeley is the only university in the nation to have all of its Ph.D programs ranked in the top five by US News and World Report. US News also consistently ranks Berkeley as the nation’s top public university and within the top three for both Undergraduate Business and Undergraduate Engineering.

The World Universities Rankings performed in 2004 by the The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked Berkeley second in the world [1], and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute for Higher Education ranked Berkeley fourth in the world [2]. Those rankings were based upon alumni and faculty quality defined by academic reputation, as well as awards won, papers published, international presence, student to faculty ratio, frequency of citation by peers, and performance relative to size.

Admissions

Main article: University of California, Berkeley Student Admissions

UC Berkeley is perennially the most selective school in the UC system and one of the most selective universities in the United States. In 2006, Berkeley admitted 9,836 freshmen from an application pool of just under 42,000 applicants, an acceptance rate of 23.5%. The average person admitted to the university as a freshman in 2005 had a weighted GPA of 4.33, and those who matriculated had an average GPA of 4.25 [3] and average score of 1359 (94th Percentile) on the SAT admissions test. 99% of Berkeley's freshman graduated from the top 10% of their high school class [4].

Graduate admissions vary by department, although in 2005 the university's graduate program admitted 3,444 students from a pool of 18,333 applicants, an overall acceptance rate of 18.3%.[24]

The north side of Doe Library with Memorial Glade in the foreground.

Library system

Main article: University of California, Berkeley Library System

Berkeley’s 32 libraries together make up the fifth largest academic library in the United States, surpassed only by the Library of Congress, Harvard, Yale, and the University of Illinois. 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.[25]As of 2006, Berkeley’s library system contains over 10 million volumes and maintains over 70,000 serial titles.[26] The libraries together cover over 12 acres of land and comprise one of the largest library complexes in the world.[27] Doe Library serves as the library system's reference, periodical, and administrative center, while most of the main collections are now housed in the subterranean Gardner Main Stacks and Moffitt Undergraduate Library.

Contributions to computer science

Unix, filiation on Unix systems

UC Berkeley has nurtured a number of key technologies associated with the early development of the Internet and the Open Source Software movement. The original Berkeley Software Distribution, commonly known as BSD Unix, was assembled in 1977 by Bill Joy, a graduate student in the computer science department. Joy also developed the original version of vi. PostgreSQL emerged from faculty research begun in the late 1970s. Sendmail was developed at Berkeley in 1981. BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain package) was written by a team of graduate students around the same time period. The Tcl programming language and the Tk GUI toolkit were developed by faculty member John Ousterhout in 1988. SPICE and espresso, popular tools for IC Designers, were invented at Berkeley under the direction of Professor Donald Pederson. The RAID and RISC technologies were both developed at Berkeley under David Patterson.

Perhaps the most influential contributions to computing from UC Berkeley have been the algorithms and analysis of floating-point arithmetic, led by Professor William Kahan. They include extensive and ongoing contributions to the IEEE 754 standard.

The XCF, an undergraduate research group located in Soda Hall, has been responsible for a number of notable software projects, including GTK+, The GIMP, and the initial diagnosis of the Morris worm. In 1992 Pei-Yuan Wei, an undergraduate at the XCF, created ViolaWWW, one of the first graphical web browsers. ViolaWWW was the first browser to have embedded scriptable objects, stylesheets, and tables. In the spirit of Open Source, he donated the code to Sun Microsystems, inspiring Java applets. ViolaWWW would also inspire researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to create the Mosaic web browser.

File:Setiathome.jpg
Screenshot of SETI at Home scientific research project

SETI@home was one of the first widely disseminated distributed computing projects, allowing hobbyists and enthusiasts to participate in scientific research by donating unused computer processor cycles in the form of a screen saver.

In an interesting example of the confluence of disparate ideas, many of the arguments for the efficacy of Open Source software development, and of the Wikipedia project itself, find parallels in writings on urban planning and architecture published in the late 1970s by Christopher Alexander, a Berkeley professor of architecture. At the same time, John Searle, a Berkeley professor of philosophy, introduced a critique of artificial intelligence using the metaphor of a Chinese Room.

Berkeley has established partnerships with Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, Google, and Microsoft. Yahoo! Research Berkeley Labs will focus on mobile media technology and social media in a facility adjacent to the campus. Sun Microsystems, Google, and Microsoft are funding a $7.5 million dollar Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems Laboratory to develop more reliable computing systems.

List of research projects conducted at Berkeley:

See also:

Distinguished Berkeley people

Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nineteen past and present faculty, among the 58 Nobel laureates associated with the university.

Student life

Rally Committee running Cal flags across the Memorial Stadium field at the 2002 Big Game. (Note the Stanford visitors section on the left and the UC Berkeley alumni section on the right.)

Athletics and traditions

File:Cal-logo.gif
Cal Logo
Main article: California Golden Bears

UC Berkeley's sports teams compete in intercollegiate athletics as the California Golden Bears. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A as a member of the Pacific Ten Conference. The official school colors, established in 1873 by a committee of students, are Yale Blue and California Gold.[28] Yale Blue was chosen because many of the university's founders were Yale University graduates, while California Gold was selected to represent the Golden State of California. "Cal" has a long history of excellence in athletics, having won national titles in football, men's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's crew, men's gymnastics, men's tennis, men's and women's swimming, men's water polo, men's track, and rugby. In addition, Cal athletes have won numerous individual NCAA titles in track, gymnastics, swimming and tennis.

The official university mascot is Oski the Bear, who first 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, who have exclusive knowledge of the identity of the costume-wearer.[29]

The Golden Bears' greatest rivalry is with the Stanford Cardinal. The most anticipated sporting event between the two universities is the annual football game dubbed the Big Game, and it is celebrated with spirit events on both campuses. Since 1933, the winner of the Big Game has been awarded custody of the Stanford Axe. One of the most famous moments in Big Game history occurred during the 85th Big Game on November 20, 1982. In what has become known simply as The Play, Cal scored the winning touchdown in the final seconds with a kickoff return that involved a series of laterals and the Stanford marching band rushing onto the field.

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 events that are less suitable for the full band: basketball games, volleyball games, and other campus and community events.[30]

File:Haaspav.jpg
Haas Pavilion -- Home of Cal Basketball and other indoor sports

The university has a Rally Committee, formed in 1901, whose members serve as the official guardians of Cal Spirit. Wearing their traditional blue and gold rugbies, RallyComm can be seen at all major sporting and spirit events. RallyComm members are charged with the maintenance of the five Cal flags, the large California banner overhanging the Memorial Stadium student section, the California Victory Cannon, and the Big C. The Rally Committee is also responsible for safekeeping of the Stanford Axe when it is in California's possession.[31]

Overlooking the main Berkeley campus from the foothills in the east, the Big C is an indelible 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 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. [32] 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. One of the Rally Committee's functions is to repaint the Big C to its previous color (usually gold) if such a prank is pulled.

Cal students invented the college football tradition of card stunts. They were first performed during the 1910 Big Game and consisted of two stunts in total: 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 pen.[33]

The California Victory Cannon, placed on Tightwad Hill overlooking the stadium, is fired before every football home game, after every score, and after a Cal win. 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 the Pacific in 1991, when Cal scored 12 touchdowns.[34]

As of June, California is in ninth place (.75 points behind USC) in the NACDA Director's Cup standings (Formerly the Sears Cup), which measures the best overall collegiate athletic programs in the country, with points awarded for national finishes in NCAA sports. If Cal holds on or moves up, it will be their 3rd top-10 finish in the last 4 years.


Cal National Champions

  • Baseball

2 College World Series championships (1947, '57)

  • Men's Basketball

1 NCAA Championship (1959) 1 NIT Championship (1999)

  • Men's Crew

15 national championships (1928, '32, '34-35, '39, '49, '60-61, '64, '76, '99-02, '06)

  • Women's Crew

2 national championships (1980, 2005)

  • Football

2 national championships (1920, '37)

  • Men's Golf

1 NCAA Championship (2004)

  • Men's Gymnastics

4 team NCAA championships (1968, '75, '97-98) 21 individual NCAA champions

  • Men's Lacrosse

1 USLIA MD1A national championship (1998)

  • Rugby

22 national championships (1980-83, '85-86, '88, '91-02, 2004-06)

  • Softball

1 NCAA championship (2002)

  • Men's Swimming

2 team NCAA championships (1979, '80) 42 individual NCAA champions 12 NCAA relay championships

  • Women's Swimming

21 individual NCAA champions 2 NCAA relay championships

  • Men's Tennis

1 NCAA championship (1925) 2 NCAA singles champions (1925, '26) 9 NCAA doubles championships (1925, '26, '30, '35, '37, '39, '52, '90, '91)

  • Women's Tennis

4 NCAA doubles championships (1998-00) 1 NCAA singles champion (2006)

  • Men's Track & Field

1 NCAA team championship (1922) 30 individual NCAA champions

  • Women's Track & Field

4 individual NCAA champions

  • Men's Water Polo

11 NCAA championships (1973-75, '77, '83-84, '87-88, '90-92)

Total NCAA Team Championships 66

Student housing

Main article: UC Berkeley student housing
File:Wada hall.jpg
The neo-brutalist Wada Hall, part of the Unit 2 dormitory complex.

UC Berkeley's student housing accommodates a variety of personal and academic preferences and styles. Presently, the university offers two years of guaranteed housing for entering freshmen, and the immediately surrounding community offers apartments, Greek (fraternity and sorority) housing, and Co-ops.

There are four dormitory complexes south of campus in the City of Berkeley: Units 1, 2, 3, and Clark Kerr. Units 1, 2 and 3 offer high-rise accommodations with common areas on each floor. Dining commons and other central facilities are shared by the high-rises. Because of their communal design and location in the city, these dormitories tend to be the more social of the housing options. Units 1 and 2 also have many of the newest dormitory buildings, which are intended for continuing and transfer students.[35] Just outside these complexes are the Channing-Bowditch and Ida Jackson apartments, also intended for older students.[36][37] Farther away from campus is Clark Kerr, a dormitory complex that houses many student athletes and was once a school for the deaf and blind. This complex is considered the most spacious and luxurious accommodation south of campus.

In the foothills east of the central campus there are three additional dormitory complexes: Foothill, Stern, and Bowles.

Bowles Hall, as seen at the 2003 Homecoming and Parents Weekend

Foothill is a co-ed suite-style dorm reminiscent of a Swiss chalet. Just south of Foothill, overlooking the Hearst Greek Theatre, is the all-girls 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 dorms 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 dormitory in California, is located immediately north of California Memorial Stadium. Dedicated in 1929 and on the National Registry of Historic Places, this all-men’s dormitory has large quad-occupancy rooms and looks like a castle. This dorm is not unlike a fraternity, with many of its residents staying all four years. However, in 2005 the university decided to limit Bowles to freshmen because of complaints that it had become too raucous and was jeopardizing the learning environment.[38] Bowles houses what was once ranked one of Playboy Magazine's top-10 college parties during Halloween, although the university has cracked down on this activity. Currently, the residence is being courted by the Haas School of Business to become housing for scholars and business professionals who visit Berkeley.[39] There is a great deal of opposition to this plan, and no final decisions have been made.

Student groups

UC Berkeley has over 700 established student groups.

UC Berkeley has a reputation for student activism, stemming from the 1960s and the Free Speech Movement. Today, Berkeley is known as a lively campus with activism in many forms, from email petitions, presentations on Sproul Plaza and volunteering, to the occasional protest. Berkeley sends the most students to the Peace Corps of any university in the nation.[40]

The IDEAL Scholars Fund was established by four alumni to increase the number of qualified, underrepresented students of color at UC Berkeley. The Fund tries to counter the effects of California Proposition 209, which ended Affirmative Action in California and in the University of California system. The consequent reduction in the numbers of Latino, African American and Native American students rekindled activism on campus concerning issues of race. Racial preferences remain a controversial topic, with some students supporting them while others are opposed.

The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) is the student government organization that controls funding for student groups and organizes on-campus student events. It is considered one of the most autonomous student governments at any public university in the U.S.

UC Berkeley's independent student-run newspaper is the Daily Californian. Founded in 1871, The Daily Cal became independent in 1971 after the campus administration fired three senior editors for encouraging readers to take back People's Park.

Berkeley's FM radio station, KALX, broadcasts on 90.7 MHz. It is run largely by volunteers, including both students and community members.

Democratic Education at Cal, or DeCal, is a program that promotes the creation of professor-sponsored, student-facilitated classes through the Special Studies 98/198 program. DeCal arose out of the 1960's Free Speech movement and was officially established in 1981. Today it sponsors an eclectic group of over one hundred classes with subjects ranging from "The Simpsons and Philosophy", "Conspiracy Theories", and "Political Debate" to "Intro to DJing." [5]

Greek Life

Sororities

Fraternities

References in pop culture

See also: List of University of California Berkeley alumni: Fictional

Notes

  1. ^ Free Speech Movement Digital Archives
  2. ^ a b http://www.berkeley.edu/about/history/
  3. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/campuses/ucb/overview.html
  4. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/brief-history.2.html
  5. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/overview/presidents/index2.html#sproul
  6. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/overview/presidents/index2.html#sproul
  7. ^ http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/chronology.shtml
  8. ^ http://www.childrenofthemanhattanproject.org/HISTORY/H-06c11.htm
  9. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/loyaltyoath/timelinesummary.html
  10. ^ http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=535
  11. ^ http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_20
  12. ^ http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=542
  13. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/brief-history.2.html
  14. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/60s.html
  15. ^ See San Francisco Chronicle investigative report, "Reagan, Hoover and the UC Red Scare," at http://www.sfgate.com/news/special/pages/2002/campusfiles/, with copies of once-secret FBI documents. "Secret FBI files show how the bureau's covert campaign to disrupt the Free Speech Movement and topple UC President Clark Kerr helped launch the political career of an actor named Ronald Reagan."
  16. ^ "Berkeley in the 60s", Bancroft Library web exhibit. Ironically, People's Park remained an empty lot for a long time thereafter, and was eventually used by the university for other purposes. Online at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/60s.html; Jeffery Kahn, "Ronald Reagan launched political career using the Berkeley campus as a target", UC Berkeley News (8 June 2004). Available online at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/06/08_reagan.shtml.
  17. ^ http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=19267
  18. ^ Online Exhibit on the Hearst Architectural Competition
  19. ^ 2
  20. ^ About UC Berkeley: Honors and Awards
  21. ^ http://ucnewswire.org/news_viewer.cfm?story_PK=4989
  22. ^ http://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm
  23. ^ UC Berkeley Honors & Awards: Graduate Program Rankings
  24. ^ UC Berkeley Performance Metrics
  25. ^ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/06/20_libry.html
  26. ^ http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/whats-new.html
  27. ^ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/97legacy/gard.html
  28. ^ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/0414/traditions.html
  29. ^ http://calbears.collegesports.com/trads/cal-m-fb-mas.html
  30. ^ http://www.calband.berkeley.edu/calband/about/
  31. ^ http://ucrc.berkeley.edu/
  32. ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHistory/traditions.html
  33. ^ http://calbears.collegesports.com/trads/cal-m-fb-tour.html
  34. ^ http://calbears.collegesports.com/trads/victory-cannon.html
  35. ^ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/01/11_spring05.shtml
  36. ^ http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/channing_bowditch.html
  37. ^ http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/jackson_house.html
  38. ^ http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=19190
  39. ^ contracostatimes.com: Haas eyes dorm to house program
  40. ^ http://www.ucop.edu/pathways/infoctr/introuc/ucb.html

References

  • Owens, Eric (2004). America's Best Value Colleges. The Princeton Review. ISBN 0375763732. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • A Brief History of the University of California, Berkeley
  • Brief History of the University from official website
  • Berkeley: Historical Overview from University of California Digital Archives
  • Atomicarchive.com
  • Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association
  • Cal Traditions 101
  • Cal Band
  • University of California Rally Committee
  • Cal Athletics
  • UC Berkeley Residential and Student Programs
  • Landscape plan

Further reading

  • Brechin, Gray (1999). Imperial San Francisco. UC Press Ltd. ISBN 0-520-21568-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Cerny, Susan Dinkelspiel (2001). Berkeley Landmarks: An Illustrated Guide to Berkeley, California's Architectural Heritage. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. ISBN 0-970-667604. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Freeman, Jo (2003). At Berkeley in the Sixties: The Education of an Activist, 1961-1965. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-216222. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Helfand, Harvey (2001). University of California, Berkeley. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-568-982933. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Rorabaugh, W. J. (1990). Berkeley at War: The 1960s. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-066677. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coauthors= and |month= (help)
  • Wong, Geoffrey (2001). A Golden State of Mind. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-552-126358. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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