Judge freezes UC Berkeley enrollment, halts development

An Alameda County judge has ordered UC Berkeley to freeze its enrollment at 2020-21 levels and cancel a development project until a supplemental environmental impact review is completed.

Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman, in an order dated Monday, handed a temporary victory to a neighborhood group that sued the university in 2019, and for now would keep enrollment in the 2022-23 school year at 42,347 students.

Seligman wrote that the university failed to take into account the increase above its 2005 long-range plan of the number of students it enrolls. As a result, the university's analysis of the impact of those additional students was legally insufficient, the judge added.

Phil Bokovoy, president of Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods, which filed the lawsuit, hailed the judgment and said the university must propose mitigation measures. Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods v. The Regents of the University of California et al., RG19022887 (Alameda County Sup. Ct, filed June 13, 2019).

"The judge has vindicated our efforts to hold UC Berkeley accountable for the severe impacts on our community from its massive enrollment increases which they made without public notice or comments," he said.

A UC Berkeley representative was confident Wednesday that the university would be able to satisfy Seligman's concerns.

"We are optimistic that we can file documents with the court very soon that will satisfy the judgment with regard to future increases in enrollment," Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley's assistant vice chancellor for executive communications, wrote in a statement. Mogulof added that it would probably take six to eight months to address Seligman's demands regarding the Upper Hearst project, an academic and housing development for the Goldman School of Public Policy just northeast of campus.

"We are confident that the court will ultimately permit us to proceed with the Upper Hearst project," Mogulof added.

Mogulof and San Francisco attorney Thomas N. Lippe, who represents the plaintiffs, said they did not know if a judge had ever ordered a temporary freeze on student enrollment at another UC campus.

The university also faces lawsuits filed last week challenging a new long-range development plan which includes the construction of student housing at People's Park.

The location has remained undeveloped for decades following a clash between police and demonstrators that left one demonstrator dead in 1969.

Mogulof said the university plans to begin construction of high-rise student housing on part of the site next year.

In its legal battles, the university will not have one traditional adversary: the city of Berkeley.

The Berkeley City Council approved a settlement agreement with UC Berkeley last month to be paid about $82 million over the next 16 years to cover the city's costs for fire and other services.

In return, the city has agreed not to sue or support litigation against the university over its various housing projects.

Mogulof said UC Berkeley plans to continue adding student enrollment by 1% each year under its new long-range plan.