Statements & news

Dear Campus Community,

September 15th marked the beginning of Latinx Heritage Month. This year, we have much to celebrate in the many ways Chicanx-Latinx students, faculty, and staff are making UC Berkeley and the campus experience richer.

 This past year has been particularly difficult for many Latinx people in the United States. The undocumented community has been the target of a national campaign to dehumanize and minimize the contributions of Latinx people in America.  Families have been separated, torn apart, and federal promises have been broken. 

Fall semester has set sail at UC Berkeley with a balanced budget, new hires to improve campus diversity and a start on growing the faculty. The waters aren’t calm, though. Buildings need seismic repair, low numbers of underrepresented minority students persist, and there’s insufficient student housing. But it’s full speed ahead for Carol Christ, in her third school year at Berkeley as chancellor. Energetic, optimistic, determined and a role model for wellness, she recently talked with Berkeley News about how she’ll navigate the new school year.

Last Friday, UC Berkeley initiated a year-long initiative commemorating the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies with a day-long symposium. It drew hundreds of attendees who heard from more than a dozen historians and social scientists about the impact and legacy of slavery in society today.

Welcome!

Welcome to the transfer students, the Class of 2021!

Welcome to the freshmen, the Class of 2023!

My name is Carol Christ, and as chancellor it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the University of California, Berkeley, and to the next chapter of your lives.

Each of you has a different story about how you came to this place at this moment in time, and your lives and experiences add so much to Berkeley’s rich mosaic. So I’d like to begin today by telling you a little bit about yourselves.

To our new Golden Bears: Welcome! We hope your summers have been relaxing and rejuvenating, and that you’re excited to take on a new year of learning, discovery and personal growth at the very best public university in the world.

The 400^th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in North America will be observed at UC Berkeley, not only this month — in August 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia by ship — but during the entire 2019-2020 school year, starting with a daylong symposium Friday, Aug. 30.