Higher Education

Sonya Christian, current chancellor of Kern Community College District, will be the first woman appointed as permanent chancellor and the first person of South Asian heritage to lead the nation’s largest system of public higher education.

Officials hope to double enrollment at Cal Poly Humboldt by 2027. Plans to reserve all on-campus housing for first-years were scaled back last week after current students staged protests – but some returning students may still end up living in hotels or even on a barge. The uproar illustrates the severity of the state's student housing crisis.

Two California community colleges built housing in the last couple of years, with very different approaches. The projects give a peek at the future of student housing as the state rolls out $500 million in grants to build or expand dorms and apartments on a dozen community college campuses.

The University of California said it would claw back wages paid to workers who went on strike in late 2022. The move affects 48,000 workers.

Cal State leaders revealed a new plan that will take money from campuses missing enrollment targets and give it to schools exceeding their targets.

The recent agreement between striking graduate student workers in the UC system did little to solve their housing woes.

While the graduate student workers that went on strike from the UC system for six weeks won concessions like increased pay, a substantial portion of the workers are still dissatisfied and the contracts are relatively short, so tough negotiations may resume again in 2024.

Transit expenses are one part of the high cost of college that is pushing many low-income students out of the state’s higher education systems. Some campuses have partnered with local transit agencies to reduce or waive all fares for students, but recent efforts to create more partnerships with state funding have failed.

New Title IX rules barring gender discrimination could put more responsibility on colleges to protect transgender and nonbinary students. But those students say creating welcoming campuses will require more than just policy.

Some California colleges are responding to campus sexual assault and harassment with restorative justice: a process that brings together the student who was harmed, the person who harmed them and the community to seek solutions.