Berkeley Global Campus must protect local interests

CAMPUS ISSUES: UC Berkeley officials behind the Richmond satellite campus must ensure that it benefits residents

By Senior Editorial Board

The big idea behind the Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay is bright — brilliant, even: to attract international researchers to collaborate with the UC Berkeley community on the most pressing issues of the day and to do so in our local community. But many of the problems surrounding the creation of a secondary campus have not been addressed adequately by campus officials. As bold as the global campus is in theory, in reality, it is still largely amorphous.

Originally conceptualized as expanding the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the creation of the campus was hindered in 2013 after federal funding cuts. Now the proposed campus is slated to become a privately financed hotspot for global collaboration.

Just as the city of Berkeley developed around UC Berkeley, this secondary campus will likely cause a similar growth, even if on a smaller scale. From the planning and development stages to the actual construction to the daily work conducted at the finished location, this project will permanently alter its surrounding communities. Now is the time — when the shape of the new campus is still being solidified — to delineate what that relationship between Richmond and UC Berkeley will be in the coming decades.

Already, UC Berkeley’s failure to sign a community benefits agreement has caused friction between the campus and the Richmond community because of the possible gentrification caused by the influx of academics, students and staff. This delay in making a legally binding commitment to protect Richmond’s interests is a political mistake on the campus’s part, and it will now take some time for the city’s residents to place their faith in UC Berkeley’s global vision.

In response to these community concerns, some might suggest that the city of Richmond, rather than the campus, needs to be held primarily responsible for addressing rising housing prices and other side effects of the project. But UC Berkeley is a powerful and influential institution that, through its partnership with the city of Richmond, should be willing and able to create a satellite institution that will harmonize with its surrounding community. Ensuring the availability of affordable housing and incorporating local workers into the project should be addressed in a community benefits agreement between the two entities.

In discussing the campus itself, we were left with many more questions than we could find satisfying answers for. How accessible will the Richmond campus be to both undergraduate and graduate students? In what kinds of research will those attending participate? How will that research connect with the main Berkeley campus? Beyond providing jobs to Richmond residents, how else will the scholarship generated there benefit Richmond — especially its youth? Similarly, given the wide demand for spots at UC campuses, how will the global campus ensure that its work will provide benefits across the state? Will private funding be able to sustain it in the long term? What does it mean for a public entity to rely on private funds solely?

Our hope for Berkeley Global Campus is that its development will acknowledge and respect the community that will house it. Throughout the Richmond campus’s execution, we hope and encourage those at the helm of the project to prioritize inclusive programs over economic considerations. And after the project’s completion, we hope this bright idea will maintain a balance between its global reach and local interests.

Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Senior Editorial Board as written by the opinion editor.

[Source]: Daily Californian