UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ took the helm seven years ago, amid roiling discontent over free speech conflicts, financial woes, sexual assault scandals and a leadership crisis under her predecessor. During her tenure, the crises never seemed to let up. The pandemic hit. Another budget shortfall opened. Opposition exploded over her housing plan at People’s Park. Ever-increasing enrollment strained the campus. Pro-Palestinian protests tore the community apart.
But more online courses, along with satellite campuses and faster completion of degrees, could help open more UC seats, she said. Christ also said UC campuses, each with their own character and culture, should have more independence from systemwide oversight — to set their own nonresident tuition rates, for instance, or create new graduate degree programs without the 'rigmarole' of central control.