Editorial: UC Regents should keep Santa Cruz weird

UC Santa Cruz has shown that a public university in California
doesn’t have to be big to be an innovator and doesn’t
have to be big to do cutting-edge research.

Despite its small population of almost 14,000 students in fall
2005 (compared to UCLA’s 25,000) UC Santa Cruz was still a
world leader in the physical sciences in 2003, according to an
Institute for Scientific Research ranking.

So when the UC Regents approved a plan last month to expand the
university’s population by a third ““ an effort to make
it more of a large research university like the other UCs ““
supporters said it seemed to be in everyone’s best interest.
A bigger school meant more research and more room for students.

But the University of California isn’t taking into account
what makes UC Santa Cruz so appealing to potential students: its
small size and quirky atmosphere.

UC Santa Cruz has filled an important niche in the landscape of
the University of California by shying away from the large
research-university mold of other campuses.

Its smaller student body provides one of few alternatives to
getting lost in a crowd of college students, and its liberal
educational policy (giving out written reviews instead of grades
until five years ago) provided a different approach to learning
that was also well-respected.

By attempting these supposed improvements to Santa Cruz through
a plan for expansion, the UC is actually taking away an important
opportunity for incoming California college students rather than
creating one.

And the effect this growth would have on Santa Cruz students is
not confined only to the university itself.

The program would also alter the surrounding city area ““
the razing of an unspecified amount of redwoods as well as
expansion of infrastructure, roads and water pipes that could cost
the city millions of dollars.

Some residents have griped about the current university’s
effect on the surrounding city, claiming the college already takes
away from the small-town, quirky atmosphere Santa Cruz is known
for.

Those looking forward to that atmosphere when they attend UC
Santa Cruz can also expect to have some of that taken away by any
expansion.

Residents are so upset by the idea that the City Council placed
two measures on next month’s ballot that, if passed, would
force the UC to pay for the added infrastructure itself, rather
than passing along those costs to the city.

The problem for incoming students is that if part of the draw of
a university is its location, to severely alter that location takes
away from its appeal.

Plus, the UC Regents face a unforeseen jump in the cost of
changing the fabric of this university ““ money that
presumably they would be hard-pressed to come up with.

What the UC needs to remember is that there is more than one way
to get a public education. Not everyone wants the titanic size of
UCLA, and students looking for an education on a state-school
budget should not have large research institutions as their only
option.

The state already has huge research powerhouses in UCLA and UC
Berkeley. To have an already-successful but small campus go through
a major and possibly awkward growth spurt is not in the interest of
the city or the UC. And most importantly, it’s not in the
interest of the students.