Two UC Santa Cruz students are concerned that university budget cuts are stripping resources from the beloved residential college system and weakening the student support networks that have benefited them and defined campus life since the campus’ inception. Alex Santiago and Isaac Belloso say staff layoffs and reductions in provost positions are eroding mentorship, belonging and academic success and implore university leaders to reconsider the cuts and include students in the decision-making process. These relationships, they say, shape opportunity – especially for first-generation and low-income students.
UC Santa Cruz
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Profesor de UCSC busca llenar vacíos en los datos de monitoreo del aire en el Valle de Pájaro para ayudar a trabajadores agrícolas a enfrentar posibles impactos de salud por la contaminación
Javier González-Rocha, profesor asistente de matemáticas en UC Santa Cruz, ha estado trabajando para identificar vacíos en los datos de monitoreo del aire en el Valle de Pájaro con el fin de informar mejor a los trabajadores agrícolas.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
This week in Santa Cruz County business: Graniterock facing lawsuit over Pajaro River; housing development at former Outdoor World site moves forward
In her weekly look at local business, Jessica M. Pasko reports on a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against Watsonville’s Graniterock, development continuing in downtown Santa Cruz and plenty more names, numbers and dates to know.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
If there had been a stop sign at Bay and Meder, my UCSC friend would be safe; the city must fix this intersection
A UC Santa Cruz student was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident at Bay Drive and Meder Street on Jan. 30. His high school friend and fellow UCSC student Aidan Smith has struggled to cope with the crash and has come to see it as more than just a tragic accident. The risks at Bay and Meder were already known, he writes. He believes the intersection is dangerous and urges the city to change the traffic pattern by adding a stop sign or something to slow drivers down and permit easier crossing before another life is changed forever.
Posted inEducation
UCSC hires UC Berkeley administrator as new second-in-command
UC Santa Cruz has appointed UC Berkeley executive dean Jennifer Johnson-Hanks as its next campus provost, with a start date of Jan. 1, 2027, Chancellor Cindy Larive announced last week.
Posted inEducation
UCSC to reduce number of provosts by half, with each leading two of its 10 colleges instead of one
UC Santa Cruz will cut the number of college provosts in half next academic year, shifting to a model where five full-time provosts each oversee two colleges instead of one, a change administrators say will improve coordination and expand access to programs. The move has sparked concern among alumni who fear it could weaken college identity and student relationships, though university officials and current provosts say it will strengthen the system rather than diminish it.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: UCSC college core courses help in fight against AI
In a letter to the editor, a UC Santa Cruz lecturer underlines the importance of the core courses in the school’s college system.
Posted inEducation
UC and graduate worker union reach agreement, averting strike
The University of California and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative four-year contract agreement covering more than 40,000 graduate student workers and staff, averting a planned strike following months of dispute over alleged unfair labor practices.
Posted inEducation
UCSC projecting a slightly higher deficit, still has $99 million in cuts coming
Officials at UC Santa Cruz say the campus now projects an $81 million deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, slightly higher than the previously estimated $79 million, driven by rising costs, higher-than-expected student aid spending and lower revenue from international students and federal funding.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
UCSC’s college system and core courses are humanities’ best defense
UC Santa Cruz historian Kiva Silver is worried about the future of the university’s college system and the core courses at UCSC. He believes the courses, usually taken in students’ first year on campus, are essential to preserving a human-centered liberal arts education as a bulwark against AI. The courses, he writes, should not be sacrificed as the campus works to overcome a structural deficit of about $87 million. The courses and living-learning communities are part of UCSC’s original 10-college system and, he argues, foster critical thinking, belonging and the type of intellectual community that has always nurtured humanity. If students never ask “who am I?”, he writes, how will they be able to differentiate themselves from machines?
