University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA

F
Score: 373/1400
31,811
Undergraduate students
96%
Retention rate
$14,395
Annual tuition
0.66
Diversity Index
Data submitted by: Brieelise92, Penguin Queen, Notadr123, Anonymous (2x)
Large Campus
Large Campus
public
Public University
Urban Campus
Urban Campus
Four-Year College
Four-Year College
West Region
(Neo)Liberal Campus
(Neo)Liberal Campus
Sports Culture
Sports Culture
Noisy Campus
Noisy Campus
Graduate Students Unionized
Graduate Students Unionized

Description

UC Berkeley seems to be doing so many things right for its disabled students, on paper at least. Last year, the campus opened its long-awaited Disability Cultural Community Center. UC Berkeley is also one of the few institutions of higher education that offers a true Disability Studies program, albeit a minor. And finally, UC Berkeley's student-run newspaper, the Daily Californian, has had consistently high quality and prolific coverage of disability issues for many years, suggesting that disabled students are not invisible on campus.

However, in the one area that perhaps matters most -- the quality of support provided by the Disabled Students' Program (DSP), which is UC Berkeley's accessibility services office -- there is a consensus among students that UC Berkeley is failing. As one student perceptively writes in the Daily Californian, "UC Berkeley seems fully unaware of how ridiculous it looks when it brags about all of its DSP services all while denying its students access to services they need to be healthy and functioning students. I don’t need a speaker series — I need comprehensive care."

In the Daily Californian, a student writes that "By the time I got a meeting with an advisor from DSP to discuss accommodations — through the advocacy of a College of Letters and Sciences academic advisor — it was February of my second semester. I had navigated my first two rounds of enrollment, my first semester of classes and my first round of finals at UC Berkeley, all sans accommodations."

Because of poor communication and followup from DSP staff, and overall lack of support, many students give up on trying to obtain accommodations. The campus organization, Berkeley Disabled Students, has stated that “DSP has become adversarial to disabled students, rather than a safe source of support. Many students have reported to BDS feelings of being devalued, dehumanized, humiliated, retaliated against, and our disabilities impacted in harmful ways due to discrimination by DSP, faculty, and staff of U.C. Berkeley.”

A student tells us, "Throughout my time at UC Berkeley, I had a series of pretty serious medical issues. I had 3 major surgeries and battled new diagnosis, with the addition of things I am still working on getting diagnosed for. The hardest thing for me was I was doing really poorly in my classes as a result of my health… Quite frankly I didn’t know where to turn or get help, which ultimately resulted in me getting a lot of poor grades. Had I known how to work the system better and knew how to get help, I may have done better in college. Unfortunately it isn’t advertised or talked about."

Another student lists for us the problems on campus that they have had to deal with as a disabled student at UC Berkeley:
"-Issues getting to classes within 10 minutes 
 -Building entrances closed, resulting in having to go around. (Awful with a physical disability.)
 -Constant switching of DSP advisors 
 -No community center
 -Poor professor understanding"

Are all campus buildings physically accessible to students who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids?

NO

The Daily Californian reports, "'Every time I roll into a classroom, it feels like the university is saying I’m not wanted,' Bailey said. 'When you arrive on the first day of class and realize there isn’t a place for you, you just have to sit in the aisle feeling like all of the eyes in the classroom are on you.'"

Are class session recordings readily available for lecture courses?

NO

This is dependent on each professor.

Are students required to provide documentation of disability to qualify for receiving initial accommodations?

YES

A student says, "Yes. I had to have a doctor fill out an impact assessment and then worked with a disability counselor to determine appropriate accommodations."

Is there required diversity and inclusivity training for faculty/staff/and students, and does training include recognition of neurodivergence and disability?

NO

In 2022, the Daily Californian reported that "Despite the potential lack of awareness surrounding disabilities, academic ableism training for faculty and staff to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities is not mandated across the UC system. Instead, campus instructors are encouraged to take DSP’s online disability training, according to a campuswide email sent Jan. 11. While DSP has discussed adopting mandatory training for faculty with the Academic Senate chair every year, the proposition has not been adopted, according to DSP executive director Karen Nielson."

A student says, "I have accommodations but because my disability is a mood disorder it’s hard for teachers to sometimes understand what I go through. Teaching Staff should be trained to better understand what the different disabilities are their students may have."

What types of student-run peer support groups exist on campus?

Disability Cultural Center

YES

Mutual Aid Networks

YES

Peer Support Groups

YES

Other

NO

Disability Cultural Center: https://dsp.berkeley.edu/support-services/welcome-disability-cultural-community-dcc-center

Mutual Aid: https://www.berkeleymutualaid.org/

Mutual Aid: https://ga.berkeley.edu/ga-resources/ga-scholarships-and-grants/graduate-assembly-mutual-aid-fund/

Peer Support: https://sspc.berkeley.edu/ 

Have you experienced ableism, discrimination, or witnessed stigmatizing language?

YES

The Daily Californian reports that "Ableism is very pervasive on campus, ASUC Senator and registered DSP student Amanda Hill alleged, so placing the onus on students to advocate for themselves is taxing. They further alleged that some professors refuse to accommodate students with accommodation letters out of disbelief. 'They act like our disabilities are a burden on them.'"

Are police involved in responding to student mental health crises?

YES

https://csi.berkeley.edu/process/

Does your college have a Student of Concern reporting page?

Yes (Without anonymous reporting)

https://csi.berkeley.edu/process/

Clery Report data: Number of sexual assaults reported on campus per thousand students.

2

*2021 data

Has the college published an official statement in support of racial justice movements?

Support for Black Lives Matter

NO

Support for Land Back

NO

Does your college offer a Disability Studies curriculum?

YES

The College of Letters & Science offers a minor in Disability Studies.

Does your college offer a course on Critical Theory?

YES

https://criticaltheory.berkeley.edu/ 

Does the college engage in morally questionable research?

Animal Experimentation

YES

Cure Autism

NO

Other

YES

NAGPRA: UC Berkeley still holds the remains of 9,058 Native Americans.

News
Submitted by:
admin
2023-03-05

UC Berkeley has long angered tribal nations with its handling of thousands of ancestral remains amassed during the university’s centurylong campaign of excavating Indigenous burial grounds.

More than three decades ago, Congress ordered museums, universities and government agencies that receive federal funding to publicly report any human remains in their collections that they believed to be Native American and then return them to tribal nations.

UC Berkeley has been slow to do so. The university estimates that it still holds the remains of 9,000 Indigenous people in the campus’ Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology — more than any other U.S. institution bound by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data.

Source:Link