Applications for freshman admission to the University of California, Berkeley, hit a high this year, but the percentage admitted for fall semester is at a record low, campus officials said Tuesday. UC Berkeley officials said 61,695 applicants were vying for about 13,000 available spots. In all, 13,037 students, or about 21 percent, received offers to start this fall or next spring. The admissions rate for the fall semester was 18 percent ......

California State University faculty members are holding a statewide vote starting Monday on whether to authorize a strike in response to the recent breakdown of contract negotiations with the university. Members of the California Faculty Association, which represents educators at the 23 CSU campuses, will vote on whether to grant their board of directors the authority to call a strike if the bargaining process fails. The vote will be carried ......

A federal appeals court in San Francisco today rejected challenge by a group of minority students to a voter-approved ban on affirmative action in University of California admissions. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was bound by a previous 1997 decision of the same court upholding the ban, which was part of Proposition 209, a voter initiative enacted in 1996. Circuit Judge Barry Silverman ......

The Oakland school board decided today to continue with its plan to close five elementary schools this fall despite a raucous protest that resulted in the arrest of 10 demonstrators. Those arrested at about 12:30 a.m. today included Oakland residents, teachers, a student and members of the activist group By Any Means Necessary. The school board voted last October to approve a restructuring plan that includes the closing of five ......

Three student protesters were arrested at a University of California Board of Regents meeting at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay campus this morning, university officials said. Dozens of students, some of whom wore beach attire, attended the meeting as part of a "Spring Broke" protest of rising tuition costs at UC campuses statewide. Many protesters argued during the public comment portion of the meeting that revenue from a proposed state ......