Campus
Chancellor Henry Yang and Associated Students President Austin Hechler welcomed the class of 2020 on Sep. 19 in front of the university’s iconic Campus Lagoon. The University of California, Santa Barbara admitted a total of 27,648 applicants this year and had a 35.9 percent admission rate. Thousands of students attended Convocation, ringing in the new school year.
For the second year in a row, the U.S. News & World Report ranked UCSB as number eight on its “Top Public Schools” list of 2017. “Our greatness is the sum of the combined commitment of our students, faculty and staff to academic excellence, diversity, access and affordability,” Chancellor Henry T. Yang told The Current—the university’s Public Affairs and Communications news website. A total of 6 UCs made the list.
The UC Office of the President announced the formation of a special committee to find a new UC Davis Chancellor. Linda P.B. Katehi resigned as UCD chancellor in August after a UC report concluded that she violated several administrative and financial policies, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The UC Board of Regents convened last Wednesday at UCLA to discuss system matters, including the UC’s first-ever debt policy. A financial report showed that the UC has accrued $17.2 billion of debt, over $10 billion more since 2008. The regents are expected to adopt the new policy at their November meeting at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus.
Isla Vista
The California Alcoholic Beverage Control Department awarded the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office a $50,000 grant to combat alcohol-related crimes in Isla Vista, according to a press release. The money comes directly from the department’s Grant Assistance Program, whose goal is to prevent alcohol from reaching minors and to penalize liquor-selling businesses and individuals that sell to people under the state’s legal drinking age.
Santa Barbara’s County Planning Commission decided on Sep. 2 to turn an abandoned church building at 976 Embarcadero del Mar into Isla Vista’s community center, a win for many hoping to promote alternative programs and classes in the area. The next step for the county would be to secure a coastal development permit to fix up the space.
County/National
The Federal Transit Administration awarded the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District $5.68 million to replace its aging bus fleet on Sep. 12. The district expects to replace the buses with clean-diesel or battery-powered vehicles by 2018. A press release from SBMTD said that public transit had provided almost seven million trips in the last fiscal year.
New York’s Chelsea neighborhood shook with an explosion on Saturday night, as 29 people were injured in a bombing. No one was killed. Authorities found an undetonated bomb nearby and linked both to additional explosives found in New Jersey on Friday. The suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was taken into custody Monday morning following a shootout with police.