University of California Declines San Francisco’s Offer to Open a Campus Downtown

A student walks toward Royce Hall on the campus of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Officials at the University of California (UC) have turned down an invitation by the city of San Francisco to build a new campus downtown, citing a drop in state funding.

“Given the outlook for state appropriations and the financial capacity of our campuses, the university is not considering establishing any new campuses or other facilities in the city of San Francisco at this time,” UC spokesman Ryan King told The Epoch Times in an email on June 24.

In July 2023, Mayor London Breed and City Attorney David Chiu wrote a letter to the University of California, inviting the system’s officials to discuss establishing a new San Francisco campus in the city’s struggling downtown corridor.

The university system has 10 campuses across the state, including Berkeley and San Francisco locations. The current San Francisco campus is dedicated solely to health and life sciences.

The mayor’s “Roadmap to Downtown San Francisco’s Future,” released in February 2023, outlines her vision for the future of downtown. Opening a new UC campus is part of the vision, according to the letter.

“Bringing students into the heart of San Francisco affords a set of remarkable opportunities—venture capital continues to invest in San Francisco companies more than any other city because of our distinctive talent pool and storied history of successful innovation,” the mayor and city attorney wrote in the letter.

City officials and business organizations have struggled to maintain downtown San Francisco’s reputation this year as major retailers and small shops continue to shutter and walk away from the once-thriving location. Many retailers have cited increased crime, shoplifting, homelessness, and open drug use and a drop in pedestrian traffic as reasons to vacate the area.

However, the state is grappling this year with a budget deficit of at least $45 billion. The governor’s latest budget plan would reduce the university system’s budget by about $125 million, according to estimates.

Enrollment is also slowing, the university system reported. Applications for the fall 2024 first-year admissions were flat after last year’s record total of about 233,000 undergraduates.

Although building a new campus is not in the cards, university officials plan to continue discussing future educational and research opportunities for students and faculty in San Francisco and across the Bay Area, according to Mr. King.

“The University of California is deeply committed to the communities that are home to our campuses, medical centers, and labs, including San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland,” Mr. King said in the statement.

The San Francisco campus, with two locations at Parnassus Heights and in the Mission Bay district, was founded as Toland Medical College in 1864. In 1873, it merged with the University of California and became its medical department.

“The UCSF campus continues to be a dynamic and vital presence in the city, while our other campuses like Berkeley, Davis, Santa Cruz are also key drivers in the greater innovation Bay Area ecosystem,” Mr. King said.

City officials plan to continue engaging with the university about opportunities downtown, according to the mayor’s office.

“We’ve had conversations with numerous educational institutions, including the University of California system, about being a part of our city,” Ms. Breed’s office told The Epoch Times in an email on June 24. “This is a long-term effort.”

Mayor of San Francisco London Breed speaks with locals in San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The mayor is also courting the nation’s black universities and colleges to open a satellite campus downtown as part of the city’s new Black 2 San Francisco initiative that was introduced on June 17.

Ms. Breed welcomed the first group of 60 scholars from 20 historically black colleges and universities to the city. The group arrived this month and will spend their summer living, learning, and working in San Francisco.

Some of the institutions participating are Tuskegee University, Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, and Howard University School of Law.

The city expects the program to make the city more diverse and inclusive, Ms. Breed said in a statement on June 17.

“We are excited to share these partnerships and to grow them to bring more vitality downtown, and we appreciate UC’s commitment to San Francisco and the region,” the mayor’s office said.