Not sure why a Judge gets to decide this but it makes sense.
Why are we expanding Berkeley - in a super expensive area for students instead of expanding in Merced (or even Davis) - where is much less expensive.
Why are we expanding Berkeley - in a super expensive area for students instead of expanding in Merced (or even Davis) - where is much less expensive.
as population increases, more will seek a desirable good — UC Berkeley education.
The data you didn't provide might be, for example, a school which could suitably meet the increased demand.
(Whether or not you actually get a higher-quality education at UCB isn't really relevant; the perception, rankings, etc. are what matter when people decide what school they want to go to.)
I'm not saying the other schools have no experts, just that it's a situation where talent tends to concentrate.
Well, they're not independent. You apply to the UC system and you get a decision back telling you which schools you've been admitted to. So the system is free to decide that one campus is better than another one and implement that decision by assigning better students to the favored campus and worse students to the disfavored one.
I believe that's how Berkeley ended up as the 'top' campus in the first place - it was the best one because it was supposed to be the best one. UCLA is different; it "worked its way up" via applicant preference, by having better weather and/or proximity to Hollywood.
It is quite possible (although unlikely) to apply to UC Berkley and UC Merced but only be accepted to UC Berkley.
It’s theoretically possible, but given that UC Berkeley is impacted in lots of places and Merced is under capacity everywhere, not plausible (actually, given certain system-wide guarantees, its far more likely to apply to Berkeley but not Merced and still get offered admission to Merced than to apply to Berkeley and Merced and get offered Berkeley and not Merced.)
Berkley doesn't get to tell you to live in a cheaper appartement.
In return, you don't get to tell Berkley where they can open a new campus.
I get that in this case the Judge decided to stop the expansion.
I'm just responding to "Why are we expanding Berkeley" bit.
There's no "we" here. There's only UC Berkley and they get to decide how to conduct business.