For UC Berkeley freshman Luke Wonzen, what started as an attempt to find a hangout spot outside with a friend during a pandemic became an experience that “really highlighted the life cycle of the food” that is, volunteering at Berkeley Student Farms, or BSF.
BSF is a coalition of seven student-run garden spaces on campus that prioritizes food sovereignty and security, according to BSF volunteer Gabrielle Cohen.
Before the pandemic, a large portion of the campus population was food insecure and used services provided by the Basic Needs Center. As the pandemic exacerbated such insecurities, BSF helped to meet the increased demand for food by providing fresh organic produce to those in need and supplying 50% of the produce distributed at the Basic Needs Center’s Food Pantry last summer, Cohen said.
In defense of People’s Park
Emily Bi/Senior Staff
Last Updated February 2, 2021
While more student housing is necessary, the
kind of housing is as important as
where it will be built. What students need is affordable housing, and the proposed housing projects won’t alleviate student needs if their room and board costs fall within the $18,000 to $20,000 a year range of existing student housing. In comparison, room and board in the Berkeley Student Cooperative is about $7,000 a year. If housing is to be built, it must be economically and socially equitable.
The UC Berkeley Housing Task Force 2017 Student Housing Survey proposed 10 different sites and includes a survey of the priorities of undergraduates, graduate and postdoctoral students. People’s Park ranks fifth for undergraduates, seventh for graduate students and eighth for postdoctorals. PeoplesPark.org also features maps of alternative housing development sites and sketches of possible housing projects. Besides the