UC Berkeley students are on the verge of achieving a dream decades in the making. On May 7, Berkeley City Council chose to narrow the field of submitted redistricting proposals from seven to two — one of which was proposed by the Berkeley Student District Campaign. Established three years ago with the sole purpose of engaging students and the wider Berkeley community in an effort to secure a city council district for students, the campaign is now closer than ever to succeeding in institutionalizing the dialogue between the city and the student community.
The map that the campaign submitted takes District 7 and turns it into a student supermajority district complete with 12,000 students — or 86 percent of the district. Students from all walks of life and all types of living are included in the district, meaning that the diverse student voice will be heard on the council in all its complexity. We are confident that by uniting students into one district, any representative elected from this district will have to answer to student issues like safety, Telegraph development and affordable housing.
The map does not only benefit students, though. Previously divided neighborhoods such as Bateman, Monterey Market and Willard are reunited on our map. Additionally, each district is as close to equal population as possible, with each district deviating from the equal population target of 14,073 by less than 1 percent. Our map was only one of two to achieve that level of adherence to the concept of “one person, one vote.”
For those who attended the council meeting on May 7, the necessity of such enhanced dialogue could not have been more apparent. For example, City Councilmember Susan Wengraf suggested moving the second public hearing on redistricting, scheduled to take place on July 2, to a time when students will not be on summer break. This proposal, a seemingly common-sense idea aimed at having a more inclusive dialogue about redistricting, was met with skepticism by fellow council members who apparently did not see the irony in holding a hearing at a time when the only community actively engaged in this process since day one (50 attendees at the May 7 meeting were students) cannot attend.
While we are closer to achieving our goal than ever, we are by no means done. Our map being selected as part of the final two is a great success for students. Having said that, though, the other map selected, the supposed “Simplicity” map, is, in fact an affront to the notion of a student district, and the very fact that it was selected shows that there is still work to be done. While media outlets such as Berkeleyside and The Daily Californian have advertised this map as containing a student district, the map’s submitter, Eric Panzer, himself has conceded that he sacrificed the notion of protecting communities of interest in favor of drawing cleaner lines. Every single crucial student living community, such as Greek housing, residence halls, apartments and co-ops is callously divided in the Simplicity proposal. This type of incomplete, slap-dash student district will not ensure that student issues are addressed on the city level. Not only is the student community divided, however — more nonstudents are included in this district than in the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s proposal, a fact that calls into question the ability of supporters of this map to claim that it contains a student district. Given that the Simplicity map’s submitter has endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan, what constituency would the council be appeasing by adopting this map? The student community and those interested in preserving communities of interest have resoundingly and forcefully said no to the Simplicity map and yes to the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s proposal.
For the council to adopt the Simplicity map — namely, its vastly inferior District 7 — would be a tacit admission that it does not support the notion of a student district. By splitting up the student community, the council will be silencing us for another decade to come. That is far too long to wait. The time for a student district is now.
Noah Efron is the ASUC redistricting director.