But this column is not about the pros and cons of infrastructural projects. It’s about personal construction — self-improvement. In the tradition of German philosophy, there is an idea of soul-searching and maturation that is referred to as Bildung. Inherent to Bildung is personal transformation. On an abstract level, this means cultivating selfhood — unfolding the manifold possibilities of identity.

You see, there is no better time than summertime to revamp your personality, mental outlook and skills. Forget spring. Renewal and growth are best suited for the long days of summer. The months between May and August are always slightly off-kilter from the rest of the year. Friends you might normally see every day are absent. Maybe living back at home feels strange. Maybe staying on campus feels even stranger. The heat in the air slows every moment, making you move sluggishly throughout the day. There are fewer obligations, fewer stresses, more tan lines. These mellow few months are thus the perfect time for some metaphoric construction.

Self-development is a never-ending process because no one is ever completely happy with who they are. The school year inhibits this process, sometimes delaying it for months. Academics hinder self-cultivation with projects and assignments and midterms, which force the process to go in a specific, predetermined direction.

Here is where self-construction comes into play. Those aspects of your personality that you find distasteful? Bulldoze them. Schedule the demolition for today. The passions that lie deep inside you? Lift them to the surface with a crane. Add layers. Add levels. Strip away the parts that no longer serve you. Become the edifice you have always wanted to be. And because this is a personal project, obviously, no trespassers are allowed. Spend some time alone each day to analyze what requires development. Work sites are never pretty, but the displeasing sight will be worth it in the end.

Construction must be done authentically. It is not enough to simply give the illusion of renovation for others to see. Poor workmanship will inevitably crumble as soon as you are shaken. And just as upgrading a building requires digging deep into its electric circuitry, delving into yourself requires a careful examination of your own mental wiring.

This self-examination process was one that I experienced myself a few summers ago as a high school student taking classes at UC Berkeley. It was a weird summer. Between not knowing anyone and being in strange Berkeleyland, I had a lot of time on my hands to explore the area and explore myself. At some point during those few months, I started understanding more about my identity. There is almost nothing more confusing than figuring out you are not the person you think you are. For the longest time, I had identified as straight. With a bit of introspection, I realized that my sexuality was far from hetero. This conclusion was not a result of me staring up at a majestic construction site. Neither was it one realized without denial, sadness and frustration. I didn’t figure out my whole identity that summer. I didn’t come close and probably never will. What I did gain, however, was the smallest semblance of self-awareness.

German philosophers thought that Bildung was all about self-education — reading books and engaging in intellectual conversations. I love those things. But cultivating selfhood contains another angle altogether: removal, relaxation and reflection. Discoveries about yourself are not usually made in the midst of activities or socializing but on a tranquil summer walk or just as you fall asleep for a midday nap. There’s no guarantee that you will realize your true sexuality like I did, but there’s a good chance you might learn more about yourself along the way.

Forgive my countless construction metaphors, but the parallels between humans and buildings are too great to ignore. Take façades, for example. A building’s pretty exterior indicates nothing about its interior strength, just as a person’s façade is irrelevant to her character. Like buildings, we require periodic reconstruction and re-examination. In the same way that a building quivers during an earthquake, we are prone to tremble under life-shaking circumstances. The key to not collapsing from it all is by building up your Bildung. With a steady internal structure, you can withstand anything.

Contact Kimberly Veklerov at kveklerov@dailycal.org.

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The board’s Committee on Grounds and Buildings approved the university’s 2013-14 Budget for State Capital Improvements, which requests $788.5 million from the state to fund 39 capital projects across the system.

If approved by the state legislature, approximately $432.7 million would go toward designing and constructing new academic facilities at various campuses while the other $355.8 million would be allocated to improving existing campus infrastructure and to projects addressing seismic-safety issues.

Since the economic crisis in 2008, state funding for university capital projects has slowed to a trickle, halting ongoing capital planning and causing a backup of incomplete construction projects. According to UC Vice President for Budget Patrick Lenz, campuses will have to find other sources of funding for their capital projects if state support remains insufficient.

“We’re at this crossroads where we have to figure out if the state is not willing; we have to seriously look at our ability to take on these external loans,” said Lenz.

Since 1990, the state’s contribution to the university per student has fallen by more than 60 percent. For the first time, in 2011-12, funds from student tuition and fees exceeded funds to the university from the state.

Lenz said the passage of Proposition 30 last week could put the state legislature in a better place to accept the university’s funding request.

Later in the meeting, the board also evaluated a proposal presented by representatives from UC Santa Barbara to develop more student housing on the campus.

UC Santa Barbara Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas estimated that the campus would need to provide an additional 5,000 beds by 2025 to match projections of growing student enrollment. According to Lucas, the campus will eventually have to freeze enrollment unless more housing is developed to meet the growing demand.

“We’re really up against the wall with new housing,” Lucas said. “Since it takes time to build residence facilities, the time for us to be doing this is now.”

The board also approved a design for a new academic building to be constructed at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. With an estimated budget of $118.6 million, the new building would house faculty and staff offices and would save the campus approximately $331 million by consolidating expiring leases on commercial properties currently being used.

Protesters have planned a demonstration for Thursday’s meeting, when the board will discuss issues related to the UC budget and compensation for senior management officials.

Justin Abraham covers academics and administration. Contact him at jabraham@dailycal.org.

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The decline of bond revenues that have supported capital projects over the past decade has forced the university to find alternative ways of funding these projects on its campuses, including an increasing reliance on private donations and different types of bonds.

The university faced about 3.4 million square feet of unfunded seismic and life safety building and renovation projects on eight campuses in 2011, according to the UC Office of the President 2011-21 Consolidated State and Non-State Capital Financial Plan. The report indicated that about 77 percent of the space to be addressed is at the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses.

Deborah Wylie, associate vice president for Capital Resources Management at the UC Office of the President, said the university decided not to push for the bond because of the unlikelihood that the bond would have been successful.

“Since the economic crisis in 2008, there hasn’t been any confidence that the voters would approve general obligation bonds,” Wylie said. “There hasn’t been confidence amongst either the voters or the higher education sectors or elected officials in Sacramento that the populace would support the state assuming more debt.”

According to a report released by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office in August 2011, general obligation bonds have provided the largest source of state infrastructure spending in the past decade, and the university received over $2 billion in bonds from 2000-10, with 80 percent coming from general obligation bonds that voters approved in the past.

Wylie said the university has seen less of this type of state funding for capital projects in recent years and that, as a result, the system and individual campuses have turned toward finding alternate ways of funding necessary projects. These have included accepting lease-revenue bonds, which require that the title of the building be given to the state until the lease is paid off, and seeking private donations for new buildings.

In 2010-11, the university received $352.7 million primarily from lease-revenue bonds, according to the UCOP financial plan.

The system has also begun to rely on other types of bonds, including $860 million worth of University of California 100-year bonds sold in February by the California State Treasurer’s Office. According to Wylie, UC Berkeley is looking at using some of this funding to replace the seismically unsafe Tolman Hall.

Paula Milano, executive director for Space Management and Capital Programs at UC Berkeley, said that while 4.9 million square feet of campus seismic improvements have been made by 2011, 1.6 million square feet still needs to be addressed. However, Milano said that task might be a difficult one due to the decrease in state funding.

“While we have been very fortunate in the past in securing gifts, grants and other funds to support the construction of many new buildings on campus, some kinds of investments — not only seismic upgrades but also the repair and renewal of existing buildings and infrastructure — have very few alternatives to state funding,” Milano said.

The campus’s new Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences provides an example of the new types of funding UC campuses are seeking for capital projects. The center, which was dedicated October 2011, was primarily funded by businessman Li Ka-shing. Out of the approximately $257 million budget for the project, about $75 million in funding came from external financing, about $53 million came from state funds and about $129 million came from private donations.

As the university works to fund its capital projects, another strategy could entail making better use of its existing space. The Legislative Analyst’s Office report suggested that schools could better utilize the buildings that they have as the likelihood of state funding for capital projects decreases.

Furthermore, Paul Golaszewski, a senior fiscal and policy analyst for the office, said universities in general could employ strategies such as adding summer classes and expanding distance education.

“Ideas like that could relieve the pressure to build new buildings,” Golaszewski said. “Our demographic forecasts are showing a slight decline in the college-age population in coming years. That raises the question as to why these new buildings are totally necessary.”

According to UC spokesperson Dianne Klein, last year, the UC system engaged in more than 200 buildings projects that were more than $750,000 in value.

Klein said that regardless of the economic situation, certain projects, such as seismic and safety improvements, must still be a priority.

“The work of the university is ongoing, through good and bad economic times,” Klein said. “There are delays. There are compromises. There is a lot of making do. But the importance of maintaining our physical plant can’t be ignored.”

Jamie Applegate covers higher education.

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