Thousands of students apply to UC Berkeley every year.

It's one of the most applied to universities in the entire United States.

I applied for biology for all my UCs.

I applied to UC Berkeley for computer science.

It's my top choice school. That's ultimately where I want to go.

But the city of Berkeley is also emblematic of our nationwide housing crisis.

Simply put, there are too few houses available to buy, and those on the market are too expensive.

Housing supply was limited even before the pandemic began in 2020.

Which is why residents and the university have been locked in a battle over enrollment numbers.

The legal fight is just the latest iteration of an eternal struggle, tension between residents and students

and the perpetual beef over who matters more in college towns.

The townies or the gownies?

I'm Gustavo Arellano. You're listening to The Times, Daily News from the LA Times. It's Friday, March 18, 2022. Today, the battle over Berkeley

and the future growth of its iconic school, and what that means for

college towns everywhere.

Teresa Watanabe covers higher education for Los Angeles Times, and she's been covering

this still developing story.

Teresa, welcome to the Times.

Thanks for having me.

Okay, so Town and Gown, it's not a plot point out of, oh, whatever your

favorite college film is, Animal House, or old school, or neighbors with Seth Rogen and

Zach Efron. The tension between residents and college students is real, but it rarely gets into

...