university of california berkeley campus tour

Visitor Services

Welcome to berkeley, welcome to berkeley.

We welcome you to visit UC Berkeley! We offer in-person, virtual, and self-guided campus tours, highlight campus attractions to visit including the Campanile (our 307-foot tall clock & bell tower), and provide you a chance to speak with our student campus ambassadors. We hope to see you on our campus soon either in-person or virtually !

Koret Visitor Center – Hours of Operation

• Monday-Friday: 8:30am – 4:30pm
• Saturday-Sunday: 9:00am – 1:00pm

The Visitor Center will have different hours on the following dates:

• Friday, May 3: 8:30am - 2:00pm (closing early)

Virtual Campus Experiences

Wander the campus virtually through our  YouVisit interactive experience  or register for a virtual campus visit !

Bear Talk blog

April 26, 2024, april 24, 2024, april 19, 2024, campus events.

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The top public university in the world, Cal is also Berkeley’s unofficial “Central Park."

Berkeley begins with the University of California campus, the sylvan and stone complex at the soulful heart of the city. Today, the UC Berkeley campus, or “Cal” to locals and students, serves as more than an academic enclave. It is Berkeley’s “Central Park,” a destination within the destination. (In fact, the co-architect of New York’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, was also instrumental in designing the University of California campus.)

Check out Visit Berkeley's “ Cal Secret Spots ” guide, created in collaboration with content company Bravo Your City!, available in both high-quality printed map and digital online formats. Berkeley travelers can pick one up at the Visitor Information Center , 2030 Addison Street in downtown Berkeley , or free digital versions at iBooks and Kindle.

Where is UC Berkeley?

UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is approximately a 20 minute drive from San Francisco.

Berkeley's "Bear" territory, the 178-acre University of California, Berkeley campus is open to the public with beautifully landscaped grounds, historic architecture , redwood forests and and wonderful walking paths that cross campus to connect Downtown Berkeley , North Shattuck , and the Telegraph Avenue business districts.

What is UC Berkeley known for?

UC Berkeley is a public university offering 184 academic programs over 14 different schools and colleges. They are best known for their top-ranking programs in the sciences, engineering, mathematics, and business, as well as their D1 athletics and flourishing student organizations.

Here are a 6 ideas for exploring UC Berkeley:

1. Hop on A Campus Tour

There are many ways to tour the campus -- starting with the fabulous new Koret Visitor Center located in historic California Memorial Stadium . There are also daily guided tours (reservations required) and self-guided sightseeing tour options.

2. Don't Miss The View from The Campanile

The best place to start any UC Berkeley exploration is the short but sweet elevator ride to the observation deck of the Campanile .

3. Visit Strawberry Creek

This peaceful creek provides a cool oasis of foliage, surrounded by towering California redwoods. It’s the perfect spot to breathe in, breathe out, and get a little zen on campus.

4. Time Travel to Morrison Library

Located inside the larger Doe Library, Morrison Library opened in 1928 as a traditional library reading room, providing an ambient atmosphere for students to take a break from the rigors of academic life. It’s vaulted ceilings, and long wooden reading tables, still serve as a quiet refuge for students and visitors alike. One of the architectural treasures of the UC system, the library’s marble steps are also a popular spot for graduation photos.

5. Hunt for Founders Rock

Try to find Founders Rock at the corner of Hearst Ave and Gayley Road. Oak and eucalyptus trees shelter a jumble of lichen-encrusted stones -- but don't be fooled. This unassuming spot is the very heart of Berkeley. In 1860, more than a century before Mario Savio would initiate the Free Speech Movement on UC Berkeley’s campus, the trustees of the College of California in Oakland met to survey the land they had purchased for a new university.

6. Shop at Moe's Books

An icon and a historic landmark ever since the 1960s, Moe’s Books got its start in 1959 under the leadership of Moe Moskowitz. Originally founded on Shattuck Avenue, Moe’s Books was soon moved to Telegraph and Dwight, however, where it would bear witness to the tumultuous, counterculture Sixties scene. Today, Moe's is a superb independent bookstore with titles one might not easily find elsewhere. For example there's an entire section on Beatnik authors!

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Take A Tour in Berkeley

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Campanile (Sather Tower) The Campanile Berkeley, 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Campanile (Sather Tower)

The Campanile Berkeley, 94720

The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley 2001 Gayley Rd Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley

2001 Gayley Rd Berkeley, California 94720

The Lawrence Hall of Science 1 Centennial Dr Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

The Lawrence Hall of Science

1 Centennial Dr Berkeley, California 94720

UC Berkeley Campus Tours 2207 Piedmont Avenue, Room 141 Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

UC Berkeley Campus Tours

2207 Piedmont Avenue, Room 141 Berkeley, California 94720

UC Berkeley Event Services, ASUC Student Union 2495 Bancroft Way, MLK Building Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

UC Berkeley Event Services, ASUC Student Union

2495 Bancroft Way, MLK Building Berkeley, California 94720

UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley 200 Centennial Dr Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

200 Centennial Dr Berkeley, California 94720

Bancroft Library One South Hall Road Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Bancroft Library

One South Hall Road Berkeley, California 94720

Cal Performances UC Berkeley 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800 Berkeley, California 94720-4800 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Cal Performances

UC Berkeley 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800 Berkeley, California 94720-4800

California Golden Bears Football 2227 Piedmont Ave. Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

California Golden Bears Football

2227 Piedmont Ave. Berkeley, California 94720

California Memorial Stadium 2227 Piedmont Ave Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

California Memorial Stadium

2227 Piedmont Ave Berkeley, California 94720

Faculty Club at UC Berkeley Minor Lane, UC Berkeley Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Faculty Club at UC Berkeley

Minor Lane, UC Berkeley Berkeley, California 94720

Free Speech Movement Cafe Details   Open in Google Maps

Free Speech Movement Cafe

Haas Pavilion 115 Haas Pavilion Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Haas Pavilion

115 Haas Pavilion Berkeley, California 94720

Hearst Memorial Gymnasium 200 Hearst Gym Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Hearst Memorial Gymnasium

200 Hearst Gym Berkeley, California 94720

International House at UC Berkeley 2299 Piedmont Ave Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

International House at UC Berkeley

2299 Piedmont Ave Berkeley, California 94720

Julia Morgan Hall 200 Centennial Drive Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Julia Morgan Hall

200 Centennial Drive Berkeley, California 94720

Sather Gate Sather Road Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Sather Gate

Sather Road Berkeley, California 94720

South Hall Details   Open in Google Maps

Sproul Plaza Barrow Lane Berkeley, California 94704 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Sproul Plaza

Barrow Lane Berkeley, California 94704

Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) at UC Berkeley University of California, 15 Dwinelle Hall MC 2560 Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) at UC Berkeley

University of California, 15 Dwinelle Hall MC 2560 Berkeley, California 94720

UC Berkeley Koret Visitor Center 2207 Piedmont Avenue, Room 141 Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

UC Berkeley Koret Visitor Center

Valley Life Sciences Building Harmon Way Berkeley, California 94720 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Valley Life Sciences Building

Harmon Way Berkeley, California 94720

Zellerbach Hall 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800 Berkeley, California 94704 U.S. Details   Open in Google Maps

Zellerbach Hall

101 Zellerbach Hall #4800 Berkeley, California 94704

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Experience University of California, Berkeley

Virtually explore University of California, Berkeley in a fully immersive 360-degree experience.

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Open/green spaces, points of interest, printable maps.

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Click on a location on the map to view its details. Or, choose a building, road or point of interest by name from the menus below.

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“ . And to borrow a line from the movie Fargo - Go Bear s! ” in 65 reviews

“ I wish you were a little less bureaucratic, but I guess that's what you sign up for when you come to Cal . ” in 94 reviews

“ . Regarding the campus amenities, UC Berkele y's facilities are definitely better than the average school's ” in 52 reviews

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My son will be transfer to berkeley. Any hotel near to the university comfortable and good price?

Travelodge by Wyndham is walking distance, has a Traders Joe's across the street, on site parking and is very accommodating. Nothing fancy. Reasonably priced. The only thing is they don't accept Wyndham rewards.

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340 reviews

Drove 6 hours from LA to SJ and then another 1 hour from SJ to UC Berkeley to attend my cousin's Class of 2023 Winter Commencement. Beautiful campus. My daughter also wants to attend this school when she finishes HS, so I am killing 2 birds with one stone. Congrats Grads!

See all photos from Katelynn T. for University of California

Iconic school. We went for a football game and it was very cool. The atmosphere was fun and everyone was nice. The university is set in a residential area on the edge of town. I really would like to investigate it more but didn't get past the football stadium. The were giving out replica decorations of the football stadium.

See all photos from Scot M. for University of California

Just love it ! Berkeley is a great place to go back to visit once in a while ! It bring back memories !

Spent hours walking this gorgeous campus. The architect was a mix of older and modern buildings connected with each other. In addition to the architecture there were plenty of sculptures and gardens.

See all photos from Elena K. for University of California

Absolutely love UC Berkeley, the balance of architecture and nature is stunning. Great location, lots of history, the campus was founded in 1868. Shout out to the Bears! Anthonyxibarrax

An immensely large campus you'd need an electronic scooter or take a bus line or a car to cover such a large area. There are offices, residence halls, Greek houses, multi floored halls of learning and many eateries surrounding the area. The trunks of the timbering trees are HUGE. There are a conglomeration of building styles and materials used around campus. Berkeley was a household word in reference to high caliber students and institution I heard mentioned during my growing up years. Doc gave us a drive through the campus commenting on notable buildings, the Quad and how COVID has changed the routines of past normalcy. If it wasn't a rainy day it might have been nice to explore on foot a bit for a few family photos. Affluence and pride endure here, Go Cal!

See all photos from Gail U. for University of California

If you're in Boston, you visit Harvard University. If you're in Palo Alto, you check out Stanford University. And if you're in Berkeley or anywhere in the East Bay, you've GOT to visit the University of California at Berkeley, commonly referred to as Cal. A walk through​ Sather Gate will lead you directly into Sproul Plaza, where the eyes of the world watched during the Free Speech Movement protests in the turbulent 1960s​. Be sure to take in all the interesting architecture of the buildings as you walk from the south to the north end of the campus. Definitely don't miss seeing the Sather Tower (the Campanile). It's Cal's most famous landmark! You can even go to the very top to catch a birds-eye​ view of the East Bay. Note its striking similarity to the Campanile in St. Mark's Square in Venice. Did you know UC Berkeley was ranked #2 among the best public universities in the country by US News and World Report (2020)? It has also been consistently ranked in the top 4 among the best public and private universities in the country by US News and World Report. Cal has long been recognized​ worldwide​ for its prestige in academics and prominent role in research. Admissions into Cal is an epic achievement these days, but a diploma from here showcasing a high GPA along with a couple of ​solid internships and an affable personality is a coveted golden ticket into the job world! Cal ​is definitely a beautiful and easily walkable campus. Add this world-class university to​ your list of places to visit whenever you're in the great East Bay. And share this gem with out-of-towners too!

See all photos from Lori N. for University of California

I studied a session of civics, law, policy research topics at the UC Berkeley campus they offered in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and Northwestern University. This was another campus that was of interest in me later on pursue a fuller education at. There is just such intense intellect here that anybody can feel walking around. Besides the sense of seriousness, which somewhat permeates the city, there is delicious food & culture down on Telegraph Rd from thrifting to stores. (Boba!) It is also nicely located to San Francisco Chinatown, a nice hiking trail, and the now Silicon Valley. Though I am most likely to continue my technology/engineering career, the idea of pursing a Berkeley or Harvard Law education is still on my mind. It may be a place to visit again? Who knows. There are other interesting reviews about how students are treated though so I have to see. I had already also chosen a much more balanced undergraduate education elsewhere, I could call home for some time.

I started my PhD program in Geophysics here at the University of California, Berkeley in August 2015. I passed my qualifying exam and advanced to PhD Candidate. I published multiple papers. Then I quit with no degree on the 31st of October 2019 as a last stand for morals and ethics, something the school lacked in my experience. Coming here was a mistake. Not something I regret, because I live my life to have no regrets. It was a mistake though, and I can learn from my mistakes. If you are a graduate student here, do not expect to be treated fairly. One of the problems I encountered multiple times while attending UC Berkeley included not getting paid, or getting paid too little for the work I had performed. Then being expected to continue working even though the University still had not paid me. That is a problem when one's rent reaches $2100 for a studio apartment in the Berkeley area... Might be a nice place as a visitor, but was not in my experience as a graduate student.

Sad to see the stadium empty on a Saturday, but it's nice to know football will resume November 6, 2020. Loved this Cal Bear sculpture. What a fun piece. I also visited Fraternity row while I was there.

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Campus visitation for Fall 2023 semester is now open and back in person! Additional dates and times will be added periodically throughout the semester, so please check back on our Events Page  for updates.

If you can't make it onto campus, check out our virtual campus visitation program .

Campus Visitation Program

Our Campus Visitation Program is available throughout the academic year. Spend a day (or just a couple of hours, if time is tight) experiencing life as a Berkeley Haas MBA student.

Carefully coordinated by our admissions team and the Haas Student Ambassadors (HSAs) , your visit will include:

• Class observation
• Self-guided tour
• Coffee chat with current students
• Lunch with fellow campus visitors
• Q&A with admissions
• Student-led information session

Check for available dates and register now. →

Observing a Class

When registering, you will be asked to select a preferred class to observe. We typically offer morning (9 am–11 am), and afternoon (2 pm–4 pm) options.

Spaces fill up quickly, so register early for more options. One class visit per academic year is permitted.

If class observations are full on the day you're coming to campus, you're still welcome to participate in the activities listed above. Just select the "No Class Observation" option when registering.

Typical Campus Visitation Schedule

Here's what your day might look like when you come to visit.

Dates and times are added periodically throughout the semester, so please check back on our Events Page for updates.

Virtual Campus Visitation Program

If you can't make it to Berkeley, our Virtual Campus Visitation Program is available throughout the academic year.

• Virtual Admissions Information Session
• Pre-Recorded Class Observation
• Virtual Self-guided tour
• Virtual Student-led event

Check out how to register below and our recommended schedule of sessions:

While you can choose your own campus visit adventure, here's the agenda we recommend for your virtual visit:

Location Address

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Haas School of Business 2220 Piedmont Avenue Berkeley, CA  94720

Mailing Address

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Full-Time MBA Admissions Haas School of Business 430 Student Services Bldg #1902 Berkeley, CA 94720-1902

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10 Things To Do In Berkeley: Complete Guide To Living Like A College Local

L ocated in the Bay Area near San Francisco, Berkeley is a classic blend of history, art, culture, and cuisine and serves as a breeding ground for writers, artists, and musicians. Berkeley is the home to the prestigious UC Berkeley, also known as Cal, and the inception place of activism during the Civil Rights Era .

The town is also known for its art scene as well as architecture, making it a hidden gem within the Southern California map. With a rich history, Berkeley is a town that every California vacationer should stop in.

UPDATE: 2023/07/19 16:29 EST BY NOAH STAATS

Berkeley, California, Is Much More Than Meets The Eye!

This article has been refreshed with new places to see while in Berkeley, California, as well as other helpful information for a successful California getaway. From the University of Berkeley, the marina, 4th Street, and even a 1940s horse racing facility, this town is packed with things to experience. Have fun and be safe!

Things To Do

Berkeley provides a plethora of mind-soothing tourist hotspots, including various cafés, bookstores, meet-up points, and lodging options, making it a nice weekend getaway in the Bay Area. Here's our ultimate guide to the college town and California gem!

Catch A Show At The Greek Theatre

One thing to do while in Berkeley, California, is to visit the Greek Theatre. Here, people can experience one of the nation's most beloved and recognized outdoor entertainment centers.

This amphitheater hosts countless live performances as well as local productions throughout the year, making it a prime spot for culture. One of the nice things about Berkeley is its love for the arts.

In addition, the Greek Theatre is an 8,500-seat property owned and operated by the University of California, Berkeley. Like much of the city, UC Berkeley has its hands on this attraction.

• Address : Hearst Greek Theatre, 2001 Gayley Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Hours : Dependent on the show

Tour The UC Berkeley Campus

Take a tour of the much acclaimed UC Berkeley, and witness 178 acres of architectural marvel. Start with Koret Visitor Center, which offers a complete tour of the campus; for those short on time, go for the self-guided tour option .

Take the elevator at the Sather Tower to reach the top of Cal's most iconic building. Here, a 200-foot level platform provides a beautiful view of the entire Bay Area and the Cal campus. Take a walk around Strawberry Creek to get in Zen mode.

Take a photo at the marble steps of Morrison Library, which serves as a spot for graduation photos. Look around for Founders Rock which is the heart of the campus.

• Address : University Avenue and Oxford St, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Hours : Monday-Friday: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm · Saturday-Sunday: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm.

What (else) is there to see at UC Berkeley?

Notable attractions include the historic Sproul Plaza, a center of student activity and the Free Speech Movement, the third-tallest bell and clock tower, Sather Tower, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology with over 3 million artifacts, the Botanical Garden, Hearst Greek Theater, and Lawrence Hall of Science, offering exhibits and planetarium shows for all ages, including 3D film screenings, with the UC Berkeley Campanile providing breathtaking views of the Bay Area.

Visit The Beautiful Botanical Garden In The Campus

Stretched in around a 34-acre area, this botanical garden is home to more than 10,000 varieties of plants from across the world. Tourists can get a tour of this garden which starts at regular intervals. Unwind under shades of trees and grab a quick bite while enjoying this pleasant garden.

Telegraph Avenue District

Telegraph Avenue is located near the UC Berkeley campus, it serves as a venue for socialization and gathering for UC Berkeley students, and it is known for its roots in the 1960 Berkeley Protest .

This is ground zero for the counter-culture that makes Berkeley quirky.

The street is filled with cafés, bookstores, and numerous street vendors. Some of the landmark music and bookstores include Rasputin Music, Amoeba Music, and Moe's Books.

Koret Visitor Center

This is the starting point for visiting the UC Berkeley campus; this is a 1 hour 30 minute, student-guided tour and requires online reservation beforehand; visit the website for more info.

Head Over To Downtown Berkeley

Like other cities, Berkeley's downtown is the heart of the city, surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops, and entertainment hubs like the Repertory Theatre. It's also worth noting that the downtown section of Berkeley is considered the business district, bringing offices, restaurants, shops, and financial institutions to the area.

This is where many travelers want to do most of their walking, as it's easy to navigate between the countless businesses. On top of that, Downtown Berkeley is lively during weekends and holidays, being a favorite for students and other young residents.

An illuminated fountain and a farmers’ market are among the attractions at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, so this is a spot everyone will want to see while in Berkeley.

Take In The Sights At Tilden National Park

Located in the east of the UC Berkeley campus, this 2077-acre park boasts breathtaking bay views with a rich botanical garden. This park is loved by children, especially the interactive little farm, steam train, and vintage carousel.

Visitors can soak in the sunset, which is a hike away. This park also offers various sights like the Lake Anza swimming site, golf course, and various picnic spots.

• Address : 2501 Grizzly Peak Blvd, Orinda, CA 94563
• Hours : Open daily from 5 am to 10 pm

Check out the Tilden Park website to learn about various events happening in the park.

Berkeley Art Museum And Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)

Located in the heart of Berkeley downtown, this is a concoction of an art museum. This repertory movie theater has an extensive collection of approximately 28000 artworks and 18000 films and videos.

It is a delight for art lovers and serves as an educational space for UC Berkeley scholars and the public. Don’t forget to check their website for the latest exhibitions and films.

• Address : 2155 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Hours : Open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 7 pm

This art museum was first opened in 1970 and has since become a beacon of the city. For those who love film, this is a must-see while in the Berkeley area.

Bask In The Sunset At Berkeley Marina

Located on University Avenue, this city park is a quick getaway for nature lovers. The vast grassy land provides perfect picnic spots along with running trails and bike paths.

The Berkeley Marina is the westernmost portion of the city of Berkeley, located west of the Eastshore Freeway at the foot of University Avenue on San Francisco Bay. This is where many people spend sunrise and sunset in the city, watching it over the beautiful blue water.

The Marina is also free to enter and walk around, making this a nice affordable day trip for guests of the city. There are quite a few restaurants here as well, including ones serving fresh Californian seafood!

• Address : 124 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94710 (Marina Center)

Shop & Eat On 4th Street

Located north of University Avenue, this stretch is one of the busiest places for refined shopping and eating in the city. The street hosts more than 70 shops that are designed keeping in mind the love of artful living and fashion.

There are endless stores here, including Lulu Lemon, Athletica, Kiehl's, Madewell, MAC, and Aveda, as well as smaller, locally-owned businesses. Like the Marina, 4th Street also boasts many restaurants and public walking spaces, making it another perfect place to spend a few hours in the afternoon or evening.

• Address : Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
• Hours : Open 24 hours

For people not wanting to spend all day in the car, 4th Street is perfect for walking or riding city scooters/bikes. There are many restaurants, shops, and entertainment opportunities throughout this area of Berkeley.

Take Some Quiet Time At Indian Rock Park

Indian Rock Park is a perfect spot for gazing at the sunset; visitors can witness the breathtaking scenery unfolding in front of them as the sun sinks beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Indian Rock Park is a 1.18-acre public park at 950 Indian Rock Avenue, where various social events and live performances take place throughout the year. For those visiting Berkeley in the spring or summer, there should be quite a bit going on throughout the park, especially on weekends.

Direction-wise, the park is tucked away at the northeast side of Berkeley, about two blocks north of the Arlington/Marin Circle, and straddles Indian Rock Avenue.

This is one of the better public parks in the area and is free to enter. Parking might be challenging in the busier months and seasons, so consider that before venturing out.

• Address : 950 Indian Rock Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707
• Hours : Open daily from 6 am to 10 pm

Shop And Explore On San Pablo Avenue

Witness the evolution and diversity of Berkeley culture at this avenue; visitors will find every bit of the world doing their business in this happy place. Here they will get some of the best avocado toast, thin-crust pizzas, and handcrafted cappuccino in town.

San Pablo Avenue is a student-friendly neighborhood offering famous board games and free popcorn for grad students. Shop for home decor at the famous Mignonne Décor, or check out the pricey Victorian frame at Ohmega Salvage.

Visitors can find some exclusive jewelry at Kiss My Ring and some really cool gifts at Juniper Tree Supplies. If anyone in the group needs to keep busy for the day, this is certainly one spot to consider.

• Address : 2072 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702

San Pablo Avenue is a major thoroughfare that runs northwest from the center of Oakland at Frank Ogawa Plaza to the city of Crockett.

See A Race Or Concert At Golden Gate Field

Sports enthusiasts will not want to miss this place, it is a one-stop place for horse watching and sports watching, and there are rooms with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating facilities that broadcast several sports simultaneously.

It's worth mentioning that this location has been an American horse racing track straddling Albany, California, and Berkeley since 1941 and has become a historic landmark of the area. Structurally, it's very unique and tends to be a hot spot for photography.

On top of that, there are also live music events held here throughout the year, making it a nice spot to unwind at night. It's recommended to check the official website for upcoming events and plan accordingly.

• Address : 1100 Eastshore Hwy, Berkeley, CA 94710
• Hours : Dependent on the event

Related: 10 Best Places To Glamp Near California's Bay Area

Best Time To Go To Berkeley

Berkeley enjoys refreshing weather all year round – thanks to its location in the San Francisco Bay Area, the climate is usually mild – summers not too hot and winters not too cold!

A good time to visit is between June to August, which is also when a lot of tourists flock to the city, so hotel and activities prices are usually on the higher side.

• Does Berkeley, California get snow? No ; it's very rare for Berkeley to experience snow, especially at its elevation of 171 feet.

Best Ways To Get Around Berkeley

Berkeley can be reached via San Francisco or Oakland airport if visitors prefer air travel. Consider flying to Oakland, as it is a smaller airport, relatively easier to manage, and also, it is closer to Berkeley.

From either of these airports, visitors can take a taxi, which will be costly, or they can use BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), take a shuttle to BART, and BART to Berkeley!

Get down at “Downtown Berkeley” station and catch a BearTransitShuttle , or an AC Transit Bus to travel within the city. Visitors can also book an Uber for comfortable travel.

Related: 10 Must-Visit Places You Should See In California

Where To Eat In Berkeley, California

Berkeley, with its diverse and widespread food joints offering authentic cuisine experiences, presents an excellent opportunity for travelers to combine their culinary adventures with sightseeing, making it a must-visit destination for food lovers.

Shattuck & Vine Street Neighborhood

Shattuck and Vine Street is a culinary heaven! Alice Waters's Chez Panisse attracted a lot of food enterprises, brands, and entrepreneurs to put up shops across Shattuck Avenue.

Located on this street is Gourmet Ghetto , which offers food from across the world at a broad price range. Head on to Chez Panisse, which is an upscale American restaurant crafted by Alice Waters and dedicated to fresh and seasonal food. Check out the 400 different cheeses offered by the Cheeseboard Collective , which is a worker-owned cooperative. The place hosts an organic farmer’s market every Thursday. Visitors can also sign up for a culinary walking tour or just roam around the street and explore some of the finest culinary, gift shops, and self-designed jewelry shops.

If visitors are up for modern Indian cuisine, Hop on to Tigerlily or walk down a few steps to Epicurious Garden for Shushi or gelato. In the mood for some wine tasting? Look for Vintage Berkeley wine shop and get a reasonably priced bottle here. True coffee lovers can't miss original Peet’s Coffee and Tea at the corner of Walnut and Vine shop to enjoy Berkeley dark roast java coffee since 1966.

Masse’s Pastries is a combination of art and food that travelers should not miss when exploring this avenue. If sandwiches and salad sound good, try Gregoire. Book a culinary walking tour by Edible Excursion to experience the North Shattuck’s cuisine in the best way possible.

Berkeley downtown is filled with food corners ranging from quick bite shops to fine dining, do check out Gather for omnivorous cuisine and craft cocktails. Zino offers a fine-dining Mediterranean cuisine option. Almare Gelato and Italian ice creams are all-time favorites.

Telegraph Avenue

This four-and-a-half-mile stretch is one of the most distinct commercial districts of Berkeley. It is the birthplace of lattes and has also made ice cream and sandwiches famous. Check out The Bird and Top Dog, Henery’s, and Mezzo, the sandwich and salad spot for food worth trying.

Best Places To Try Berkeley's Authentic Drinks

Berkeley, California, is home to a vibrant microbrewing scene that originated in 1985 at Triple Rock Brewery & Alehouse. This local brewery boasts a dedicated fan following thanks to its commitment to artisanal and alehouse cuisine. Jupiter is another not-to-be-missed destination, offering handcrafted beers and ales complemented by award-winning wood-fired pizzas. For those seeking an authentic taste of Berkeley's best brews, a visit to Gilman Brewing Company promises an experience filled with award-winning beverages.

Wine enthusiasts will find their haven in West Berkeley, where a one-block radius is home to an impressive array of half a dozen wineries. Among the notable wineries are Broc Cellars, Doney & Goat, Lusu Cellars, and Vinca Minor, each offering delightful and flavorful natural wines. And if one happens to wander around Fourth Street, the elevated wine-tasting experience at Wine SoCru is not to be overlooked.

Where To Stay In And Around Berkeley

Whether visitors are on a luxury trip with family enjoying a holiday or backpacking Bay Area and looking for a budget stay, Berkeley has a lot of options to offer. It is well-connected with roads, so going from one place to another is not a tiresome task.

Listed here are some of the finest stay options based on budget.

Downtown Berkeley Inn

• Located in the heart of the city, this budget hotel offers a lot of restaurants, shopping, and entertainment choices nearby.
• Address: 2001 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California 94704

Super 8 By Wyndham Berkeley

• Located on University Avenue close to BART and the university campus, this renovated Motel offers all amenities that travelers expect. Right from TV and refrigerator to parking and 24-hour customer service.
• Address: 1619 University Ave, Berkeley, California 94703

Related: West Coast United States Travel Guide - Top Sights, Restaurants & Accommodations

Howard Johnson by Wyndham Berkeley

• Located on University Avenue, the 26-unit property offers free guest parking, TV, hairdryer, and 24-hour customer service and is near North Berkeley BART station and CAL.
• Address: 1512 University Ave, Berkeley, California 94703
• Cost: $$ - $$$

Quality Inn University

• This is a well-connected hotel and offers free breakfast, Wi-Fi, and a Business Center.
• Address: 1761 University Ave, Berkeley, California 94703

Travelodge by Wyndham Berkeley

• This hotel offers clean and comfortable rooms with security locks; this stay is four blocks away from Cal and close to the downtown Berkeley BART station.
• Address: 1820 University Ave, Berkeley, California 94703
• Cost: $$ - $$$$

Bancroft Hotel

• One of the best hotels if travelers can shell out extra money, located very close to the Cal, this green hotel offers bay and campus views with all the amenities.
• Address: 2680 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California 94704

Berkeley City Club

• Designed by Julia Morgan, this historic hotel is an architectural marvel equipped with fine dining and a private social club.
• Address: 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, California 94704

Rose Garden Inn

• Located in the vicinity of Cal, this oasis offers a complimentary buffet breakfast, Wi-Fi, and limited parking.
• Address: 2740 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, California 94705

DoubleTree by Hilton Berkeley Marina

• The best thing about this luxury hotel is its location in Berkeley Marina, as it provides an amazing view of the Bay Area, San Francisco skyline, and Golden Bridge. The rooms are spacious and come with either balcony or patio.
• Address: 200 Marina Blvd., Berkeley, California 94710

Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites

• Rated as one of the top hotels in the city, located near Interstate 80 in Berkeley. This hotel is an ideal stay option and one of the top picks for a luxury vacation.
• Address: 1175 University Ave, Berkeley, California 94702

Tips For Visiting Berkeley, California

Beautiful murals on walls, parks, and driveways can be found throughout the city, so a walking tour may be in order. Berkeley is a very diverse city; it accepts people coming from different walks of life, making its culture distinctly vibrant.

Berkeley has a series of small restaurants and shops that are authentic to the city and cannot be found anywhere else. The city ignites creativity in several different ways – murals, book cafés, hidden stairways in Berkeley Hills, and How Berkeley Can You Be Parade .

Related: 10 Crazy Affordable (But Scenic) West Coast Road Trips

How To Spend A Perfect Day In Berkeley

Berkeley has a lot to offer to its travelers. The rich and vibrant culture of the city is visible in its architecture, cuisines, and art. A perfect day in Berkeley should include a visit to the acclaimed UC Berkeley campus, where visitors can spend time in the Botanical Garden, Sather Tower, Sproul Plaza, and Lawrence Hall of Science.

Spend the afternoon visiting BAMPFA, the art museum and repertory movie theater, and exploring the Shattuck and Vine Street and witness some of the authentic cuisine that Berkeley has to offer.

The evening should be reserved for a nature walk at Tilden Park, especially during the sunset, to capture the beautiful scenery of the sun dipping down on the Bay Area. Late evenings can be spent shopping on 4th Street or Downtown.

Q: What is the best time to visit Berkeley?

Best time to visit Berkeley is between June to August when the temperature is moderate and the city is lively.

Q: What activities does Berkeley offer?

Berkeley is a college town known for art, botany, history, and the San Francisco Bay. The city of San Francisco itself, the most walkable place in the US , is only a short day trip away.

Q: What is Berkeley known for?

Berkeley is known as a college town that's convenient to the rest of the Bay, including San Francisco. It's one of the must-see places in California for art, culture, and more.

From Free Speech to Free Palestine: Six Decades of Student Protest

The protests against Israel’s war in Gaza are merely the latest in a tradition of student-led, left-leaning activism dating back at least to the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s.

Students occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall in April 1972. Credit... Getty Images

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By Richard Fausset

• May 4, 2024

An American college student looked out at a sea of protesters and spoke of a machine that had grown so “odious” that it had left people of good will little choice. There must be protest.

“You’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop,” he said. Soon the students would flood into a campus administration building.

That scene played out 60 years ago at the University of California, Berkeley. The words were directed at the university leadership, and referring to its restrictions on campus political activity. But the speech, from the student leader Mario Savio, and the sit-in that followed could have happened yesterday.

The protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that have erupted on college campuses around the United States are merely the latest in a tradition of student-led, left-leaning activism dating back at least to the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s.

Often, the protests have played out on college campuses, and sometimes in the same building as previous years: Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, was taken over by students in the protests of 1968 as well as this past week and at least four times in between. Sometimes the protests have seemed to be off-campus adaptations, like the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of 2011 or the racial justice demonstrations of recent years.

Like today’s protests, most of the older movements were highly polarizing. Some observers at the time praised protesters for their courage and idealism, while others criticized them for being misguided, self-indulgent or guilty of flirting with — or embracing — irresponsible and even dangerous rhetoric and ideas.

A high propensity to offend can seem inextricably intertwined with the fresh thinking that college-age students often bring to the world’s most difficult questions. “When you’re talking about college students, you are talking about people who are barely out of childhood,” said Rick Perlstein, the historian and author, in an interview this week. “People who are barely out of childhood and basically on their own for the first time, and exploring ideas for the first time, sometimes say crazy things.”

Some of the student protests, like the Civil Rights and anti-apartheid movements, helped achieve tangible goals that have become broadly accepted over time. Others continue to stir debate about their wisdom and efficacy. The current movement is notable for the way it has divided not only Americans in general, but Americans who identify as liberal, over the thorny question of when criticism of Israel veers into antisemitism.

Like the older movements, the current one is likely to be the subject of decades of research into its origins, its aims and its aftereffects. In the short term, politicians, including the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, are implicitly acknowledging its potential power to sway elections in the way the demonstrations of 1968 are often credited with helping to doom the Democratic presidential candidacy of Hubert H. Humphrey and elect Richard M. Nixon.

Former President Donald J. Trump has called the protests a “disgrace to our country.” On Thursday, after protesters and the police clashed dramatically at the University of California, Los Angeles, and other campuses, President Biden sought a middle ground. “There’s the right to protest,” he said, “but not the right to cause chaos.”

The Civil Rights Movement

The idea of the progressive college student as a force in public life is a relatively recent development.

“Universities from the medieval era probably up to the 1930s were supposed to be sanctuaries from politics and society,” said Kenneth Heineman, a historian at Angelo State University in Texas. Though student protesters made waves in the earlier part of the 20th century, the template for student protest coalesced in the 1960s, as Baby Boomers swelled the ranks of colleges and universities in a wealthy country that was beginning to confront its long history of racism, and would soon be engulfed by the Vietnam conflict — one in which 61 percent of the 58,000 American soldiers killed were under 21 years old.

One of the early sit-ins protests that sought to desegregate restaurants and other public places in the South was carried out by four students from historically Black North Carolina A&T State University, who took spots at lunch counters reserved for whites in Greensboro, N.C., and politely refused to leave when asked.

Many participants in the Freedom Rides of 1961 were also college students and were confronted with violent mobs who met them in the Deep South. A college group called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or S.N.C.C., participated in the Freedom Rides and engaged in voter registration efforts in Mississippi.

With these and other efforts, the American college student began to be seen as a catalyst for profound structural change. But the protests hardly brought universal praise. In a 1961 Gallup poll, 57 percent of respondents said that sit-ins and Freedom Rides would hurt, rather than help, the cause of integration.

“Student movements in the United States are never popular off campus,” said Robert Cohen, a historian at New York University. “And that’s a reflection of a kind of underlying cultural conservatism of the country. It’s like, ‘Shut up and study. You’re not respecting your elders, you’re supposed to be seen, not heard.’”

The Free Speech movement at the University of California, Berkeley

In 1964, students at the University of California, Berkeley protested free speech limitations that had been enacted in earlier years amid a fear of the radical left.

After a sit-in action in the school’s administration building, the protesters, who collectively became known as the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, saw the restrictions abolished. Soon American colleges had entered in a new era in which a paternalistic model of administration, which often governed not only student speech but dress and dating, began to fall away.

This new freedom helped midwife the decade’s counterculture movement, though by the early 1970s, it would fall apart under the weight of its own excesses, which Mr. Perlstein, a man of the left, once tartly described as “a blaze of numbskull adventurism and Maoist masquerade.”

By the mid-1960s, the United States had begun dramatically increasing its troop presence in Vietnam. Beginning in 1964, and continuing through 1973, the federal government would draft 2.2 million men into military service. And college campuses would spend years in upheaval.

The high-water mark of U.S. campus protests would come in 1970, with news of President Nixon’s expansion of the war effort into Cambodia. Students were also incensed by fatal shootings of students by authorities amid protests at Jackson State University, in Mississippi, and Kent State University in Ohio. Students at 900 schools took part in a coordinated strike, according to an analysis by the University of Washington.

The televised scenes of chaos at American schools, and the growing radicalization of some elements of the antiwar movement, created a significant backlash. One Gallup poll from May 1970 showed that 58 percent of respondents blamed the students for the Kent State shootings, in which the Ohio National Guard killed four students and injured nine. (The shootings came after protests in which some protesters threw rocks at the troops, and an R.O.T.C. building had burned down.) A Gallup poll from the previous year had found that 82 percent of Americans were in favor of expelling militant students from school.

But historians and others said that the large-scale protests on and off campus pressured the Nixon administration to hasten U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, with the last American combat troops leaving the country in January 1973.

The Anti-Apartheid movement

From the end of the Vietnam era to the present day, college campuses have occasionally flared with left-wing dissent, protesting U.S. intervention in Central America, domestic policy issues and military actions in the Middle East.

In the 1970s and 1980s, student-led movements sprang up on numerous college campuses calling on schools to divest from companies that did business in South Africa, which at the time was under white apartheid rule. Students on many campuses erected shanties in solidarity with poor Black South Africans, and a number of schools divested, at least partially, from companies with investments in South Africa.

Though they were only one factor that led to the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s, the South Africa divestment movement directly inspired the current demands that schools divest from businesses connected to Israel.

These demands are part of the broader effort targeting Israel known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which calls upon nations, businesses and schools to sever links with Israel unless it meets a number of demands, including ending its occupation of all land captured in 1967 and allowing Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to properties from which they were displaced during the period that Israel was established.

Occupy Wall Street

Though not a student movement per se, Occupy Wall Street, the 2011 grass-roots movement against corporate greed and income inequality, introduced a new generation to the idea of widespread protest, and eventually spread to a number of college campuses.

The epicenter of the movement was in Manhattan’s financial district, in Zuccotti Park, which protesters occupied for a series of weeks. Their improvised tent city has been echoed in the pro-Palestinian protests, where pitched tents on campus have, aside from student bodies, been the most visible sign of the Gaza protests.

Black Lives Matter

Until this year’s pro-Palestinian protests, the most formative political experience in the lives of today’s college activists was arguably the series of antiracist street protests that rocked the United States beginning with a Florida vigilante’s killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black man, in 2012, and reached a peak after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, in 2020.

Many activists, like Vonne Crandell, a Tulane student and activist, saw the Palestinian struggle and the effort to end racism in the United States as part of the same broader fight against colonial powers exploiting indigenous people and people of color.

Black activists in the United States have a long and complicated history when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Soon after the 1967 war between Israel and neighboring Arab states, leaders of the S.N.C.C., which had grown increasingly radicalized, stated that Jews were “imitating their Nazi oppressors” by using terror tactics on Arabs. Such statements led to denunciations from more moderate Civil Rights forces just as comparisons of Israelis to genocidal regimes are making more moderate liberals queasy today.

For Mr. Crandell — a Black man who was suspended from Tulane this week for his participation in the protests — there is no debate. “We are witnessing a genocide in real time,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Speaking of Black Americans and Palestinians, he added: “All of our struggles are together.”

Susan Beachy contributed research.

Richard Fausset , based in Atlanta, writes about the American South, focusing on politics, culture, race, poverty and criminal justice. More about Richard Fausset

Our Coverage of the U.S. Campus Protests

News and Analysis

Columbia : After weeks of student protests, Columbia University announced that it would be canceling its main commencement ceremony .

UChicago : The University of Chicago, which says that free speech is sacred, has allowed protest encampments. But they have also disrupted campus life, and the school’s leaders want the tents down .

U.S.C.:  The Los Angeles Police Department and campus police removed a pro-Palestinian encampment for the second time  at the University of Southern California.

Outside Agitators:  Officials in New York City have blamed “external actors” for escalating demonstrations at Columbia, but student protesters reject the claim .

Clashes at U.C.L.A.: A New York Times examination of more than 100 videos from clashes at the University of California, Los Angeles, shows how counterprotesters provoked the violence .

Reactions Abroad:  The world is watching what is happening on American campuses with shock, pride, relish and alarm. Here is a selection of views from outside the United States .

A Spotlight on Student Journalists:  Columbia’s radio station and other student-led news outlets have provided some of the most detailed coverage  of the turmoil engulfing campuses.

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Dozens arrested in California and Texas as campus administrators move to shut down protests – as it happened

More than 60 people, including a journalist, arrested at University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin. This blog is now closed.

• Campus protests: full story
• 25 Apr 2024 Summary: Dozens arrested across the US in student protests against war in Gaza
• 24 Apr 2024 Journalist arrested in Texas amid tense protests at UT Austin
• 24 Apr 2024 White House: Biden supports free speech on college campuses
• 24 Apr 2024 At least 10 arrests at University of Texas in Austin
• 24 Apr 2024 Johnson calls on Columbia University president to resign
• 24 Apr 2024 Mike Johnson slams college protests in remarks at Columbia University
• 24 Apr 2024 New York governor says Johnson 'adding to division' with Columbia University visit
• 24 Apr 2024 Students forcibly arrested at University of Southern California in LA
• 24 Apr 2024 Protesters arrested at University of Texas in Austin - reports
• 24 Apr 2024 Two Ohio State students arrested at campus protest
• 24 Apr 2024 UC Berkeley protest encampment grows on third day
• 24 Apr 2024 Harvard University launches pro-Palestinian encampment
• 24 Apr 2024 Biden does not plan to visit Columbia University protests - report
• 24 Apr 2024 Biden signs foreign aid package including $26.3bn for Israel
• 24 Apr 2024 Johnson to call on Columbia University president to resign
• 24 Apr 2024 AOC says Columbia University calling police on protesters was a 'reckless, dangerous act'
• 24 Apr 2024 Mike Johnson to visit Columbia University
• 24 Apr 2024 Israel defense minister says 'antisemitic' campus protests 'inciting terrorism'
• 24 Apr 2024 Biden faces risk of protests amid criticism of planned commencement speech
• 24 Apr 2024 Which US universities are seeing campus protests?
• 24 Apr 2024 Republicans demand Biden administration send in federal law enforcement to end protests
• 24 Apr 2024 Columbia university extends deadline for talks to dismantle student protest camps

Protesters arrested at University of Texas in Austin - reports

Pictures and videos on social media show Texas state troops in riot gear at the University of Texas at Austin campus during a pro-Palestinian protest.

An Instagram reel posted by the Palestine Solidarity Committee in Austin said the university administration officials called on state troops “in an attempt to scare us into silence”.

In a post on X, the Daily Texan said about 50 state troopers were at the campus, some on horseback, and that arrests were under way.

Roughly 50 state troopers in riot gear have arrived, seven of which are on horseback. pic.twitter.com/CnZxA0s1I2 — The Daily Texan (@thedailytexan) April 24, 2024

ut austin, where texas state troopers are barring students from accessing the other side of the campus. please look at this, i have never seen anything like this pic.twitter.com/HjtJnaa7gW — big b and the b stands for ‘bedour’🌙 (@balagonline) April 24, 2024

DPS appears to be prepping to disperse with a heavy, heavy showing of DPS troopers prepped in riot gear. pic.twitter.com/xJ1jZlNRjy — Ryan Chandler (@RyanChandlerTV) April 24, 2024

Throughout the afternoon on Tuesday, loudspeakers blared speeches given by UC Berkeley professors and students in support of the sit-in, as a few dozen people stood and listened.

But campus life otherwise carried on. University clubs recruited from behind tables lining the plaza, students streamed by on their way to class, while others worked from laptops in the courtyard.

There is minimal police or security presence on site, but the students are bracing for that to change. They have been vocal about their determination to stay even if the university tries to have them forcibly removed.

The “Free Palestine Camp,” is one of many actions that have been taken at UC Berkeley in opposition to the recent violent escalation in Gaza that’s left tens of thousands of civilians dead, and the encampment was designed in solidarity with protests at Columbia University. It also follows decades of demonstrations in support of Palestinians at the school.

Two Ohio State students arrested at campus protest

Two Ohio State University students were arrested on Tuesday and charged with criminal trespassing during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the university campus, school officials said.

The protest was organized by several groups, including the Palestinian liberation movement and Ohio youth for climate justice, the Lantern reported.

Isabella Guinigundo, a spokesperson for Ohio youth for climate justice, told the student newspaper that the protesters were told by the police that they were being too loud before officers approached the crowd, pulling them out and arresting them.

In a statement, OSU spokesperson Benjamin Johnson said:

When yesterday’s demonstration became disruptive to the students, faculty and staff in Meiling Hall, the university issued multiple warnings. When the disruptive activity continued, two individuals were arrested. Ohio State has an unwavering commitment to freedom of speech and took this action in alignment with our space use rules to provide for the orderly conduct of university business.

UC Berkeley protest encampment grows on third day

Now in its third day, the protest encampment at UC Berkeley has steadily grown.

Rows of tents were added to the cluster set up on the steps of Sproul Hall at the center of campus. Draped overhead, a banner reads “An injury to Gaza is an injury to all,” one of many signs posted through the protest outlining the students’ objectives: they have committed to camping here until their school agrees to add a sever its financial connections to BlackRock and other asset managers they see as complicit for financing genocide in Gaza.

UC Berkeley holds a $427m investment in a BlackRock portfolio and school officials have commented that a change in their investment strategy is not on the table.

But the protesters are also calling for an academic boycott, which would end collaborations with Israeli universities and the establishment of a new Palestinian Studies program.

The Harvard University encampment comes after the university suspended the Harvard undergraduate Palestine solidarity committee on Monday and ordered the group to “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term” or risk permanent expulsion.

The group, which describes itself as a “Harvard student group in pursuit of liberation through justice for Palestine,” said it would continue to advocate for Palestine regardless of Harvard’s decision. A statement from the group said:

You can suspend our organization and threaten our students, but you will never silence our calls for Divestment from apartheid, occupation and genocide.

Harvard University launches pro-Palestinian encampment

Pro-Palestinian protesters launched an encampment at Harvard University ’s Harvard Yard this morning to protest against the suspension of the university’s undergraduate Palestine solidarity committee and demand the university divest from Israel’s war in Gaza.

The encampment marks the largest protest on Harvard’s campus since former university president Claudine Gay’s resignation earlier this year, the Harvard Crimson reports.

The student newspaper said the university was restricting access to Harvard Yard to only university ID holders until Friday.

Harvard interim president Alan Garber told the paper on Monday that he would not rule out a police response to protests, but said it would require a “very high bar”.

Biden does not plan to visit Columbia University protests - report

Joe Biden does not plan to visit Columbia University when he visits New York on Friday, White House and campaign officials told CNN.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said yesterday that the White House was monitoring “closely” the protests on college campuses and that the president takes seriously the conversations he has had with community leaders about the current “painful moment”. Bates told reporters:

But as I said, when we witness calls for violence, physical intimidation, hateful, antisemitic rhetoric, those are unacceptable. We will denounce them. The president knows that silence is complicity and that’s why he uses the platforms he has to try and ensure that our fellow Americans are safe.

Joe Biden praised legislation he signed today that rushes in foreign aid including more than $26bn to Israel as a bipartisan legislative victory on a “good day for world peace”.

The president, in remarks delivered from the White House, shortly after signing the legislation, said:

It’s going to make America safer. It’s going to make the world safer.

The bill includes about $1bn in humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza .

In remarks delivered from the White House, Biden urged Israel to ensure the humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the bill reaches Gaza “without delay”.

President Biden praises the foreign aid package including aid for Israel and Gaza, but warns Israel not to block humanitarian aid: “Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay.” pic.twitter.com/Epz9J7YxUB — The Recount (@therecount) April 24, 2024

Cameron Jones first learned about fossil fuel divestment as a 15-year-old climate organizer. When he enrolled at Columbia University in 2022, he joined the campus’s chapter of the youth-led climate justice group the Sunrise Movement and began pushing the school in New York to sever financial ties with coal, oil and gas companies.

Today, 19-year-old Jones, like many other student protesters and campus organizers, is just as focused on pushing the school to divest from another group of businesses: those profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza. He and others see the issues as firmly connected, with activists learning from tactics used in both of the often overlapping movements .

On Monday, Jones, speaking from the student encampment of demonstrators on Columbia’s campus who are protesting against the war and the university’s ties to Israel , said:

Once we see large institutions like universities taking the steps to sever ties with harmful institutions, we will then hopefully see corporations and countries and cities follow suit.

In particular, students are demanding the university drop its direct investments in companies doing business in or with Israel, including Amazon and Google, which are part of a $1.2bn cloud-computing contract with the state’s government; Microsoft, whose services are used by Israel’s ministry of defense and Israeli civil administration; and defense contractors profiting from the war such as Lockheed Martin , which on Tuesday reported its earnings were up 14% .

Read the full story: How divestment became a ‘clarion call’ in anti-fossil fuel and pro-ceasefire protests

Cal Poly Humboldt, a public university on California’s northern coast, remained closed on Wednesday after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves in a campus building for a sit-in.

Law enforcement and students clashed on Monday as police tried to clear Siemens Hall. Video posted by a student activist group showed students chanting “we are not afraid of you” before officers in riot gear attempted to take them into custody. Police could be seen swinging batons at demonstrators as the group pushed them back. The officers reportedly left after an hours-long standoff.

Three protesters were arrested on Monday evening after the confrontation with law enforcement, the university said in a statement. Dozens of students remain inside the building and have barricaded entrances with furniture, according to the university, while others occupied another nearby building.

The campus is closed through Wednesday and classes are being held remotely.

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People taken into custody at NYU as pro-Palestinian campus protests escalate across U.S.

Rising tensions on campuses

• Multiple people were taken into custody tonight at New York University, city officials confirmed, adding that officers responded to the campus after university officials requested police. The number was unclear.
• Police officers arrested protesters who had set up an encampment on Yale University ’s campus in support of the Palestinian cause. In total, 47 students were issued summonses, the university said.
• In New York City, classes at Columbia University were held virtually today amid reports of antisemitic and offensive statements and actions on and near its campus.
• Last week more than 100 Columbia students were arrested after the administration called police to report the students as a danger to campus. NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the student newspaper that there were no reports of violence or injuries and that the students were "peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever."
• Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been established at the University of Michigan, New York University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.
• The escalated tension comes ahead of this evening's start of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Coverage on this live blog has ended. Follow the latest news on the campus protests here.

Cal Poly Humboldt in California closes campus after occupation of building

Phil Helsel

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, said campus is closed through Wednesday after protesters demonstrating against the war in Gaza occupied Siemens Hall on the campus in Arcata.

“The University is deeply concerned about the safety of the protestors who have barricaded themselves inside the building. The University is urgently asking that the protestors listen to directives from law enforcement that have responded and to peacefully leave the building,” it said in a statement.

It asked the campus community to avoid the area of the building, "as it is a dangerous and volatile situation."

Cal Poly Humboldt has an undergrad enrollment of around 5,800. Humboldt is on the California coast in the northwestern part of the state, near the Oregon border.

MIT students demand school call for cease-fire

The Associated Press

Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT graduate student studying electrical engineering, was among about two dozen students who set up a tent encampment on the school’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus Sunday evening. They are calling for a cease-fire and are protesting what they describe as MIT’s “complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” he said.

“MIT has not even called for a cease-fire, and that’s a demand we have for sure,” Iyengar said.

He also said MIT has been sending out confusing rules about protests.

“We’re out here to demonstrate that we reserve the right to protest. It’s an essential part of living on a college campus,” Iyengar said.

Police 'ready' to remove protesters again at NYU's request: NYPD official

A New York Police Department deputy commissioner tonight shared the letter sent by New York University to the police department asking police to clear Gaza war protesters from its Manhattan campus who refused to leave.

Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry also on social media said that if called upon, the NYPD would do it again.

"There is a pattern of behavior occurring on campuses across our nation, in which individuals attempt to occupy a space in defiance of school policy,” Daughtry wrote on X . “ Rest assured, in NYC the NYPD stands ready to address these prohibited and subsequently illegal actions whenever we are called upon.”

Police took multiple people into custody at NYU’s Gould Plaza while clearing the protesters, the police department said. The number of those arrested, as well as charges, were not available from police early Tuesday.

The letter from NYU posted by Daughtry said the protesters refused to leave and that the university considered them to be trespassers and asked for police help.

Fountain Walker, head of NYU Global Campus Safety, said on social media that the university had given the demonstrators until 4 p.m. to leave. Walker said that barricades had been breached and “we witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community.”

Columbia to offer hybrid learning for classes on main campus until summer

Classes at Columbia University’s main campus will be hybrid, if the technology permits it, until the end of the spring semester, Provost Angela V. Olinto said in guidance to the Manhattan institution, which has had demonstrations over the war in Gaza.

Faculty with classes equipped with hybrid technology “should enable them to provide virtual learning options to students who need such a learning modality,” she wrote.

Those without should hold classes remotely if students request it, she wrote. The guidance applies to the university’s main campus in Morningside Heights.

There have been large demonstrations over the war in Gaza, and last week over 100 people were arrested there after the university asked the NYPD to remove protesters who occupied a space on campus for more than 30 hours.

Columbia President President Minouche Shafik said in a letter to the university community today that "I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus."

"The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days," Shafik said. "These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas. We need a reset."

She added that "over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus" and that antisemitic language will not be tolerated.

Barnard offers suspended students a deal

Barnard College says it has offered the students who were suspended after a 30-hour encampment protest at Columbia last week a way to get off interim suspension.

The students were suspended after police cleared the encampment, set up in support of Gaza, on April 18. New York police arrested more than 100 people.

Barnard President Laura Ann Rosenbury said in a letter today that “the vast majority of the students on interim suspension have not previously engaged in misconduct under Barnard’s rules.”

“Last night, the College sent written notices to these students offering to lift the interim suspensions, and immediately restore their access to College buildings, if they agree to follow all Barnard rules during a probationary period,” Rosenbury said.

If they do, the incident will not appear on transcripts or reportable student disciplinary records, she said.

More than 108 people were arrested during the demonstration, authorities have said.

Students mark Passover with interfaith Seders

Alicia Victoria Lozano

Tavleen Tarrant

BERKELEY, Calif. — Jewish students have organized interfaith Passover Seders at the Gaza solidarity encampments at college campuses across the U.S.

Photos and videos from Columbia University in New York City and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor were shared online and show students in keffiyeh scarves, surrounded by tents, sitting down to a Passover Seder.

A spokesperson for the Jewish Voice for Peace chapter at the University of California, Berkeley, said the group would also be hosting a Seder.

“A lot of us had other plans for our first-night Seder, but we want to observe Passover with our community,” said a spokesperson for Berkeley’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. “It’s a strange time dealing with the story of Passover.”

N.J. man charged with hate crime in break-in at Rutgers Islamic center

A 24-year-old New Jersey man has been charged with a federal hate crime and accused of breaking into an Islamic center on the campus of Rutgers University this month, federal prosecutors said today.

Jacob Beacher, of Somerset County, is charged with one count of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and one count of making false statements to federal authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement .

Beacher is accused of breaking into the Center for Islamic Life at the New Brunswick campus around 2:40 a.m. April 10.

He broke through the glass pane of a rear door to unlock it, an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit associated with the criminal complaint, and then allegedly damaged religious artifacts and stole a Palestinian flag.

Around $40,000 in damage was done, the affidavit says. When he was questioned, Beacher said he was the person in surveillance video near the center, but he denied breaking into the building, the FBI agent wrote.

A suspected motive is not described in the affidavit. A federal public defender listed in court records as representing Beacher did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court records show Beacher was being held in custody.

U.S. Holocaust Museum calls on colleges to address ‘shocking eruption of antisemitism’ on campuses

The U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., today called on colleges to do more to address what it called a “shocking eruption of antisemitism” on campuses due to tensions over the war in Gaza.

“Demonstrators at Columbia University calling for Jews to return to Poland — where three million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators — is an outrageous insult to Holocaust memory, a failure to appreciate its lessons, and an act of dangerous antisemitism,” the Holocaust Museum said in a statement .

“America is hardly the Third Reich, but the Holocaust teaches the dangers of pervasive societal antisemitism, and awareness of this history must guide our actions in the present,” it said. “Nazi ideology was official state policy, but it found a  receptive audience  on university campuses based on well established contempt towards Jews.”

In  a letter shared yesterday on social media , Chabad at Columbia University said students have had offensive rhetoric hurled at them, including being told to “go back to Poland” and “stop killing children.”

Demonstrators taken into custody at NYU

New York police said they took multiple people into custody at New York University tonight after the university called police and requested the removal of demonstrators.

How many people were taken into custody was not immediately clear. Video from the Manhattan campus showed police with helmets and batons and warning people to leave.

NYU said on social media earlier that protesters had until 4 p.m. to leave Gould Plaza after barricades were breached and after “we witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community.”

Video tonight showed some demonstrators chanting “NYPD KKK” and “shame on you.”

The NYPD arrested more than 100 people last week at a Gaza protest encampment at Columbia University, also in Manhattan. Columbia had also requested police assistance, officials said.

Jewish students march in solidarity

BERKELEY, Calif. — Jewish students at several college campuses are marching in solidarity with demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the divestment of universities from Israeli companies.

At the University of California, Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area, members of the local Jews for Peace chapter camped alongside pro-Palestinian protesters on the Mario Savio steps, named after a founding member of the Free Speech Movement.

A spokesperson for the group, which plans an interfaith Passover Seder tonight, said members are there to "protect" the free speech of anti-war demonstrators.

At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Jews for Peace members held signs that read "Jews say no to genocide" and "Anti Zionism is not antisemitism."

Columbia student organizers condemn hate; NYPD says arrests will be made 'if there is a crime'

Doha Madani

Michael Gerber, the deputy New York police commissioner for legal matters, told reporters that officers would step in if crimes were committed on or around Columbia University's campus as some Jewish students express fear for their safety.

He said that includes "harassment or threats or menacing or stalking or anything like that that is not protected by the First Amendment."

Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the student groups organizing the protest, condemned hate and bigotry in a statement yesterday. The statement blamed nonstudents outside the encampment for inciting harmful incidents over the weekend.

"We have been peaceful," the statement said. "We follow in the footsteps of the civil rights and anti-war movements in our quest for liberation."

Barnard faculty member calls for suspensions to be lifted

Barnard University faculty member Jackie Orr was out with protesters today “because of an unfolding genocide in Gaza” and to show support for students and staff members.

Orr said she was there specifically to join calls for Barnard and associated Columbia University cancel the suspensions of students who were suspended last week after they refused to leave an encampment to show support for Gaza.

The Barnard students have been evicted from their dorms, dining halls and classrooms and all of campus, she said.

“We’re here to demand that the universities immediately unsuspend those students — over 50 students at Barnard are without housing, without access to the classrooms and the faculty, without access to food,” Orr said.

Orr said it is the responsibility of faculty members to stand for students and support the speech of all students.

“The only students whose political speech and activism has been surveyed, targeted and punished have been students who have been speaking in solidarity with Palestine and students who have been speaking and acting forcefully against a genocidal war,” she said.

Barnard and Columbia, across the street from each other in Manhattan, have a partnership and students share facilities.

Patriots owner Kraft says he won’t support Columbia until changes made

New England Patriots owner and Columbia University alumnus Robert Kraft said today he will no longer support the university “until corrective action is taken."

In a statement , Kraft, who graduated from Columbia in 1963, said the university “is no longer an institution I recognize.”

“I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country. I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” he said.

“It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hate by ending these protests immediately and will work to earn back the respect and trust of the many of us who have lost faith in the institution,” he said.

Pro-Palestinian student group at Harvard says it has been suspended

Dennis Romero

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee said on its social media platforms today that it has been suspended by the institution.

Harvard's public affairs and communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The group, also known as Harvard for Palestine, has helped organize protests on campus in solidarity with pro-Palestinian encampments and protests at Columbia University, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The organization National Students for Justice in Palestine said on X the suspension at Harvard was "intended to prevent students from replicating the solidarity encampments" across the country.

Columbia undergraduate students approve referendums on divestment, ending ties to Tel Aviv

Columbia College, the undergraduate liberal arts school at Columbia University, voted to approve three referendums today calling on the school to divest from Israel as well as cut its ties to Tel Aviv.

According to the student-run Columbia Spectator , the three referendums urged the school to divest funding from Israel, end its dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University and close its Global Center in Tel Aviv. The votes are an indicator of the student's wishes but do not change university policy.

A university spokesperson told the Spectator that the school "welcomes and embraces the Israeli students, faculty, and staff on our campus."

"We are proud of our students and military veterans from Israel and around the world whose experience adds considerable value to the classroom and beyond,” the spokesperson said.

UC Berkeley becomes first West Coast campus to join call for solidarity

BERKELEY, Calif. — Dozens of students gathered on the Savio Steps, named for Mario Savio, the leader of the 1960s Free Speech Movement, at the University of California, Berkeley, today to protest the Israel-Hamas war and the UC system’s investments in companies that do business with Israel.

Protesters said they planned to set up an encampment on campus as UC Berkeley became the first West Coast university to join a call for solidarity among colleges across the country to show their opposition to Israel’s military action in Gaza.

The Savio Steps lead to Sproul Hall, which housed the offices of the chancellor and administrators in the 1960s and were occupied by students from the Free Speech Movement. 

The movement is considered the first mass act of  civil disobedience  on a U.S. campus in the ’60s as students demanded the school lift a ban on on-campus political activity and secure their right to free speech and academic freedom.

‘We’re going to keep demanding for a free Palestine,’ Yale protester says after arrests

The arrests of 47 students at Yale University this morning will not dissuade people from calling for the Ivy League school to disclose its investments and divest from companies linked to war or weapons, a student vowed today.

“This morning, the cops completely ambushed us. It was 6:40 a.m.; most people were still asleep,” Yale protester Chisato Kimura told NBC Connecticut .

Demonstrators had been gathering on Beinecke Plaza on the campus in New Haven all last week, and Kimura said that when their demands of Yale went unanswered, they began taking up space with people and tents on the plaza over the weekend.

“We’re going to keep demanding for a free Palestine,” Kimura said. She said some of the people arrested had already returned to protests by this afternoon.

Kimura said that the protesters want Yale to make it clear that it is not investing in ways connected to weapons or war but that Yale has refused their request for disclosure. “We don’t want to be complicit as students,” she said.

“I don’t know what Yale was thinking when they arrested the students, but if they thought they were going to shut us up or make us quiet — I mean, it completely backfired,” Kimura told NBC Connecticut as a rally was being held.

Yale said in a statement that it repeatedly warned students that continuing to violate university policies could result in action that included arrest and that it tried to negotiate with students to leave the plaza without success. It said that negotiations ended at 11:30 p.m. and that today Yale issued summonses to people who refused to leave voluntarily. 

Yale also said that it "became aware of police reports identifying harmful acts and threatening language used against individuals at or near the protest sites," some by people from Yale and some from outsiders. Several hundred people were at the plaza over the weekend, the university said.

Michigan students establish encampment in heart of campus

Protesters at the University of Michigan renewed their criticism of Israeli warfare today by erecting an encampment in the heart of the Ann Arbor campus, on the Diag, or Diagonal Green.

The protest was organized in part by the group Transparency Accountability Humanity Reparations Investment Resistance, better known as the TAHRIR Coalition.

Earlier in the day students marched along the Diag chanting, "If you don't get no justice, we don't get no peace."

The coalition's main goal is university divestment from companies or funds that support Israel's war in Gaza, home to a population that has faced mass displacement since Hamas militants' Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.

The university has addressed the demand previously, with Regent Michael Behm saying in late March: "The endowment has no direct investment in any Israeli company. What we do have are funds that one of those companies may be part of a fund. Less than 1/10 of 1% of the endowment is invested indirectly in such companies."

University of Michigan police did not immediately respond to a request for information about its response to today's actions on campus.

Biden condemns antisemitic protests, 'those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians'

Alexandra Bacallao

Zoë Richards

Reporters asked Biden in Triangle, Virginia, this afternoon for his message to protestors and whether he condemned antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests; that’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that," Biden told reporters.

“I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he added.

The comment appeared to be a reference to an effort announced last year to initiate partnerships between the departments of Justice and Homeland Security   and campus law enforcement agencies to track hate-related threats and supply schools with federal resources to combat a rise in antisemitism.

Rep. Ilhan Omar praises solidarity movement on campuses

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., praised the solidarity emerging as campuses across the country protest the Israel-Hamas war after faculty at Columbia University staged a walkout over the administration’s crackdown.

“On Thursday, Columbia arrested and suspended its students who were peacefully protesting and have now ignited a nationwide Gaza Solidarity movement,” Omar wrote on X. “This is more than the students hoped for and I am glad to see this type of solidarity.”

Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested participating in the protests and suspended from Columbia’s nearby sister school, Barnard College. Omar said she was “enormously proud” of her daughter.

Hirsi  told MSNBC  she believed the school targeted for suspension students who were speaking to the media. She denied the protest encampment on campus was threatening, describing it as a “beautiful” community and saying students held Shabbat during that time.

Columbia courses go virtual as protests continue; faculty stage walkout in support

Students at Columbia University are on their sixth day of camping out on the school's South Lawn, a re-creation of an anti-war demonstration students held in 1968 opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik said today that classes would be held virtually and that school leaders would be coming together to discuss a way to bring an end to “this crisis.” The original 1968 protests lasted roughly a week before police forcibly removed students in full-scale police riots , alumnus Oren Root described in an opinion essay.

A large group of faculty members staged a walkout today in support of students. Students were arrested last week when the school administration asked police to remove students, citing a threat to safety, though NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the Columbia Spectator that the protestors were peaceful and "offered no resistance whatsoever."

The Columbia encampment has inspired similar demonstrations at other campuses, including New York University, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley. Protesters have also gathered outside the gate to Columbia University, where antisemitic incidents and aggressive crowds have been reported.

Pro-Palestinian supporters arrested at encampment on Yale plaza

Marlene Lenthang

Police officers   today arrested protesters who had set up an encampment on Yale University’s campus   in support of the Palestinian cause,   one of a  growing number of American universities  where there have been demonstrations surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

Protesters had been on their third night of camping out to urge Yale to divest from military weapons manufacturers, the  Yale Daily News  reported.

Officers gathered at the protest site at Beinecke Plaza shortly before 7 a.m. Monday   and were   seen approaching the encampment and “flipping up the entrances to the tents,” the school paper wrote on X.

Then officers issued a warning for students and journalists to leave or they’d be arrested. Minutes later, the school paper wrote on X that police were arresting people.

In total, 47 students were issued summonses, Yale said in a  statement  today.  

Read the full story here.

A high-energy crowd at NYU

People gathered in front of New York University's Stern School of Business to protest on Gould Plaza this afternoon. The crowd maintained high energy while chanting “free Palestine." The group also held a communal prayer and observed a moment of silence for those who have died in Gaza.

New York police were on the scene.

A few people gathered across the street, with at least one person holding an Israeli flag.

Karely Perez, an NYU alumna, said she joined the protest to show her support for the student organizations behind the encampment.

“Once the students start getting mad, things start to change,” she said.

Perez said she was proud of the students and added that although the encampments on university campuses are new, pro-Palestinian activism has always existed at schools like NYU.

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