The UC San Diego administration has proposed to build one of the tallest dormitories on the West Coast as a part of the future Eighth College, according to an article by the San Diego Union-Tribune released on Monday, May 18. If built, the 21-story dormitory could house up to 2,050 new undergraduate beds.

The new mixed-use project will be referred to as the “Future College Living and Learning Neighborhood,” and will include five new buildings, a theater, a conference center, and space for retail and dining. The new college will be located next to the La Jolla Playhouse and south of Roger Revelle College.

The push for a new college to be built immediately after the opening of Seventh College in Fall 2020 is a result of the increasing undergraduate student population.

“While UC San Diego’s steady state has been projected at 32,000 undergraduate students by 2035, unprecedented yield in the past several years has our campus currently at over 30,000 undergraduates,” the May 11 project proposal states. “Thus, the 2035 target is almost a reality in 2020.”

Eighth College will center around the theme of “Engagement & Community” within its core curriculum and college philosophy.

“In this context, the notion of ‘engagement’ entails that students will develop an understanding of their own identities vis à vis broader communities,” the proposal states. “Through the program’s interdisciplinary content, students will be able to engage in areas that are of community relevance. Here, ‘community’ is broadly construed, ranging from dimensions intrinsic to a student’s own experience and then expanding to much broader and new connections beyond.”

General education requirements within the college will be unique in that core curriculum courses will be spread out throughout the entirety of a student’s academic career.

“The Eighth College curriculum engages students through a series of four college engagement courses: three lower-division and one upper division experiential, project-based course,” the proposal states. “These courses emphasize engagement in interdisciplinary approaches to areas of relevance to the local communities and beyond. These four college-based courses are supplemented with nine curated alternative courses from arts, humanities, social sciences, natural, sciences, and quantitative reasoning.”

A proposal workgroup for the new college was created during Winter Quarter 2020, and if all goes according to plan, Eighth College will welcome its inaugural class Fall Quarter 2023. The workgroup is expected to submit an academic plan or the college to the UC Office of the President for approval later this year. However, this all may change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The university as of this article’s publication has not stated whether or not the project will be delayed.

Image courtesy of UC San Diego.