Ok, since I ranted about Pomona, I might as well talk about my undergrad alma mater, which I liked slightly more...
- UCR (when I graduated in 2003) was ranked the 4th most diverse university in the nation.
- UCR is the fastest growing UC campus, possibly bypassed by the new campus at Merced pretty soon.
- Each UC campus has a "C" somewhere on it, representing California. Ours is the largest and can be seen from the greatest distance (it's yellow, painted on Box Springs Mountain behind the school).
- The parking situation is probably one of the worst in California, if not the United States. The only general (students other than dorms) parking lot is located about half a mile off campus and students must literally walk under the freeway to get to campus. And currently, that road is completely torn apart because yet another building is going to replace a student parking lot, so students are walking in dirt and mud to get to campus. Might explain why the mission statement at UCR does not mention "students" at all.
- UCR has no football team anymore (former UCLA coach Bob Toledo helped us win 2 championships in the 70s, then we nixed the team... argh), but has many up-and-coming athletic teams since we recently went Division 1.
- The UCR mascot was changed a few years ago from a cute and cuddly bagpipe-weilding, kilt-wearing bear to a growling, face-painted "Braveheart" bear. And he wears a kilt in some drawings... they like the Scottish theme at UCR... Go Highlanders!
- The land that was supposed to be saved for Greek housing is now a new residence hall with an extended parking lot. Thanks for the support...
- The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs holds a Bachelor's degree... and that's it. Many of the students he treats like children hold higher degrees than he does. For a man who is supposed to care about students, he holds the record for racist, out of line remarks, and ridiculous budget cut decisions to student programming... and a degree that is lower than most of his students' expectations. Oh, and can I mention he got the Director of Student Life fired a couple years ago; a man with a Master's, twenty years of experience working with students at UCR, and the man who had more respect for students on this campus than any other faculty/staff member? Politics can suck.
Although I do miss UCR, it's sad when I look at all the crap that goes on there... UCR used to be the molding clay for the UC system... so many high expectations and good ideas. Now I think they're working on Santa Cruz and Merced a lot more.