Commonwealth Club: Miriam Pawel: The Making and Remaking of the University of California

Miriam Pawel returns to Commonwealth Club World Affairs to discuss the issues raised in her latest book, an epic history of the sweeping social impact of the world's largest higher education institution, the University of California, and what it can teach us in a time of educational crisis. Set apart by its founding mission to be an engine of upward mobility, the University of California system is a great American experiment that has endured in spite of fraught battles over access, funding and leadership. Ever since the Civil War, the university has been at the nexus of nearly every public policy decision and social movement in the Golden State, from affirmative action to immigration to student protests. Pawel narrates the UC's rise and resilience through the lens of those whose lives it has transformed—in particular, five pioneering graduates whose diverse paths underscore why UC remains, in the words of Berkeley graduate Joan Didion, “California's best idea of itself.” At a time of staggering inequality and uncertainty, as higher education faces unprecedented threats, that role has never been more crucial or more difficult. Pawel weaves the history of the inexorably linked school and state in all its drama, significance, and humanity, providing a clear-eyed analysis of the university's roots with an incisive lesson, and a glimmer of hope, for our future.