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The University of California admitted 43% more out-of-state and international freshmen than last year, significantly boosting its controversial efforts to enroll those higher-paying students, according to data released Tuesday. As a result, officials said they expected the share of the upcoming freshman class from outside California to be somewhat higher than the 12.3% this school year but said the actual proportion remains uncertain because non-Californians are less likely to enroll than resident students.

The 10 campuses of the UC system should be given more power to govern themselves and be allowed to set their own tuition, decide how many out-of-state students to enroll, approve construction projects and control some investments under a proposal released Monday by UC Berkeley leaders. The plan, which is already provoking debate, would maintain the central Board of Regents for such overarching policy matters as admissions standards, state funding and top appointments. But it contends that UC has gotten so complex and governance has become so balky that campus governing boards should be established and given autonomy over many issues, similar to states in a federal system.

Construction of UC Merced will begin in February, with groundbreaking set for May 3, University of California officials said. The complicated permit process for the 10th University of California campus should be completed by then, said James Grant, UC Merced's director of communications.

The University of California admitted 43% more out-of-state and international freshmen than last year, significantly boosting its controversial efforts to enroll those higher-paying students, according to data released Tuesday. As a result, officials said they expected the share of the upcoming freshman class from outside California to be somewhat higher than the 12.3% this school year but said the actual proportion remains uncertain because non-Californians are less likely to enroll than resident students.

The University of California Board of Regents today named Chang-Lin Tien chancellor of UC Berkeley. He is the first Asian-American to head a UC campus. Tien, 53, a mechanical engineer born in China, is now second in command at UC Irvine and has been a vice chancellor and professor at the Berkeley campus. The appointment was made by the regents at a meeting in San Francisco.

County supervisors voted this week to ease building regulations around the new UC Merced campus. Supervisors decided not to require developers to substitute other farmland for acreage lost to development and not to require phased development around the campus. The decision follows weeks of plan revisions and hearings.

Beginning this fall, all freshmen and undergraduate transfer students at UC Berkeley will be required to complete an online alcohol-awareness course. The course is part of an effort to reduce student drinking after an upsurge in alcohol-related incidents last year. In May, the campus banned the use of alcohol at fraternity and sorority events.

The regents of the University of California chose sites in Merced, Madera and Fresno counties as the three finalists for what may become the system's 10th campus. A winner among those San Joaquin Valley locations will not be selected until at least next year and the campus probably will not be built until the year 2000, although UC President David P. Gardner warned that the school could be delayed or not built at all if the state's financial picture does not improve.

UC Riverside, long considered a consolation prize by students not admitted to more coveted campuses, registered the biggest increase in applications this year among the University of California's nine undergraduate campuses, officials announced Friday. The Inland Empire's surging growth in applicants in the last two years prompted officials there to announce that it would no longer accept referral pool students ? those eligible to attend UC but who fail to win admission to their preferred campuses.

Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, who became the first female founding chancellor of a UC campus when she was named to head UC Merced in 1999 before the university broke ground, has died. She was 66. Tomlinson-Keasey, a distinguished developmental psychologist, died Saturday at her home in Decatur, Ga., from complications related to breast cancer, a university spokeswoman said. UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang, who succeeded Tomlinson-Keasey in 2007, said in a statement that "UC Merced would not exist were it not for her visionary leadership, her tireless determination and her remarkable gift of persuasion."

Reporting from San Francisco -- Students appealed Wednesday to University of California regents not to proceed with a proposed second tuition increase for the coming school year but conceded that the fight against the higher fees is probably lost. Several students addressing the regents at their meeting in San Francisco said families had not been given enough warning to come up with the additional $1,068 the proposed increase would require and urged university officials to look for the funds elsewhere.

What's in a name Re "Dishonored," Opinion, May 10 Karl Jacoby's general issue with how Americans do not fully grasp our Native American past is true in many respects, but I did not take the military code-name "Geronimo" as denigrating to the Apache leader. Quite the contrary. Whether we were playing games as kids or riding a roller- coaster, to yell out "Geronimo" was something of a war cry, a battle yell — shouting the name of that brave warrior to provide adrenaline and courage.

UC Riverside, long considered a consolation prize by students not admitted to more coveted campuses, registered the biggest increase in applications this year among the University of California's nine undergraduate campuses, officials announced Friday. The Inland Empire's surging growth in applicants in the last two years prompted officials there to announce that it would no longer accept referral pool students ? those eligible to attend UC but who fail to win admission to their preferred campuses.

From Boston to China and across the Internet, University of California campuses this year are taking unprecedented and potentially controversial steps to recruit out-of-state and international students for the extra revenue and geographic diversity they bring to the cash-strapped system. Most of the nine UC campuses that enroll undergraduates report sending admissions staffers more often this year than in previous years to visit high schools, college admissions fairs and other events outside the state.

Paying for his crime Re "D.A. furious as Swiss set Polanski free," July 13 Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley needs to admit that Roman Polanski continues to experience a punishment that truly fits him while not costing the taxpayers a dime, except for the recent failed extradition effort. For more than 30 years, Polanski has been unable to work in this country, the most important and lucrative place for any movie director. It may not be the punishment that the law demands or allows, nor does it give Cooley the bragging rights he seeks, but it's effective and cost-efficient.

After much anxiety among high school seniors, relatively few applicants were offered fall freshman admission to a University of California campus this month under the UC system's first widespread use of waiting lists. About 10,700 applicants last month were offered a spot on one or more waiting lists compiled by the seven UC campuses that participated in the new, and controversial, practice. But only UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara ultimately offered entrance to anyone on the lists, officials said.

After much anxiety among high school seniors, relatively few applicants were offered fall freshman admission to a University of California campus this month under the UC system's first widespread use of waiting lists. About 10,700 applicants last month were offered a spot on one or more waiting lists compiled by the seven UC campuses that participated in the new, and controversial, practice. But only UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara ultimately offered entrance to anyone on the lists, officials said.

Re "UC Tuition Cut OKd for Some Immigrants," Jan. 18: For every illegal immigrant accepted to a UC campus, a legal resident will be denied admission. Subsidizing illegal immigration will serve only to ensure that there will be more of it. Anyone who is in this country illegally should be deported, not rewarded. Randle C. Sink Brea

U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) has decided not to deliver a graduation address at UC Riverside in response to a labor union's campaign for a speaker boycott at UC's nine undergraduate campuses. Sanchez so far is the first speaker to withdraw but others are expected to follow, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 20,000 UC workers, including hospital technicians and campus custodians. UC leaders criticized the union's move as disrupting a special day for graduates and their families.

University of California leaders Wednesday apologized to black UC San Diego students for recent racial incidents at the campus and proposed changes in admissions policies aimed at boosting enrollment of minorities across the system. UC President Mark G. Yudof and other UC regents acknowledged that the UC San Diego episodes, including an off-campus student party that mocked Black History Month, has brought attention to the low enrollment of African American students on the campus.