http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/california-today-colleges-segregated-housing.html 2016-09-08 13:56:45 California Today: No, Cal State Isn’t Creating Segregated Housing Welcome to California Today, a morning update on the stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state). === Good morning. Welcome to California Today, a Tell us about the Want to receive California Today by email? The fall semester has opened at universities across California This week, the spotlight turned to Cal State Los Angeles, which unexpectedly found itself having to respond to false reports that it had introduced “blacks only” housing. It started with a dubious item posted on a conservative college student news website that said the university was now offering That tidbit was picked up by a series of conservative websites, some of which dialed up the language, using “blacks only” to describe the new housing enclave. Television news broadcasts ran with the story, as thousands of people registered their anger in comment threads on social sites like Facebook and Reddit — one more reminder not to believe everything you read on social media). By early Wednesday, After all the commotion, the university has made clear the reports are untrue. The campus, which serves about 28,000 students, roughly 4 percent of them African-American, has indeed created a dorm space for 24 students oriented around the black community, a spokesman, Robert Lopez, said on Wednesday. But, it’s “open to all students.” “This living-learning community focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and nondiscriminatory,” Mr. Lopez said. Residential communities organized around themes like race and gender are neither rare nor new on American college campuses. Many California campuses offer similar residential communities, among them This year, debates have erupted over racially themed environments at Opponents argue that such programs promote racial silos and degrade the quality of learning, while supporters say they provide a sense of belonging to minority students who face discrimination. Jonathan Thomas, a participant of the Cal State housing program, known as the Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community, “You can go and be yourself and not have to worry about explaining how you’re doing because of your skin color,” he said. Cal State officials and black student leaders both rejected the depictions of the housing program as segregationist. Eddie Comeaux “This is not new,” he said. • The California Coastal Commission voted overwhelmingly to deny a giant development proposal along one of the last big undeveloped plots on the Southern California coast. The plan faced stiff community opposition. [ • Yosemite will add 400 acres of meadow and wetlands habitat to its western edge. That has upset some cattlemen who have complained of declining acreages for grazing. [ • The fallout from Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest is not turning out how some of his critics expected. If anything, the 49ers quarterback has gained esteem. [ • Four Oakland police officers will be fired and seven others suspended for their roles in a sex scandal involving a teenager. [ • A court clerk in Orange County took bribes to fix more than 1,000 traffic cases, officials say. [ • The most unequal states in America used to be in the South. Now, they’re on the coasts. [ • A federal court in San Francisco handed Uber a legal decision that it may be able to use to fend off other driver class-action suits. [ • A travel writer retraced her family’s rail adventure to a revolutionary place, Haight-Ashbury, during the “Summer of Love.” [ • The artist Doug Aitken is planning to submerge three mirrored “pavilions” in a kelp-rich marine preserve off Catalina Island. The idea is for divers to swim around the structures. [ • A report says Los Angeles is the most fashionable city in America. (Hear that, New York?) [ R I live in L — Anthony Mastrandrea, Los Angeles The redwoods of Humboldt County are in danger. Most people outside of California only know that patio furniture and decks look great when made of California redwood. They need to know there is not much of it left and the rest is under assault. — David Ohman, Denver These days what happens in Sacramento stays in Sacramento. — Martha Hassen, Santa Barbara An airport parking lot in Los Angeles has become an improvised village of airline workers. Its residents say the space grants them something we all seek: freedom. Apple unveiled upgrades across its line of products at its showcase in San Francisco on Wednesday. The star was Our tech columnist Farhad Manjoo sees The iPhone 7 may have been the centerpiece, but the AirPod was the talk of Twitter. Part of Apple’s vision of a “ Their unveiling gave way to a torrent of tweets, mostly making a version of the same joke: It’s just a matter of time before you lose your AirPods. The earbuds are shaped much like the old ones, but with short protruding legs. Some people worried about the fit. Many more people pointed out that, with no tether, they seemed destined to vanish into a sewer grate or a couch. At $160 a pair, replacing them would not be cheap. And there’s no word yet on whether Apple is going to sell singles. California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.