Cal Poly enrolled the most students ever this year

Author

Carly Heltzel
May 30, 2025

Good morning. It’s Friday, and I’m reading about the 30 events Central Coast PrideFest planned for Pride Month in June, with everything from Tie-Dye for Pride and poetry to free fitness classes and a drag brunch. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Cal Poly enrolled a record number of students this year, with nearly 6,000 incoming first years and over 1,000 new transfer students. These numbers represent an 11.1% increase from enrollment last year. Every college exceeded its target enrollment numbers for both freshmen or transfer students, except the College of Liberal Arts had 13 less transfers than it could accommodate. College of Engineering will have the most freshmen with 1,515 confirmed enrollments, followed by CAFES with 1,252. 

2.

Two fraternities’ fates are up in the air after SLO’s planning commission unanimously voted to revoke the permits for their houses. Delta Chi and Sigma Nu will no longer be authorized to operate official chapter houses in the city once the decision is confirmed on June 11. The pair racked up citations for noise, unruly gatherings and violating Safety Enhancement Zones, causing the commission to utilize the somewhat rare process of revoking permits. The houses can reapply for permits at any time. 

3.

Going back 300 years, Olympia oysters would have been unavoidable, covering the San Francisco Bay. But now, the only oysters native to the West Coast are dwindling in numbers as they battle pollution and a changing climate. A new study showed in Baja California the oysters — which were expected to stay lower on the intertidal zone to avoid the warming climate — actually ended up taking up a larger section of habitat, suggesting a resiliency that no one quite expected. That bodes well for the bay’s future.

4.

A company is trying to drill oil off the coast of Santa Barbara again. Sable Offshore Corp. completed repairs to the platform to revitalize it, but a judge just blocked it from continuing repairs to the onshore pipeline that would be the last missing piece. Sable held a public offering that sold $295 million in company shares, and it was hoping to restart oil production on the platform by this summer for the first time since the massive 2015 Refugio Oil Spill. Officials say Sable has eroded their trust.

5.

The iconic and tasty California avocado is at risk, but one dedicated farmer is trying to save the industry. Most people just aren’t willing to pay the price for the higher quality of the domestically grown fruit, the farmer said. Free trade with Mexico began in 1994, meaning cheaper avocados started flowing into the state. He has taken legal and political action to keep Mexico’s “tainted conflict fruit” out of his competition while defending the rights of immigrant workers that the industry relies on. “I’m stupid enough to not know when quitting is correct,” he said.