Daily Cal Weekender

At UC Berkeley, some classes begin not with a requirement, but with a more pressing question.

They start as observations students cannot quite let go of — something that may be noticed in a conversation, in a lecture, in a piece of literature or in the way people move through the world. Over time, these observations sharpen into ideas, and at UC Berkeley, these ideas can become DeCal courses: student-led courses shaped by curiosity, experimentation and a desire to build a classroom around something that feels newly urgent.

That spirit is what makes DeCal culture distinctive. These courses often emerge from intellectual interests that feel both personal and collective, allowing students to share and transform niche fascinations into shared spaces for inquiry.

✍️: Anayaa Jogani
📸: Andoe Glaser

“Between gloved hands, my winner held / his trophy high before he took / me by the hip and gave a kiss, / a bloody stain of victory.“ —Logan Roscoe

Read Logan’s poem, link in bio!