Supported by a grant from alumnus Jim Simons, the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing was established in 2012. In 2015, Berkeley and its sister campus, UCSF, established the Innovative Genomics Institute to develop CRISPR gene editing, and, in 2020, an anonymous donor pledged $252 million to help fund a new center for computing and data science. For the 2020 fiscal year, Berkeley set a fundraising record, receiving over $1 billion in gifts and pledges, and two years later, it broke that record, raising over $1.2 billion. In 2024, protests at Berkeley regarding the Gaza war resulted in police action.
=== Controversies ===
Various research ethics, human rights, and animal rights advocates have been in conflict with Berkeley. Native Americans contended with the school over repatriation of remains from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Student activists have urged the university to cut financial ties with Tyson Foods and PepsiCo. Faculty member Ignacio Chapela prominently criticized the university's …
