Humanities faculty at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley say they are significantly reducing assigned reading, breaking up books into excerpts, and reworking course structures as students increasingly struggle with reading-intensive classes.

The concerns raised by instructors at the selective California university reflect a wider debate across the University of California system over whether incoming students are adequately prepared for college-level academic work.

Several professors speaking to student newspaper The Daily Californian said reading expectations have steadily declined over the past 20 years, forcing them to scale back assignments to preserve meaningful classroom engagement.

Carlos Noreña, a history professor focused on ancient history, said the volume of reading he can assign has dropped sharply since he joined the Berkeley faculty in 2005.

“We are now reaching a crisis point where if the number (of pages) goes down further, it’s unclear to me whether my discipline of history can really be taught,” Noreña said.

According to Noreña, upper-division students previously handled about 100 pages of weekly reading, with expectations that most of it would be completed. In an upcoming course, that figure will drop to roughly 35 pages per week.

Other faculty members described making similar adjustments across departments.

“Part of this is to spare students the cost of purchasing books, but part of it is also acquiescing to my sense of — and complaints about — the amount of reading assigned, though those complaints, curiously, haven’t gone away as I’ve shrunk the number of pages assigned,” Brilliant said.

Mark Brilliant, who teaches California and Western American history, said a course that once required seven full books now relies entirely on selected excerpts.

Not all faculty agree that students are reading less than in previous generations. English professor Grace Lavery said she has maintained — and in some cases increased — her reading requirements.

“The reason is that the Dickens novels I teach are long and difficult,” Lavery said. “I imagine that if I had been teaching these novels in the same way back in the 1950s, I would have had exactly the same problems.”

Some instructors also voiced concern that students are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools to summarize readings rather than engaging with the texts directly.

“I found that very upsetting, because I’ve read the AI summary of my own book, and it’s all wrong,” history professor Trevor Jackson said. “Even a good summary is still not grappling with the text.”

The discussion comes as broader concerns about academic preparedness persist across the UC system, with faculty warning that some students arrive without foundational skills needed for rigorous coursework.

On Thursday, the University of California said it will review whether to reinstate SAT and ACT requirements, six years after dropping them from admissions, according to reports.

The review follows pressure from more than 1,400 faculty members who argue that incoming students are often underprepared for university-level study.

In a recent open letter, professors said the gap is so significant that some instructors are re-teaching basic mathematics while also trying to cover college material.

A 2025 report from the University of California, San Diego also found a rise in students whose math skills tested below high school level.

UC Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu said the system recognizes that “academic preparedness for college is a growing challenge” and will spend the coming year evaluating possible changes to admissions standards and high school requirements.