Pomp and Century Circumstance

Bright and eager, some a little nervous, thousands of freshmen swarmed across the UC Irvine campus this month and became part of history just by showing up.

The young women and men are part of the largest entering class in the school’s history: more than 4,200 students. They are also the students who will have the distinction of being known throughout their lives as members of the “Class of 2000.”

The university experienced a difficult time last year. Its once-acclaimed fertility clinic was shut after allegations that eggs taken from some women were implanted improperly in others. Two of the three top doctors at the clinic face criminal charges; an investigation into the clinic by the Orange County district attorney’s office is continuing.

The school’s medical center, in Orange, is facing deficits so severe that there have been warnings it must find a health-care company to be a financial partner or face being closed. As the hospital of last resort for many of the poor in the county, it plays a vital role and needs to be kept open.

But the university’s last academic year was brightened considerably with the announcement that two of its professors had been awarded Nobel Prizes.

F. Sherwood “Sherry” Rowland won the prize in chemistry a year ago along with a colleague for discovering that chlorofluorocarbons used as refrigerants and propellants in spray cans were eating a hole in the Earth’s protective ozone umbrella. Frederick Reines, a professor emeritus, was awarded the physics prize for tracking down a subatomic particle so elusive it is called the “spinning nothing.”

Last weekend, UCI hosted a forum for nine Nobel laureates from California that featured lectures and question-and-answer sessions that provided a timely reminder of the university’s good work on its primary mission: education. Enthusiastic students peppered the scientists with thought-provoking questions.

The university continues to receive high ratings for the education it provides and the research it conducts. Officials at the school said the ratings and the Nobel awards have helped it recruit top-flight students. That helps maintain UCI’s presence as an asset to Orange County.