After 14 years of providing a student and community resource center, The R’Garden, a University of California, Riverside (UCR) community garden located by Lot 30, may be shut down.
Historically, the R’Garden was funded by the UCR Basic Needs Departments with $170,000 per year for operation from 2022 to 2024. This funding was discontinued after the 2024 to 2025 academic year elections, where the original referendum did not pass. While the referendum reached a 70% approval rating among the voters, it failed to meet the 20% voter turnout threshold needed for it to pass.
Some believe that the reason the referendum did not pass last year was due to the university policy that disallowed the posting of temporary signage in any relation to the ASUCR election. This made advertising and awareness about the bill — or the election at all — difficult.
The garden was going to be disbanded after the previous academic year, but a petition circulated immediately after the results, and received support for bridge funding to continue for another year. This extension allows the R’Garden Referendum to be on the ballot again this year.
The Referendum on the ballot includes an undergraduate student fee of $10 per quarter, not including summer sessions, effective Fall 2026, that goes to the R’Garden. This fee will initiate a stable funding source for the garden’s infrastructure: purchase of tools/equipment, maintenance, organic necessities (seeds, fertilizer, compost, rodent control, etc.), long term projects (a restroom), a learning laboratory and general increased resources for campus and community involvement. This funding will additionally allow for more workshops, festivals, employment opportunities for students and much more.
If passed, this fee will be effective fall 2026, and the proposed duration of this referendum is ongoing, depending on the U.S Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Riverside and surrounding regions. But it will likely not change more than once every three years.
The referendum will be on the ASUCR election ballot in week five, from April 27 to May 1.
