The University of California has struggled for many years to build fair and workable policies and programs to develop the English literacy of its highly diverse student population. Considering past, present, and future, this essay describes how the UC's largest campus, UC Davis, with 50% of its 33,000 students L2 writers, has built a network of academic programs and services toward making support of L2 writers integral to its educational mission. With particular focus on Davis's recently-independent University Writing Program (UWP), we show how the drive to integrate L2 theory and practice in a well-established WAC/WID-based writing environment has influenced faculty hiring, a new doctoral initiative, a new writing minor, and the training of graduate student instructors of first-year writing. We show how these changes have taken place amid ongoing challenges, including intensifying budget woes, long-time policies and commitments, and the sheer scope and complexity of the Research I land-grant university.