UCSD Athletic Director Earl Edwards: “We are still going to pursue moving to Division I with the hope that things will change in the relatively near future.”
comment from the article writer
A fact-finding report published before May’s student referendum said UCSD must receive a Big West invite by Sept. 15, 2018, or the student approval is null and void.

However as you know I inquired into the matter and discovered the language of the referendum only specifies D-I, although the campaign literature says "such as the Big West" (the hedge is in there, although I think the intent was BW or bust).

The WAC now has 18 months to convince UCSD to join. If for no other reason than, when the Big West decides to expand they will already be D-I. “I think UC San Diego is still going to be very attractive as a Division I school at some point in time in the future,” Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said. “I’m not here to tell them what they should do in the future. There’s nothing negative about UC San Diego. I can only say glowing, positive things about them.”

That sort of says, go get through the D-I transition with somebody else and then come to us.