Thursday, September 25, 2003
A few words
Generally hated Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl is stepping down after this academic year. No one liked him. He didn't get hard-line enough on protesters, didn't connect with the students, and a few etcs.
I loved him. I don't know what people're complaining about, especially the Republicans. The Republicans should be loving the fact that their chancellor was not a political activist and didn't try to do things to advance political goals, like Atkinson and many of the Regents do. Now, maybe the Republicans would've preferred a conservative chancellor, but there's no chance of that happening, and a guy like Berdahl was the best they could hope for.
As far as his hands-off approach to students, I think more students need to appreciate that. Berdahl left a lot of power in the hands of the students by doing so, even to the point where administrators were afraid of students. Had Berdahl "made more connections" with the student body, it would've been bad for student independence.
On the Hernandez issue, I'll admit I was wrong. While out of anger I really wanted to see Hernandez and co. get it for the whole disrupting classes thing (and still think he should've gotten it), it wasn't really Berdahl's job. It was the DA's job (and he blew it severely). Berdahl's job had to do with education. At first, Berdahl was very hard-line on the protesters because their building-occupations were disrupting classes, and hence the education was in jeapordy. As the process drew out, and the university administration bungled the case again and again, it became pretty clear that pursuing the case would be more detrimental to the education at Cal than letting them off the hook and risking future building takeovers (which have occured, and objections quickly silenced by the administration, as expected).
His statements about politics may have been disappointing, but they were made outside of his role as the Chancellor, and he didn't take any real action, making his statements just opinions and irrelevant to his adminstrating success.
Berdahl was spectacular in his silence and his inaction. I can only hope we get an equally hands-off education-minded chancellor to replace him, and I get the feeling that, with all the complaints, we won't. It would probably be best if we eliminated the position altogether (saving a few bucks), as Berdahl proved pretty well that it's not necessary to the functioning of the university to have a chancellor. But then, no one trusts students to give administration advice, least of all me.
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