What to Expect from New UCB Chancellor Birgeneau?

UC Berkeley is celebrating the announcement of newly appointed Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. He has been hailed as an advocate of research-intensive universities and a champion of diversity. However, a look at Birgeneau’s past reveals a future less promising for the Berkeley community.

Birgeneau comes from the University of Toronto, where he abruptly left his position as President to come to Berkeley. During his term, he was involved in what the Canadian Association of University Teachers called “the most important academic freedom case in the last half-century.”

UoT’s student newspaper, The Varsity, reports that “Psychiatrist Dr. David Healy had been aggressively recruited by the U of T-affiliated Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to
head a new unit looking into mood disorders. However, shortly after he had given a lecture highly critical of the conflict of interests
between the pharmaceutical industry and medical professionals, the job offer was withdrawn.”

“Healy’s lecture had been particularly critical of Prozac, which he says is normally beneficial but could actually increase suicidal tendencies in a small but significant number of patients.
The CAMH has received more than $1 million from Eli Lilly, the maker of Prozac.” Instead of defending Healy, Birgeneau firmly supported the decision, despite protests from internationally
renowned psychiatrists and medical researchers, including two winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Birgeneau’s concept of the research-intensive university, where money has unprecedented influence over academics, won’t change much at UC Berkeley. Military and corporate funding has
been shaping campus research here for years and Birgeneau’s leadership can only guarantee more cases like that of Ignacio Chapela

Birgeneau’s commitment to diversity is also doubtful in light of the Palestinian Solidarity Conference he abruptly canceled at U of T last year. In another Varsity article, a spokesperson of the Arab Student Collective there described the campus atmosphere as “racist.”

This article is part of the new Disorientation Guide to UC Berkeley 2004, which can be found here: :http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/08/1692860.php