Hypocrite Birgeneau

So this morning, like every morning, I got out of bed, went to my computer, and checked my e-mail. There I saw an e-mail with the subject "Chancellor Birgeneau comments on Arizona shootings."  It was addressed to all students and staff at UC Berkeley. OK, I thought, the chancellor simply wants to share his sorrow that we all felt over the weekend. Not sure why that's the role of a university chancellor but whatever, it could do no harm, right?


Wrong.


Here's the e-mail, in full:


Dear members of our campus community:

This weekend's shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the deaths and injuries of many others in the horrific event in Tucson, Arizona have shocked our nation.  We here at UC Berkeley offer our sincere condolences to everyone who has been personally affected by this tragedy.

Such a brutal and violent attack on an individual who has devoted herself to public service is deeply regrettable.  It calls upon us as an academic community to stop and ponder the climate in which such an act can be contemplated, even by a mind that is profoundly disturbed.  A climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated can lead to such a tragedy.  I believe that it is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination against undocumented persons.  This same mean-spirited xenophobia played a major role in the defeat of the Dream Act by our legislators in Washington, leaving many exceptionally talented and deserving young people, including our own undocumented students, painfully in limbo with regard to their futures in this country.

On our own campus, and throughout all the campuses of the University of California, we must continue to work toward a climate of equity and inclusion for all.  We must be vigilant to condemn hate speech and acts of vandalism on our campuses by those wanting to promote enmity.  We must work to support dialogue about our differences and eschew expressions of demonization of others, including virulent attacks on Israel, anti-Muslim graffiti, racism towards African-Americans, Chicano/Latinos and other underrepresented minority groups, and homophobic acts.  Continuing to support our principles of community will ensure a better and safer campus.  We must do this now so that our students, as future leaders of this great country, will continue to set the standard for a better and safer nation.

Robert J. Birgeneau
Chancellor, UC Berkeley


First of all, he commits the same sin I talked about yesterday. He ascribes the shootings to the widespread desire by Arizonans to secure their borders, a claim that has ZERO basis in fact.  If this is the quality of work that Birgeneau produces on a regular basis, I wonder how he passed undergrad let alone earned a PhD and achieved tenure. If I submitted an essay like this to one of my classes I would probably be flunked for submitting something that is patently false.  


But more interesting is that he is a hypocrite. After stating, "A climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated can lead to such a tragedy," he proceeds to demonize everyone who did not support the Dream Act or who supported Arizona's immigration law (three in five Americans) but calling them xenophobes. How does that solve the problem chancellor? It seems like you are doing exactly what you speak against. 


Chancellor Birgeneau ought to send another e-mail retracting one part of the e-mail, either the one calling 60% of Americans xenophobes or, if he doesn't want to do that, the part where he calls for Americans to be more respectful. The two can't go together. 


And while he's at it, he might want to stop by any lower division professor's office hours and ask them about the consequences of making arguments with absolutely no evidence behind them. He could use a remedial course.