Demonization of others -- Berkeley-style

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On Jan. 10, UC Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau issued a most unscholarly email in his rush to play the blame-game on the Tucson shootings that killed Christina Greene, 9; John Roll, 63; Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Scheck, 79 and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others. He wrote:

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 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.

UC Chancellor Birgeneau's statement

Ben Margot, AP

UC Chancellor Birgeneau's statement was "lazy, ill-informed and undisciplined"

Turns out, Birgeneau got his wish for academic contemplation. John Ellis, head of the California Association of Scholars, released a statement calling Birgeneau's e-mail "improper and incompetent."

Ellis also observed that Birgeneau's actions go against

"the heart of the university's mission and purpose. A university is a place where complex issues are analyzed carefully, with judicious attention to arguments on the one side and the other, and with all the relevant evidence scrutinized without prejudice before judgments are made. That makes the campus a very different place than the everyday political street, where invective and ad hominem slurs drown out reason and evidence, and prejudice precludes careful attention to the full spectrum of arguments. The most disturbing aspect of Birgeneau's statement is that it is an example of the rancorous, intellectually lazy, ill-informed and undisciplined thought which the university exists to transcend. It presents the worst possible example to the students who come to his campus to learn to think in a disciplined way, and to the campus faculty whose job it is to work toward that end. And it must undermine public support for the university when the people of this state see the leader of its most distinguished educational institution speaking in a way that is so completely deficient in the careful thought and measured analysis that they expect of the educated mind."

Well put.

Posted By: Debra J. Saunders (Email, Twitter) | January 18 2011 at 04:29 PM

Listed Under: Bezerkely