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Chancellor Carnesale, speaking with The Bruin on Friday, said free speech rights should be domina

Free speech should be dominant in academia, said Chancellor Albert Carnesale, in light of recent events at several colleges that have tested the leeway students and faculty have to express their opinions.

“In examining things like (free speech) ... you bend over backward in favor of free speech,” Carnesale said in his quarterly conference with the Daily Bruin on Friday.

“About the only time you’d ever consider interfering with free speech is when you feel it presents a literal danger.”

During the conference, the chancellor discussed the expected cumulative progress requirement, the university’s ongoing labor negotiations and concerns regarding free speech on college campuses.

These concerns include a performance art piece in which a UCLA student appeared to play Russian roulette with a live bullet, and comments made by the president of Harvard University which suggested innate differences made women less likely to succeed in science and mathematics.

Carnesale said that based on what he had learned from the ongoing investigation into the performance art piece incident, he does not think it posed a threat to anyone.

“Should people do stuff like that? Would I rather our faculty say, ‘No guns, not even make-believe guns?’ Sure,” Carnesale said. “But there’s a difference between that and making a decision about free speech when there didn’t seem to be any danger.”

Carnesale also spoke about recent remarks made by Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, whom Carnesale says he knows personally. Carnesale served as provost of Harvard for three years before he came to UCLA in 1997.

Though Carnesale said Summers has a right to free speech, he also said Summers should have been more cautious when making potentially sensitive remarks, especially given his esteemed position in higher education.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t say anything controversial,” Carnesale added. “But it means make yourself very clear ... and make sure you’re doing the best you can to make sure it can’t be misinterpreted.”

In regards to on-campus issues, Carnesale reiterated his position on the ECP requirement, saying the policy encourages students to graduate in a timely fashion so more high school students will have access to the university.

Members of the undergraduate student government have launched a campaign to repeal ECP because they allege the policy makes it difficult for students to balance extracurricular activities and school work.

“Anybody who gets into UCLA is capable of doing the work,” Carnesale said. “Now, there may be exceptions ... but the idea that ‘I want to stay enrolled because I enjoy extracurricular activities,’ well, there’s a reason they’re called ‘extracurricular.’ They’re not supposed to be ‘instead of curricular.’”

The chancellor declined to comment on system-wide contract negotiations between labor unions and the University of California. A recent report issued by the Coalition of University Employees – which represents 16,000 clerical staff in the UC system – alleges, among other things, the university has not increased wages for staff while it has given bonuses to executives.

Though Carnesale declined to address any specifics of the union’s report, he defended UCLA’s labor practices.

“If you look at the UC system and look at where are the best programs for training for other jobs and advancement and executive preparation, UCLA is considered the model,” he said.

The chancellor also declined to speak about the specifics of a proposed ASUCLA fee increase that would raise the student fee from $7.50 to a potential $58.50 per year by the 2009-2010 school year. Carnesale said ASUCLA’s current financial situation is “problematic,” but chalked that up to the “tough” businesses ASUCLA must compete in, such as clothing and book sales.

The conference was not without its moments of levity. When asked whether he thought the UCLA men’s basketball team would make the NCAA Tournament, Carnesale laughed.

“It’s a requirement, actually,” he joked.