Robert Berdahl, chancellor at UC Berkeley, spoke out against the Racial Privacy Initiative last week. But our chancellor, Albert Carnesale, still has not.
In taking a stand against Regent Ward Connerly’s proposed RPI, Berdahl has strengthened his position as a campus leader and supported the views expressed by many of his students. The RPI would prohibit state agencies from requesting racial information on any public forms, including college applications if passed in the 2004 elections. Connerly’s hope is to eliminate race as a public factor, and thus, as an issue of social contention.
The most obvious problem with the RPI is it assumes making admissions policies and other state forms race-blind will somehow wipe out society’s racial perceptions as well. In reality, it will only erase any record of society’s racially-motivated inequality. Minorities will keep bumping their heads on the glass ceiling, continue to make up 60 percent of inmates on death row, and, more directly affecting the UC, continue to have small representation on competitive campuses. The difference is Connerly’s proposal will make these facts inaccessible to the public, allowing the issues to continue growing in severity.
Carnesale has routinely failed to either take a strong proactive stance or any stance at all on important campus issues, including the quarter-versus-semester system debate, student seating concerns at Pauley Pavilion, and repealing SP-1 and 2, former UC anti-affirmative action policies. The chancellor’s agility in sidestepping questions and avoiding political backlash is impressive; but it is not in his job description to be walking on pins and needles.
To his credit, Carnesale did start the Sept. 11 seminars last year, which were so successful the university will continue having them in a different form this year. He has raised a tremendous amount of money during his tenure. But another thing this campus sorely lacks is solid leadership. In a campus so large and impersonal, it is especially important for the chancellor to make himself a visible presence – this includes, among other things, speaking out on social issues students are concerned about.
In failing to come out and take a stance on the RPI, Carnesale is not only wasting the weight his position of power gives him at the UC, he is also showing his true color: yellow.