Big Money Allotted for New 'Diversity' Post at UC-Berkeley
by Jim Brown
September 7, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A former University of California regent says a new high-level "diversity" post at Cal-Berkeley is "an extraordinary waste of public funds." UC-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has announced he is creating the new position of "Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion." Birgeneau tells Associated Press he wants to ensure that students, faculty, and staff -- regardless of religion, sexual orientation, race, gender, or disability -- all have equal opportunity at the school.
"I very strongly believe that every single person [should] feel that this is a place where they belong," the chancellor said in announcing the new post, "where they are respected for their individuality, for what they represent and their background." The aim, he said, is "to prize our diversity and learn from it and to appreciate people for being part of the whole, but also for what they as individuals bring to Berkeley."
The new chancellor's office will have a $4.5 million budget, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and the new head of campus diversity will be paid between $182,000 and $282,000 annually.
Former UC regent Ward Connerly, who heads the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), says Cal-Berkeley is already one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the country -- and that the post of Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion is unnecessary.
"I suspect, however, that the chancellor there, who is a great proponent of race preferences, is probably going to try to use this position to see how he can circumvent Proposition 209 in California," says Connerly. "But the position is ... a waste of money. It's one of the reasons why tuition is going up so rapidly at the University of California. It's these kind of superfluous positions."
According to the Chronicle, almost 20 percent of students throughout the UC system represent underrepresented minorities (blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians); and that as of last spring, 58 percent of the support staff at UC-Berkeley were minorities, 6 percent being in top campus ranks.
If he were still on the UC Board of Regents, Connerly says he would be doing everything he could to get Chancellor Birgeneua fired.
"He's demonstrated since he has come here from Canada that he has a total disregard for the laws of California," the ACRI head states. "He has stated on more than one occasion that he would like to repeal Proposition 209, which outlawed race preferences in California."
Birgeneua, says Connerly, is "an arrogant chancellor" who he says "can't seem to get on the straight and narrow with regard to following the laws of the state." And because the chancellor is "out of control," Connerly adds, the president of the university and the UC Board of Regents need to step in and eliminate the diversity position.
Jim Brown, a regular contributors to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
