By Edward Lempinen
In an interview before her retirement, the UC Berkeley chancellor reflected on the social turmoil of her years in office, the values that have guided her — and the essential lesson she learned from students.
One might expect that a leader, just weeks before retirement, would be quietly winding down. But for UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, campus turmoil arising from the Hamas-Israel conflict and a looming budget shortfall have left little time for celebration ahead of her departure at the end of June.
It’s striking that Christ’s last weeks have been so much like her first weeks. She moved into her California Hall office in July 2017 and was immediately forced to deal with a debilitating budget crisis and an ongoing federal probe of sexual harassment on campus. The school was still reeling from the winter riot that had canceled a talk by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, raising questions about support for free speech at Berkeley.
In the ensuing years, she’s had to confront the challenges presented by other controversial speakers, the COVID pandemic that shut down in-person classes, wildfires that covered the campus in smoke, a strike by graduate student workers, and the drive to build desperately needed student housing, which included the closing and preparation of People’s Park for development.
There is broad agreement that Christ navigated these crises with acumen and concern for the community — advancing solutions, often through collaboration, dialogue and compromise. While headlines often focused on the tumult, she and her leadership team achieved historic progress on student housing, fundraising and expanding Berkeley’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship.
In an interview with Berkeley News, Christ talked about the challenges she has faced leading one of the world’s most influential universities, the values and experiences that guided her, and the critical lesson she has learned in a career spent with students...
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